Experience of a puppy leaving either at 9 weeks or 12

[BuildingQuote]

We are waiting for a puppy and the breeder suggested she now likes to wait for 12 weeks on the whole but it isn’t impossible to collect her earlier if we want to take her for the 2nd vaccine ourselves .
I have been doing a bit of reading on this too and it suggests the puppy may benefit from the extra socialising with her siblings at a critical stage of development.
does anyone have experience or other wisdom?

I am sure it depends on breed a bit too (ours is a health tested cavalier) but interesting those who have experience and which you found best for the puppy. I guess it’s a hard question but I also wonder if an older puppy will find it harder to adjust as will have a clearer idea of her original home?

[adaline]

We got ours at 12 weeks.

He'd had all his jabs and could go out as soon as we got him. He cried on the car journey home but that was it, he settled right away. Toilet trained within a few days too.

But I've never had a puppy from 8 weeks so can't really compare!

[Detoxpup]

Personally I would want to take the puppy at 8 weeks. I would want to start socialisation asap . The breeder will have to be taking the puppies out and about from 8 weeks for decent socialisation and this is harder to do with a litter than individual puppies.

[missbattenburg]

OP, I recently read a study showing Cavaliers have longer socialisation periods than some other breeds which probably means you have extra time than, say, a German Shepherd owner.

[Girlintheframe]

We got our pup at 8 weeks however he is a medium sized dog and it was really important for his socialisation. Everything I’ve read about smaller (parents have chihuahua) breeds suggest they should stay with their mum/siblings until 12 as they have different developmental needs.

[anniehm]

No, you need to give experiences as soon as possible as the window is small, by 16 weeks they are past that point. Guide dogs are started in training at 6 weeks for a reason. 8-9 weeks is the norm and for trainable breeds it's essential - ours was absolutely fine then, no crying and slept alone from day one but he's a confident, independent minded dog who loves his own company in the house.

[adaline]

No, you need to give experiences as soon as possible as the window is small, by 16 weeks they are past that point.

But a good breeder will be able to do those things. We got mine at 12 weeks and he'd already done things like go on the school run, been carried around the shops and to cafes and pubs. Collecting them at 12 weeks doesn't mean they don't have those experiences.

[BuildingQuote]

Thank you all very much for your thoughts. I think the socialisation is already good where she is and arguably better as they have several adult dogs in the house with her. Interesting too that cavaliers may need a bit longer. It is hard to want to wait when we are itching to bond with her and start life together but so keen to do the best for her it does look like 12 weeks seems safer

[BuildingQuote]

anniehm is your dog a cavalier ? As am still really interested to hear positive stories of puppies doing well leaving earlier and it does seem breeds may vary

[Sarahlou63]

We've had several puppies from 8 weeks and the last, an Irish setter, at 12 weeks. The difference was amazing! Much more confident and sociable and a pleasure to have around. I would 100% recommend leaving him/her with mum and siblings for that extra 4 weeks.

[tabulahrasa]

“I think the socialisation is already good where she is and arguably better as they have several adult dogs in the house with her.”

What about things other than dogs though? Socialisation is getting them used to being around and interacting with everything before they’re past that window, not just dogs.

It is fairly normal for small breeds to stay till 12 weeks, but if it was me I’d want to know what socialisation plan the breeder is following...

[BuildingQuote]

Thanks tabullah. I might have another chat with the breeder as she’s really helpful.

[MattMagnolia]

SiL in the States told me they got their puppy at six weeks, which is normal there. We had ours at eight weeks. I wouldn’t want to wait another month, missing a chunk of his babyhood and starting housetraining as soon as possible. The breeder won’t give each puppy in the litter the attention which you can give your one.

[mumsy2015]

We brought our Cavalier pup home just before 12 weeks as our breeder also preferred them to stay a bit longer. They were very good at socialising them (with other dogs, children, farm animals etc). They also seperated them gradually from mum and siblings so that by the time pup came home with us they were used to sleeping by themselves. We worked hard in the first 4 weeks to ensure we got our pup exposed to all the places and situations specific to us (e.g. school run). I do think it helped to bring him home a bit later as he seemed happy and settled here very quickly.

[Ethel80]

I'd leave them with the breeder until 12 weeks. A good breeder will be experienced with socialising and great at training and that 4 weeks can make such a difference plus the jabs are done and they're ready to go out and start classes.

[Ethel80]

Saying that, we were very naive with our first dog and his breeder was shit so there would have been no benefit to leaving him after 8 weeks.

[FrangipaniBlue]

FrangipaniDog was around 8wks when we got her.

FrangipaniPup was 12wks.

The difference in experience was HUGE and given the choice again in future I'd go 12wks every time.

FrangipaniDog needed to go out every 1.5-2hrs through night so we used to take it in turns to set alarms, she also cried through night, this all lasted around a month. It took weeks/a month to get her house trained.

I've always maintained that she was harder work as a puppy than DS was as a baby

FrangipaniPup was pretty much housetrained when we brought him home - sitting by the door for poos, literally 2 days of wee accidents but they were always by the door. Only cried on night 1, hasn't cried since and for the first week DH and I just took it in turns to get up once at 2am to let him out, by the end of week 1 he was going right through 10pm to 7am!

[anniehm]

We were advised any time after 8 weeks, sooner the better to start training and socialisation. Must have worked as our boy is well behaved and not too crazy. May vary by breed but ours are known for independence early and farmers would be having them in the fields by then

[villainousbroodmare]

12 weeks is ideal imo as long as the breeder is doing a reasonable amount. That time with siblings is absolutely crucial to learn frustration tolerance, bite inhibition etc and just cannot be replicated by intermittent encounters with adult dogs as is likely to happen once adopted.

I see a lot of puppies adopted at 8 and sometimes supposedly "rescued" at 5 and 6 weeks and the incidence of behavioural issues in these wrt mixing with other dogs is so, so high.

Honestly I think it's so much more important than whether your puppy has seen umbrellas or Zimmer frames or met his first toddler in that time frame.

Having said that, Cavaliers are invariably sweethearts and will be a joy, personality-wise, almost irrespective. As a breed, they do significantly lack the ability to use many signals of normal canine body language though, and probably need all the dog-mingling help they can get to widen their repertoire. There's an interesting study on this somewhere... I'll see if I can find it.

[pigsDOfly]

I got my dog at 8 weeks. She breezed through puppy hood, house training and sleeping through the night but she's a pretty calm dog anyway.

The breeder had crate trained and started house training and puppies' mum had done her bit to socialise the puppies in dog manners.

I got her out as soon as I could socialising her to all the things she was likely to meet - had a list somewhere.

Socialising a puppy isn't all about other dogs and you need to grab that important socialisation time while you can.