Agreed... no decent breeder would let puppies go before 7weeks at least!!

OH got Maisie (yorkshire terrier) at 6 weeks. Her Mum's milk had dried up.

She lived in a single dog household but spent a lot of time with Tess and came to live with Tess a few weeks later. Was out and about a lot as a youngster meeting lots of dogs.

She is a very confident little dog and has excellent canine communication skills. She has been out walking with a few of my clients dogs that bully little dogs and are reactive to other dogs. She puts them at their ease very quickly but won't take any bullying.

She susses all our boarders out quickly and knows how to behave with each individual dog.

However she does purr like a cat!! OH had two cats that she lived with at 6 weeks and they used to bring her in 'little presents'.

I personally feel six weeks in most cases is too young, but 7 weeks to an experienced home should be fine I would have thought.

As I said before, it was ignorance on my part and, I think, a lack of proper care by the breeder. It was not a planned litter and he was actually the last of the litter to leave, spending his last night there in an outside kennel with, amongst others, his sire! He still prefers to be outside but I do shudder to think what could have happened!

With all due respect, that is as clear a case of twisting words as I have ever read!

No, I know it read wrong, just read it again, the 2 sentenes weren't meant to be connected, lol.

What I mean is surely, the more backstreet the breeder, the quicker they want rid, the less the effort for more money! Very occasionally for health reasons the pups need to be taken away that young surely.

IMO 8 weeks is the minimum BUT it very much depends on the individual circumstances of each litter, the breed & the home the puppy is going to.

The dangers of removing a pup from mum & litter mates too early are well documented & some of the very young litters that have been dumped in rescues (minus the mum!) demonstrate this very well .

No problem!

Just to clarify, by an occasional breeder I mean someone who only breeds a litter when they have a full waiting list of people who specifically want one of their puppies (or they want one themselves), whose dogs are pets and live in the house and who you would go back to for your next puppy because they are such beautiful, well-mannered dogs. Someone who has the experience and expertise to know which new home will be suitable at 6 weeks and which will benefit from a further week with the mum. Absolutely nothing 'backstreet' about such a breeder!

I do tend to catagorise breeders in 2 distinct groups, the pro's and the person with 2 pets they 'mate'. To me 'backstreet' covers any family who mate their 2 pet dogs, without real breed knowledge and breeding know how, ie: are both parents fully health tested etc?

Absolutely, all health tests carried out and full management of the line she breeds going back generations. It's not always her own two dogs she breeds together to avoid inbreeding. She doesn't breed as a commercial exercise but only to get the puppies she and other people want and to further her line.

'Backstreet' to me has rather seedy connotations!