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Location: Orkney Islands, Scotland
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 4,963
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I'm still wondering what to tick! Normally, I'd say 8 weeks, but then, I got my Kali at a day under 7 weeks old - the farmer was reasonably pleased to see him go, as he was bullying all the other pups (a year later, we met up with one of the litter, who submitted to Kali as soon as he saw him!).
Kali never seemed upset by leaving -when we took him away, he was far more interested in what was in the back of our van than in the fact he was going somewhere different! He was the first of his litter to leave.
Snorri was 10 weeks old when he left Mum, and was also the first of his litter to leave. On the farm, on of the sons did the dog-rearing, but between Kali's litter and Snorri's, the lad shot himself
![Shocked](images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
, so Snorri's litter were cared for only adequately, rather than well, so Snorri & Co were a bit behind where they should have been. When we started a proper puppy-feeding routine, he grew at a tremendous rate (about doubling in size in a week!).
Two months later, at the County Show, we met people who had taken on his brothers - they couldn't believe he was the same litter, because he was so big!
So, IMO, 7 weeks is probably the earliest, and 10 weeks is about the upper limit. By 10 weeks, many "bonds" are well-formed; much longer than that and some of the bonding ability may be lost. Depends on the dog, I suppose! :smt102
Snorri