Confused - 7 or 8 weeks....

[stickchick]

Ok - My boxer boy Jaegar's mom has decided she's done feeding her pups, he was born on August 26 and has been with mom up until this past weekend. The breeder is currently feeding a milk substitute mixed with puppy food to the litter. I've often heard that 8 weeks is ideal but I found here on the Boxer World site (Raising your puppy to be the dog you want) that 7 weeks is actually ideal due to the fear period that begins around 8 weeks. So my question is, would I be ok bringing my boy home at 7 weeks?

THANK YOU!!!

Sara

 

[TwoDogs]

The fear imprint phase is usually at 9-11 weeks. If it were my puppy, I would leave it with the litter for the extra week. Even if the mom isn't nursing them, they still will benefit from interacting with her in other ways but more importantly they will benefit from interacting and playing with their littermates.

 

[stickchick]

thanks twodogs

The breeder wishes to keep the litter together for a couple more weeks...so I was worried for naught. I, too, thought the fear imprint period to be later Twodogs but it appears that is not the case according to this quote from the Boxerworld website:

"At around eight to ten weeks the puppy goes through a fear period where it is extremely susceptible to physical and psychological trauma, the effects of which may be permanent and irreversible. This makes the ideal time to adopt a puppy at between seven and eight weeks of age. "

I prefer to have a puppy brought home around 10 weeks but wasn't sure how the breeder would want to proceed at this point seeing as the mom has pretty much turned her back on the litter and is now separated from them.

I can wait a couple more weeks for sleepless nights, housetraining and crazy boxer puppy love!

Sara