How old was your puppy when you got him or her? (Anyone at 7 weeks?)

[Alissa Edwards]

Ours is 7 weeks to the day - getting him tomorrow. It seems everyone here got theirs at 8 or 9 weeks. My breeder seems amazing - so I'm sure she has her reasons but I'm still worried that he's too young to be away from mama yet. She even said they had no teeth yet at 6 weeks, so I hope he's ready to be weaned. She said I have to add water to his food.

 Anyone else get one at 7 weeks? And if so, could they eat yet, etc?

[Stephanie and Ragley]

My breeder allowed puppies to go home starting at 7 weeks, but I told her I wanted to keep Ragley there until she was 8 weeks old and she had no problem with it. A lot of her litter mates went home before then though and, from what I can tell on their facebook page, they seem to be adjusting just fine. The eating issue is something I am not qualified to answer, but it seems strange to me

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Enzo came to us at 8 weeks. Some breeders even keep them up to 12 weeks. Your breeder should be wearing the pups off Mom before you get him. Adding water to his kibble will definitely help. If she told you this she must be weaning the pups. I can not imagine any reputable breeder sending off a pup cold turkey . Have you asked her why she is letting the pups go earlier?

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

Oskar's breeder lets the puppies go home at 7 weeks…he had all of his super sharp puppy teeth & ate kibble with a little warm water for the first few days.  After that, dry kibble.  His socialization with people & dogs has been great…no problems at all.  He was confident right away & adjusted beautifully…flew here with the breeder's daughter, rode home in the car, went right into our yard & started playing with Baker…he didn't skip a beat ! The week didn't seem to make a bit of difference.  Maybe you can post a few pictures tomorrow :)  Enjoy your new puppy :)

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Puppies learn bite inhibition from their siblings between 6-8 weeks and it is because of this very important development stage that it is best practice that puppies do not leave prior to eight weeks minimum.

[Bug <3]

I got my puppy early between 6-7 weeks. I was reluctant but his litter mates were going so there wasn't a litter to really stay with. He seems to have adjusted fine. He's a complete love bug. He did have his teeth and ate puppy chow mixed w water (miss those puppy chow mustaches). If you aren't comfortable ask if you can wait a week. Best of luck and congrats on the new puppy.

[Debbie Daniels]

the breeders had me pick Miss Beasley up at 6 weeks , If I had known what I do now I would have never done that. She ate fine right off the bat  she loved to nip and it took what seemed forever to break that , I worked hard with her to try and teach her what her mother would have taught her by yelling like a pup myself when she would nip at me ...she ate in her crate and stayed wonderful in it , has never cried once in it ...the one thing she doesn't do that I worry about is ...she wont lay down for me to rub her belly ... I wonder if it's a trust thing ? I have never hit her or yelled to scare her , she sleeps next to me and will stand and let me rub her all over , pick up her paws , I pet her while she eats etc. she is just not going to get off her feet . Any tips for this ? 

[Abigail *George & Juno*]

George came to us just a touch before 8 weeks. The breeder said technically they now do shots at 6-9-12 weeks, so they can go home as early as 6 weeks, but it seems irresponsible to her not to keep them at least one more week to make sure they are fine after the shots. She also told us she prefers to keep them to 8 weeks if not longer, but my lovely SO happened to have 5 days in a row off work, and she said it was worth it to her knowing George would have attention and someone to play with for at least 5 days straight. I have to say it worked fabulously. She is about 12 weeks old now and is a really good puppy, at worst I would call her "typical" :)