# Is it OK to bring a puppy home at 7 weeks old?



## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

He will be fine if you pick him up at 7 weeks. However, there are some advantages to leaving him with his littermates until 8 weeks. The biggest is he will learn a lot more bite inhibition during that time. All goldens are going to be pretty mouthy as puppies but the longer they stay with the litter the more opportunity they have to learn how to properly play.


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

7-8 weeks has a lot of socialization going on, particularly with other dogs (i.e., the other puppies in the litter and any adult dogs in the house). Puppies taken home early may have greater dog reactivity and not be as socially adept with other dogs (which can lead to issues). Do you have other dogs? If so, 7 weeks might be okay. Otherwise, I say leave the pup until it is 8 weeks old, so long as there are other littermates there and they don't all go home at 7 weeks.

It's actually better for their socialization to leave them until 9 weeks, assuming that the litter gets to go on exploratory missions.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Beyond that, it's also illegal in some states to sell a puppy before 8 weeks.


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Chloe came home at 7.5 weeks. I don't think we had any problems. She was due to come home on a Thursday but we asked the breeder if we could get her on the SAT before. My dad wanted to suprise my mom on Valentine's Day. She had no clue they were picking her up a few days early.


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## djg2121 (Nov 22, 2015)

Cpc1972 said:


> Chloe came home at 7.5 weeks. I don't think we had any problems. She was due to come home on a Thursday but we asked the breeder if we could get her on the SAT before. My dad wanted to suprise my mom on Valentine's Day. She had no clue they were picking her up a few days early.




I just picked up my puppy at just over 7 weeks. I was reluctant initially too, because all of my other Goldens came home at between 8-10 weeks. 7 weeks actually worked well, because the puppy instantly bonded with me, my wife, and my 2 1/2 year old female that is now quite attached to the puppy and acting very maternally. I don’t know if I’d bring a puppy home that early if I didn’t already have a dog in the house.

















Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Albus2017 said:


> ....Any advice appreciated - we are first time dog owners...



Some very old school breeders may send puppies home at 7 weeks but there is plenty of research documenting that the benefits of staying longer are very real. They are weaned and may not need the mama but they certainly need the littermates. I would say that this may be a red flag and you might want to double check that you actually have a really good breeder. A good, reputable hobby breeder is really going above and beyond to do everything in their power to do what's best for the puppies they produce. 

Have you done your due diligence on the breeder as far as health clearances in the pedigree and how they socialize their puppies, are they raised in the house? Does the breeder show or compete with his dogs in some venue? Have they asked you a lot of questions about how you plan to raise and train your puppy? I'd be a lot more concerned that there could be more issues than just sending the puppy home early.


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## Albus2017 (Nov 2, 2017)

Thanks everyone! We have agreed to leave it until 8 weeks and will pick him up then. I should have mentioned - we are in the UK so whilst it is legal to send puppies home at 7 weeks, I just wanted to check out any pros or cons. I am happy with the breeder that we've found as a whole - we've seen health certificates etc, we've heard testimonials from people who have had puppies from her previous litter and they have all been raised in the home.


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