What I would like to know is why so many people want to wait until 12 weeks at the end of the period puppies are most receptive to new things. Don't tell me bite inhibition. Prolonging the time they spend enjoying biting games with their littermates isn't going to make it easier to teach them not to bite.

Myself, most of our puppies come at 7-8 weeks and have done just fine. The less the breeder knows about caring for puppies, the better it is to get the puppy into its home early, but never before 6 weeks.

I don't know anyone that got a puppy at 12 weeks. 8 weeks is definately the norm from my experience, and I meet a LOT of puppies due to my work.

Most go at 7/8 wks, 6 is to early the socialisation they get with litter mate in this time scale is crucial.

As for 12 wks, I think you will find , this is more common with toy breeds..

As for the add, I would run a mile

It looks like a lot of the ads I see when I go our local farm shop which also has a huge pet food area and people can stick up ads for pups for sale.
Sounds nice and friendly but is absoltely not the type of place or ad I would find a puppy from.

It's bad, but I have seen a lot worse. Least they are wormed and checked by a vet I guess. Some people do use litters to make a bit of pocket money but they are not necessarily the spawn of evil, they may well love their own dog, they are just often naive and don't know any better, the ones who do it knowing fine well are the worst, inc. puppy farmers.

As for the ages, as someone said, i'd rather 6 weeks than 12, personally i'd rather 6 than 10 too, all mine have came at 7 weeks (except the older ones obv.) and been fine, except Maddy but she's a one off, lol.

£250????? That is an incredible price for a collie pup! Perhaps with its sheepdog training well under way, but at that age, it probably hasn't ever seen a sheep, let alone worked one!

My Kali was the first to leave his Mum, aged 6 weeks 5 days. Snorri and Thorgeir were both 10 weeks.


Snorri


PS - a friend of mine paid £750 for his dog, but it was fully trained when he got it!

Kali - £25: Snorri - £35: Thorgeir - £50

Maybe it is an American thing, but I was once denounced as a troll for disagreeing with 12 as a minimum and 14 weeks better yet. Come to think of it she was an Aussie. The 12 weeks is quite common here. In some states, 8 weeks is the earliest it is legal.

A lot of very experienced Border Collie people get their puppies at 6 weeks old, I always try to & I know Mish got Mav at 6 weeks old. However I wouldn't want a toy breed under 8 weeks & it's better to be 10. It certainly didn't affect Roodee who fitted straight into our routine & being that bit older was a stronger puppy.

I always thought that under 9 weeks was absolutely awful to part a pup from the Mum (I still think this with Chis though) but having listened to a similar thread on here, I think that some breeds probably are the better for settling into their new homes a little sooner

Thanks for your comments everyone. We got Cassie at 6 weeks but that was also from a BYB and we knew no better at the time. She was far better off with us than the type of squallor they had her living in at the time.
I think it's just sad to see ads like this. The lad I know that got one of the pups will have known no better either and I know she'll be much loved and well looked after with him. I just seriously hope her health is ok. Sometimes I wonder if Cassie's epilepsy is down to her breeding.