My female just had her 1st litter and I wouldn't think of letting any pups go earlier than 12 weeks and I may hold them til they have all three rounds of shots and worming. 8,11,14? I think. Benefield said I could start their shots at 6 weeks but I don't feel comfortable with that.
Well in some cases I tend to agree. I breed Imperial size shih-tzus for many years and the pups where always ready to go by 8 weeks but this is something that took work on my part the pups where introduced to food at four weeks old so by 8 weeks they where eating well and drinking water too. I had a very large family with 5 children ranging in ages from baby to teenage so the pups where well socialized to other moms and dads different ages of children and their friends. The pups at 8 weeks where more then ready for
their new homes by 8 weeks . Now that I've said this I just got an 8 week old Chi pup and I believe that he should probubly have stayed with his mom a little longer he has teeth but they are not big and his bottom teeth are just poking through. The breeders are an older couple with no children and the pups where kept in a 4 ft pen in their kitchen and I'm sure they didn't get to many chances to get out of that pen to explore.They gave me a small bag of dry food that suposably was what the pups have been eating and indeed there was a dish in the middle of the pen full of dry food but when I try ed to feed this to Pepa it was obvious to me that he could not eat it dry so I've put him on canned puppy food for now and he's eating that very well even though he hasn't learned not to walk through his food yet. He has had his first shot but I do believe that will have to be redone he is extreamly small no where near a lb yet maybe 10 oz. He is a teacup chi so i expect that. For me its not a big deal I just finished raising a litter of pups because their mama died when the pups where 3 days old so i will work with this pup and he will be well socialized and eating well in no time. My Penelope was one of my dogs pups that I hand fed and raise she is 10 months old and she loves the puppy and mothers it so that's a bonus plus I live in a housing complex gated community and myself and my neighbours are all good friends so we spend allot of time visiting each other and there are tons of kids around as well. So he will get the socialization he needs. He's probubly better off with me then where he was I'm sure if they had kept him til 12 weeks he would be no more socialized than he is now and it would be worse instead of better for him. I worry about the other pups though because not everyone has the expeiriance to care for a pup that has not been weaned properly.
i dont agree with this , here we get our puppies at 6 weeks and have never had problems , i guess it depends what the law is ect. all the breeders we have got our dogs off where recommended off the vets and kennel club so i dont see i problem personally , as long as they can cope its fine and mine have been fine and pippi didnt even cry the first night we got her!
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