I need some opinons! :)

The very earliest 8 weeks, and that is even pushing it. Remember that puppies not only need to stay with their mother and littermates for health reasons, but also for socialization reasons. The mother will teach the puppy how to properly behave and so will the siblings. The major thing pups learn from eachother is MANORS. Things like biting is taught by the mother correcting the pups when they get out of hand and the other pups crying out when the other bites too hard.
Remember that chihuahua's are much smaller then the average dog and even though the average age to releace a pup is 8 weeks, it doesnt mean that is what is best for a chihuahua. I would wait until at least 10 weeks before bringing the little one home. What is an extra 3 weeks going to hurt.
That is my opinion. Hope it helped
-Jessica

I took Bosco home a couple days shy of 8 weeks old. My breeder apparently has never done that before but her vet said it was fine because he had been on solid food for a while and doing fine, and he was also quite big. We decided to go that route, because, like you, we were excited...but also because we had a 4-day weekend to help get him used to being at our house rather than a 2-day weekend. It has worked out great for us and I can't imagine him being a more well-adjusted pup. But I do feel bad that our reasons for doing this were selfish. And who knows, maybe he could be even better than he is now! :wink:

Anyway I just tried to do a search on the importance of keeping a pup with its mom/littermates and came up with this site. http://www.dpca-breedered.com/critbehav.htm

It says, in part:

FOURTH PERIOD 49 DAYS TO 12 WEEKS

Characteristics: Enlarging social awareness and bonding outside of litter. Mental abilities are fully formed but pups lack experience. This is the optimum time to teach new things and is, in fact, the period of fastest learning. Research has shown that behaviours can be shaped and modified most easily during times when learning is occurring most quickly. Training during this time will actually increase the capacity to learn by increasing brain cells in the appropriate regions of the brain.

Bladder and bowel control developed and pups are capable of sleeping through the night without an accident.

Breeder Do's: Greatly enlarge the puppies' world between 49 and 56 days. Begin puppy rotation, playing and sleeping in smaller groups. Pups that remain with breeder can be crated with one or two other pups. Be sure to switch puppies around.

Continue individual grooming, play and training sessions with each pup. Gentle but firm discipline from humans may be begun. Begin teaching response to simple commands such as sit, down, stand, come, walk on lead at this time. Pups during this period can learn complex behaviour chain and can make associations.

Breeder Don'ts: Do not isolate from humans or unnecessarily restrain during this period (only restraints should be crate or necessary fencing). Avoid inadvertently reinforcing fearful responses.

NOTE: FIRST FEAR IMPRINT PERIOD OCCURS BETWEEN 8-10 WEEKS. AVOID PLACING PUPS DURING THIS TIME. AVOID SHIPPING PUPS, EAR CROPPING TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES.

Pups that have been properly socialized and bonded with breeder can be successfully placed at 10-12 weeks after they have passed the first fear imprint period and while they are still young enough to be "babies."

FIRST FEAR IMPRINT PERIOD OCCURS BETWEEN 8-10 WEEKS. AVOID PLACING PUPS DURING THIS TIME. AVOID SHIPPING PUPS, EAR CROPPING TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES.
Pups that have been properly socialized and bonded with breeder can be successfully placed at 10-12 weeks after they have passed the first fear imprint period and while they are still young enough to be "babies."

Click to expand...

Honistly I would wait until 10 weeks, like everyone is saying. I know that you really want your puppy now but like the article says puppies learn very important things during the period of 8-10 weeks. If you take this puppy home before they can learn mannors from the mom and littermates you might have a very naughty puppy on your hands. I dont know how many people come into our training center with their puppies and are having chewing problems, biting problems, and overall training problems. When asked what age the pup was when it came home they all say 7-9 weeks. Thats not to say that a pup placed in a home at an older age wont have problems, but you are almost guaranteed biting and social problems if they go home before 10 weeks.
I brought Ginger home at 6 weeks :shock: but that is because she was releaced to someone else that young and I took her because she wasnt eating and I had experience will tiny puppies. Well the reason she wasnt eating is because her teeth were not all the way in yet!!!
Needless to say I had issues with her, but it was easier for me because I already had two chihuahua's under the age of 1 and my mom had 3 toy-breed dogs all one year or younger and they taught her mannors. She needed it.
Now that she is a year I have a very agressive dog. She is agressive to people and agressive to dogs. She will get over this because I am a dog trainer and I take her with me to work and work with her around other people and other dogs. She is slowly getting better. I am lucky though because I can do all of this professional training for free and have all the time because that is my job. Not too many people can afford the behavior classes needed to fix agression problems, nor do most people have the time to do the training at home.
Her main problem was she was never properly socialized by her mom or littermates. She never got that critical imprinting she needed from her mom and my dogs had to try to fill in, but they cannot replace a mother or littermates.
8-9 weeks is still too early in my oppinion, but 9 weeks is much better then 7 weeks. Can you wait an extra week and take the pup home at 10 weeks? What are the reasons you do not want to wait?
Please keep in mind that none of us are trying to be pushy or mean, but we have had chihuahua's and we know what can happen if you bring one home too early. The reason you came here and asked this question is to find out what we thought right? Well all of us so far agree that 10 weeks should be the earliest a chihuahua should go home. I guess you can do with the information what you wish, but its kindof silly to ask an opinion of chihuahua owners and not take the advise given.
Please take our warnings seriously and wait until 10 weeks. Those extra three weeks with the mother are critical in their development!
-Jessica

PS - The bottom picture is of Ginger when I brought her home at 6wks...waaaay too young to be away from mom but the other person had no idea how to care for her.

The first picture is of Ginger a couple weeks later. During this time she was really mimicing my other two and testing the boundaries with them. This fight started out very cute but she quickly got too agressive and Tequila had to correct her. If I didnt have my other two dogs to do this I would be in more trouble with her then I am now.

I got Mikey at 6 weeks, as I have said in other post this is the age that breeders, pet stores ..where ever you look for a puppy around here let their pups go. I never put much thought into it being too early until reading all the post here. I can say that Mikey is aggressive, he was a biter (while playing) I got that pretty much corrected but he has some serious issues. I do think for 1 he has this problem b/c he may have been a puppy mill dog but also he was taken from mom too early. I am a stay at home mom and both of my boys are in school right now. So I have a lot of time for just me and Mikey to work on getting it corrected. I would honestly leave her there until she is 10 weeks old. I know the excitement, beleive me I have been known to spur of the moment get a pet, that's how I ended up w/ both my kitties. But take your time ,let the proper amount of weeks pass. Take the time to sleep and rest b/c once your little puppy is there your looking at a few nights at least w/ getting proper sleep. You won't regret it. :wave: