Invited to view pups just before 3 weeks old

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Is this too young? Breeder seems lovely but...?

To just view the pups? Of course not. That's the whole point. You get to see them grow and how the mother is with he pups.

It does seem a bit young. With my girl I went and saw her at the breeders at 4 weeks old once their eyes were open and they had had their hearts etc checked. I guess if it's near to you and you can go back a couple more times before pup is ready to leave mum then it's not a problem.

To view/hold/choose if want to

Definitely too early. Imagine the poor dam having strangers not just near her pups but handling them.

There are breeders and then there are breeders (most of which will put the dam's welfare first over strangers cooing over pups).

Normally breeders don't do viewings before about four weeks when the eyes are open and the puppies are mostly weaned. I would ask why so early as the mother won't be keen on strangers handling them at that stage. As for picking one, characters take longer to show so you might pick a sweet one at three weeks and by eight weeks it's the litter thug. I would wait. Or find a different breeder.

3 weeks is a great time for the breeder to be introducing new things to the puppies. They should be moving around, hearing eyes open. Its a time when they naturally begin to explore .

3 weeks is a time when puppies start to interact with humans, they will have stron immunity from their mother and very little fear at 3-4 weeks. They should be introduced to the startle reflex at this time so again a good time to introduce to people and noise.

From your point of view lovely to see them so early but it will be hard to pick out a particular puppy's temperament at this age.

I met my "puppy" - now 6 years old – when he was two weeks and three days old. Couldn’t walk yet. Couldn’t see yet. Couldn’t hear yet. I was sitting near mum’s den, getting to know mum and dad. The 8 pups were in the den. Chatting away to the owners. When we suddenly became aware of the fact that one little bundle had detached itself from the heap of puppies, and was literally dragging / wriggling itself towards me with it’s nose in the air twitching and twisting to catch the scent of that new thing in the room (me). I’d actually come to see his sister (he had seven sisters, so, to be fair, he was maybe just trying to get away!) but he picked me that day. There hasn’t been a single day that I have regretted that choice, and I know that temperament can’t easily be judged that young, but he has turned out exactly as I expected from that first meeting – confident, curious, sociable and intelligent.

By all means go and meet them. But don’t be tempted to make a choice unless you are very sure of that choice. You may also be lucky enough to have one pick you!

Oops - don't know why the photo has cut off!

It works if you click on it! Go figure....

Thank you for your replies

If it’s really just to view it’s fine. Plus you can see how they grow by the time they possibly come to you

I saw my puppy the day he was born, pick of the litter, chose at 3 weeks home at 8 weeks

It will be to hold as well

I met our monster at about the same age. 3 weeks is when puppies can and should have some human interaction. Their initial socialisation window is from 3 - 12 weeks old.

As long as they, and their mum, are not freaked out by it, it is fine!

Adopt don't shop. Shelters are full of animals desperate for a home. No need to breed any more 🙄

Shelters are great, but they aren't the right choice for everyone. Although if nobody breeds it will certainly solve the problems of neglected and abandoned dogs - within 20 years there won't be any dogs.

I met my boy when he was 10 days old! Only to look at, not hold. Then we saw him again at 5 weeks and then picked him up at 8 weeks. We got lovely updates the whole time. We left the breeder with a blanket (which he still has 5 years later!) we’d slept with it so it had our smell and by the time he came to us with it there was the litter smell on it too x

Meeting probably fine but I’d not want to be handling a pup of that age

A tad extreme. Do both. We have the above pup, now a 4 year old monster, and a breed rescue dog of much the same age.

For the almost 30 years before we bought a dog no rescue would look at us:
Part time work - no dog
Not had a dog for years - no dog
No field at the back of the house - no dog
Take the dog to work in the car - no dog
Bloody great field within 100 metres - no dog

So I gave up and 'went shopping'. And now we have breed specific rescues asking us to foster... Nothing in our lives has changed. Both dogs sit in the back of my car for most of any day and we still don't have a garden. But they are perfectly happy, well looked after dogs.

Many people find rescues far too inflexible. So, unless your aim is to eradicate dogs as pets altogether, people will always find a breeder.

Handling is fine OP just do some research eg Kennel Club American kennel club for example to confirm this. Look at Puppy Culture one of the leading organisations on puppy socialisation.

3 weeks is prime time to see and handle puppies - it is the best time to do it (for the puppies). If more breeders did this there would be less dogs with issues tbh.

People on this thread who say it is not a good idea are not correct and have limited knowledge of puppy development

The animals may be desperate for a home yes, but shelters are often far to strict on criteria and reluctant to adopt a dog out to a loving home. This is obviously counter productive to adopting.

Responsible breeders - and potential owners - are part of the solution to driving down the number of dogs in rescue.
OP is doing her research, and perhaps this is as much a chance for the breeder to check out how potential owners behave.

We saw our older dog with her litter when she was just on three weeks (the dam was completely chill with it, she was quite happy to go and mooch about outside and have a break).

We went looking for a particular colouration, but the puppy that seemed to mesh with us immediately was quite different. We liked her as much as she seemed to like us, and home she came 5 weeks later.

And I agree with PP - three weeks is a great time for puppies to start to experience a bit more of the world.

They shouldn’t have anyone round that early. Stick with your instinct

To early to pick, but fine to see and particularly to see the home, mum and meet the breeder.