When to pick my pup

[Ranger351]

Ok so I have first pick and all other pups have deposits placed so entire litter is sold. Breeder asked if I would like to pick my pup and bring home this weekend (49th day) or next weekend at 8 wks. Once I pick mine all other pups will be picked up in a couple days. So I have a 1 yr old gsp at home and 3 kids & wife for socializing and the breeder is working full time so really only plays with pups before and after work. So I'm curious is there a special reason I should wait one extra week before I pick? What would your concerns or advice be? I've been visiting these pups 2 x a week for 3 wks now.I have it numbered down to 2 maybe 3 pups based on attitudes and general personality & looks.

[RoostersMom]

I'd wait until at least 8 weeks of age. Nothing really to do with breeder interacting with pups, more to do with pups interacting with each other and with dam. Bite inhibition and puppy to puppy interaction are taught during this period. Most breeders nowadays are keeping pups until 8 or even 10 weeks old. It's illegal in many states to sell pups before 8 weeks old (though that's not well known). Lots of newer literature supports pups staying with littermates longer. Just read up on it yourself - but if the breeder is o.k. with waiting - I'd suggest waiting. I also think the longer you wait to get a pup, the more you can tell from the pup. They grow a ton each week.

[Ranger351]

I guess I'm just torn because I read all the responses from other threads. The dam isn't doing a whole lot with the pups and they're on hard food and already using a dog door. I guess I kinda felt like the socializing from my dog and myself and family would do a lot of positive help as well. The breeder played with them everyday from birth but now works full time so interaction was drastically cut down. Not trying to start a big fight but whats the big downside of taking at 7 wks instead of waiting?

[MikeB]

If the other pups are going to homes this weekend, 7 weeks old, then I would take yours too. No reason for your pup to be there all alone with no pups to interact with. Just make sure your pup which everone you pick is not at all shy. I have temperment tested to many litters of pups over the years and know that if the breeder didn't do a good job of socializing pups up to 7 weeks old then that behavior you get at 7 weeks can stay for a life time. Ourtgoing pups are always outgoing for life ect.

[Brittguy]

I would take my puppy at 7 weeks rather than waiting.

[tfbirddog2]

I have seen a little diference with 49 days and with 10 weeks old, but not much.If it were me I just couldnt wait and get it this weekend.

[RoostersMom]

Excerpt from an interesting article re-printed in Gun Dog:

Another down side (of taking a pup at 49 days) less well documented but alluded to in some of the work of the Bar Harbor group is that the socialization process of dogs on dogs is not yet completed at seven weeks. Establishment of these social connections and honing them will go on for some weeks and even months in the case of some behaviors. Sure, a dog can survive without it and millions do but the dog will be more complete socially if it could have another three weeks with mom and all the kids at home.

Adult sexual behavior of both males and females is affected, as is social ordering in sexual encounters where males must be dominant and females must not be. The cooperative or competitive individual personality of a puppy develops during the ninth and tenth week so selections of the type of pup you want is a lot less iffy at 10 than at seven weeks. There are other behavioral modifications as a result of leaving the litter early but well-tested documentation is scarce.

An almost totally undocumented but long-time rule of thumb in part of Europe is that at 10 weeks the pup is a scale model of what it will be as an adult. Anyone ever watching pups grow knows that one day the feet are too large for the ears, the next day the ears are outsized in relation to leg length. But at 10 weeks, for a few days, all parts are in the approximate proportions they will be when the pup is all grown up. There is no other time in the growth curve when you have such a preview of coming attractions, of just how the pup will look as an adult. I know of no hard evidence or research documenting this phenomenon, only anecdotal information. It would require a systematic set of measurements done at 10 weeks and again at a year and at two, as a minimum, on a whole series of individual dogs representing many different breeds and balanced for gender, and that's hundreds of dogs. I've looked at only a few and the phenomenon held for those but it could have been chance, or applied only to the breeds, or primarily in males or other confounding variables.

But if the breeder is reputable and knows a modicum of dog behavior and has the whelping and growing pen in the middle of where everyone passes (who can resist getting their hands into a group of chubby little pups clamoring for attention?) seven weeks is too young to leave home. Older is better. The optimum time to leave the litter would be 10 weeks when the pup is most adaptable. Picking a pup is a crap shoot at best, but you can get a better glimpse of your pup-in-a-poke at 10 weeks because that is when what you see is what you get in both the physical and psychological attributes.


http://www.shorthairs.net/AboutGSPs/Whe ... fault.aspx

[TraditionsGSPs2010]

Excerpt from an interesting article re-printed in Gun Dog:



An almost totally undocumented but long-time rule of thumb in part of Europe is that at 10 weeks the pup is a scale model of what it will be as an adult. Anyone ever watching pups grow knows that one day the feet are too large for the ears, the next day the ears are outsized in relation to leg length. But at 10 weeks, for a few days, all parts are in the approximate proportions they will be when the pup is all grown up. There is no other time in the growth curve when you have such a preview of coming attractions, of just how the pup will look as an adult. I know of no hard evidence or research documenting this phenomenon, only anecdotal information. It would require a systematic set of measurements done at 10 weeks and again at a year and at two, as a minimum, on a whole series of individual dogs representing many different breeds and balanced for gender, and that's hundreds of dogs. I've looked at only a few and the phenomenon held for those but it could have been chance, or applied only to the breeds, or primarily in males or other confounding variables.


http://www.shorthairs.net/AboutGSPs/Whe ... fault.aspx

+1

I've have heard some folks swear by this phenomenon at 7 weeks as well. Regardless of whether it occurs at 7 weeks, 10 weeks or somewhere in between, I have read Doc Bailey's comments in several publications and they all make sense. All things being equal, I don't think it hurts to error on the side of caution and leave the pup with momma for another week or two.... JMHO!

[ezzy333]

You can get by at 7 weeks but I won't let any pups leave here till at least 8 weeks. The time the pups are together can not be duplicated in any other way and it is something all pups need. When you miss it you have lost it forever.

Ezzy

[cjhills]

The momma pretty much looses interest by six or seven weeks. We keep all puppies 'til at least eight weeks. We prefer nine and another round of shots. I don't buy some magical number like 49 days,eight weeks or any other number as far as bonding goes. we like them to interact with other dogs. They all seem to learn who is the giver of good things. whether the are 7 weeks or seven years and any ehere in between.
If they live in a kennel and are not getting a lot of human contact get them home quick.
CJ

[Ranger351]

Ok so I've decided to wait til the 56th day. Thanks for all of the advice.

[JIM K]

most say 8 weeks old.some of top trainerS say 10 WEEKS.pick the puppy with the BIGGEST HEAD.

[Ralph Ford]

Picking your pup, and picking up your pup are two different things. Try to remember there are usually other people involved to consider.

[Ranger351]

When I pick her out I bring her home.