Hi wondered if they were any newfoundland breeders here to help me. I purchased my long awaited brown newfie pup last week, they brought her to me as i couldnt travel. they said she was 6 weeks old and they had got the all clear from vets to go on to there new homes. they are k.c reg but she said they had not received them so they said that they were going to send them by post. ive had her  a week and a day now but to me she seems younger than they said she is supposed to be 7 week now but i am not convinced. What is the best way to find out her exact age? What should her average weight be at 7 weeks? Thankyou and hope someone can be of help
Andrea

Hi Newfie pup, I don't have any specific advice about Newfoundlands but I didn't want to read and run. Did you meet your pups mum and see them in their home environment? It would really worry me that any pup was taken from its mum at 6 weeks as this seems very young to me, what paperwork have you got from the breeder?
Don't panic as this may be normal for Newfoundlands to be homed at this age but the fact that you have no paperwork, and the breeder delivered your pup would be ringing alarm bells with me :-(

Hi, there wasnt a problem with me going to see them as she wanted me to go to them but i couldnt so they arranged to come to me, they sent pics of the parents, i got a signed receipt saying how much i had paid and that they had not received papers and they would be sent recorded delivery as soon as they got them.

How did you find your pup? was it through the breed club or through someone that shows their newfoundlands?

They were on epupz, i have just this minute phoned them up and they said paperwork should be here late next week. He also said that there vet said they were quite big pups so i am not sure i have weighed her and she is 9 pound didnt no if this was little for her age.
andrea

>ive had her  a week and a day now but to me she seems younger than they said she is supposed to be 7 week now but i am not convinced. What is the best way to find out her exact age? What should her average weight be at 7 weeks?

I'd also be very concerned about your method of purchase and sadly this leaves you wide open to deception.  I cannot think that good breeders would home a puppy in this way.

However, you have her now and health must be your greatest worry.  Has she been to the vet?  Although vets aren't experts he/she may be able to give you an idea of age.

With regard to breeders: perhaps you could send an email to a few with photographs and see if anyone can give you some advice.  Weight may not be a great indicator of age as there will be always be variation in a litter but they may be able to give you a sensible range to look at.  If you have bought from a 'pet breeder' or puppy farmer you may not have a puppy that fully meets the breed standard so again there may be a considerable drift in weight range.  Failure to thrive in such a young puppy will also contribute to lack of weight gain.

I don't want to alarm you unnecessarily but do make sure your pup is checked for health

Hi, she hasnt been to the vets yet as i am waiting for her insurance to come through but may take her on monday regardless and just get her checked over.
andrea

> I'd also be very concerned about your method of purchase and sadly this leaves you wide open to deception.  I cannot think that good breeders would home a puppy in this way.
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Oh dear I suspected that she was from Epupz although there are good breeders that advertise on there the majority are not so great unfortunately :-(
I do hope that you do get the kc papers but I fear that these may never arrive.

Anyway on to the pup who is now a part of your family :-) irrespective of insurance I would take her to the vets to be checked out any insurance will not cover you for 2 weeks anyway and if she is very young she will need a check before then.....I don't suppose she came with any insurance from the breeders?

Yes i am waiting for the insurance from them too, to be honest i am very sure i will get the papers and insurance from them it was only the age thing i was concerned about and her size.
Andrea

Did they give you a reason that they bought the puppy to you at 6 weeks old? Was there something wrong with the litter that they needed to be separated?

No they had mum and dad with all puppies there but it was me who asked them to bring her as i couldnt get to them, all the other puppies are fine think most of them are gone she sent me photos of them so i could choose
andrea

I am not a breeder but I do have a Newfie.  9lbs seems far too small for a 7 week old pup.  Mine weighed over 18lbs at 8 weeks and 3 days of age (weighed at the vets the day after bringing her home).  We had visited her at 6 & 7 weeks of age and she was bigger than 9lbs even at our first visit.  I suppose there is a chance that she could just be small (although I've never known of a pup of 7 weeks to be THAT small) but I'd say your pup is either MUCH younger than you have been led to believe or there's a possibility she's not a full-bred Newfoundland.

I would get a vet's opinion as soon as possible.  You will not be able to claim from your insurance for anything in the first 14 days or so of the policy and I personally would not be happy to wait that long.

Your description of the breeder and how you chose your pup does not inspire me with confidence about the breeder of your pup.  I don't know any good breeder in any breed that would allow a pup to go to a home where they had not met and spent time with the family beforehand.  I don't suppose the parents have had the recommended health tests for the breed, have they?  There are several very serious hereditary conditions that good breeders test for...they should be hip scored, elbow scored, heart tested (by echo doppler) and cystinuria tested.  Only dogs that have satisfactiory results in all of these should be bred from.  Newfoundlands are a wonderful breed but an unhealthy one will cost your dearly in terms of both money and heartache.

Just to add to what has already been said, KC registration normally comes through to the breeder within a week, so I'd also be concerned that you have not received yours. :( I hope your pup will be alright, 6 weeks really is very young.

R U awaiting the free 6 week insurance?  I doubt that your dog will be allowed this as they shouldn't now be homed until 8 weeks from what I know.  Your pup seems extremely small and I wd. never sell a pup to someone who hasn't even seen it and their parent/parents.

>Yes i am waiting for the insurance from them too

I hope that everything works out well for you and your puppy but wonder if it might be sensible for you to assume the worst and get prepared.

Get your own insurance sorted immediately.  Do shop around and look for one that offers good lifetime cover.  Marks and Spencers do a good one and although you might want to search for a cheaper company you will be able to look at the M&S policy to see a good example of what to look for.  Remember that you are excluded for any illness or condition arising within the first 14 days so get cover to start today.  Don't worry about insurance for your first vet visit though, health check ups are not covered by insurance and neither are the innoculations your pup will need.  Your vet will also give you good advice about worming and will want to know whether the breeder had wormed the pups before they left.

If your pup has not come from health tested parents and has been rehomed too early then insurance is a must have.  It's part of the expense of owning a dog though so hopefully you've budgeted for it

If you have the breeders affix and the names of the parents you can look to see if they've been health tested here.  This is a link to the KC website.  If you input your pup's full name then you can get an immediate link to the parents.  You'll also get confirmation that her registration has gone through.

If you Google Newfoundland Breeders (via the Breed Club) you may see that some of them have photos of pups at different stages.  That might give you a place to start when checking size.

If this is your first dog do have a read of The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey - it's a great book for new puppy owners and many good breeders now give copies with their pups :)

Ok lets play this as though all is well, the breeder is ok and has just been very kind in delivering the pup to you as for some reason you couldn't go to them and for some reason they have applied to register the litter late. The KC papers and insurance will eventually come. Why still the delay in taking the pup to the vet? I take it apart from the weight of the pup, she is eating, toileting, playing with no apparent problems, so take her for her 10 point check at least, the vet will tell you her age and probably start her inoculations as she is 7 weeks now.

If she turns out to have any health problems after her check, then you call the breeder, it's not your fault that the pup has been given too early and is not covered by insurance, the insurance is only for 6 weeks anyway, no one should wait 2 weeks after purchasing a pup before a check up, were you given their vets documents to say the pup was vet checked by the way?

The way I look at it, if the pup is fine, what is there to worry about, if the pup has problems then waiting until she is 8 weeks is just making you bond all the closer maybe that is their idea. Due to the circumstances and my suspicious mind I would have her down the vets on Monday for that check up.

Hope that all is well, but IMO if you think the pup is fine, why the worry about the insurance anyway? Your supposed to have a healthy, stocky pup here, if you don't please just send her back to breeder, I know that would be very hard, but don't let your heart rule keeping her, there are so many Newfie breeders out there with beautiful pups don't be a statistic if things aren't right here.

Fingers crossed all is well though, let us know. :-)

If you take your pup to the vet as soon as possible for a check, if she's fine the vet should be able to issue a PetPlan cover note where cover starts the same day - otherwise it's 14 days from taking out insurance before the pup's covered.

Hi
sorry but i wouldnt home a pup until a leats 7 weeks and then only to a experienced newfie home if you want to send me a pm 

Good idea JG. :-)

its has come to light recently that some insurance companies will not insure my breed if they do not come from health tested parents  if they present with health issues relating to health testing unbeliveable i know but belive me its true  there have been a few new owners with dogs that have fallen foul of this

>its has come to light recently that some insurance companies will not insure my breed if they do not come from health tested parents  if they present with health issues relating to health testing

Thanks for the heads up newfienook  This might be one way to steer potential puppy buyers away from the wrong sort of breeder but one suspects the puppy farmers and other unscrupulous breeders might just find new ways to fabricate false documents.

Do you know if there is a warning about this on your breed club sites? 

Finally, do you happen to know who the insurance companies are?  It doesn't affect me but I'd be interested to read their policy/application documents to see how they've worded it.  What starts for one breed may well become the norm for others...

its has come to light recently that some insurance companies will not insure my breed if they do not come from health tested parents

I've just been through Pet Plan's breeder website but an no longer find where on earth they have put their breeders charter, but this used to say the parents must be hip scored BELOW breed average (bit impossible for Malinois as our average is just 9 and many are spot on 9).

R U awaiting the free 6 week insurance?  I doubt that your dog will be allowed this as they shouldn't now be homed until 8 weeks from what I know.

Just to say, the 6 weeks free insurance from Pet Plan ceased last year and became 4 weeks. Also the KC's insurance is only 4 weeks now. With PetPlan the minimum age is just 6 weeks -even for kittens!

My breed is much smaller than yours and I would expect an 8 week old pup to be 9 to 11 pounds, sounds very light to me, and I cannot imagine 6 weeks bing old enough for your breed. 

The only pups of that size breed I have seen were Leonbergers and at 4 weeks they were as big as my pups at 7 weeks, and very immature in their development compared to mine.

In my medium size breed 7 to 8 weeks is the usual homing age.  I am curious to find out what is usual practise in Newfs.

Barbara, 7-8 weeks is normal amongst Newfie breeders I know.  Generally 7 weeks if the home is experienced (usually with other adult Newfies in the home too), 8+ weeks if not.

As others have said, 6 weeks is awfully young to be taken away from her mum.
I picked both of my current girls at 6 weeks(selected which one I would like to have at 8 weeks)and they were definitely too babies to leave their mum at that point!
Not that the breeder would have let them to be taken at that age anyway.

I have Leos so similar sized breed and my first Leo nearly 20 years ago came home at 7 weeks and weighted 9.9lbs so it is possible your girl is 7 weeks old if Newfie weights are anything similar to Leo weights(I would think they might be little heavier at this age tho, compared to a Leo)
My current two Leos have weighted 22lbs and 17.6lbs at 8 weeks so a lot more than my first one!
Even though she weighted less than half what my 22lbs girl weighted she was not skinny(e.g. not fed enough, wormy etc), just small in every way.
She was not small compared to the rest of the litter, they were all similar size so she was not "runt" or anything.

What did the breeder feed and advised you to feed your puppy?

Looking back my first one was tiny and too young even at 7 weeks, that extra week makes a massive difference but we did not know any better at the time.

Have you got friends/family with friendly dogs?
As one thing she will have missed out on leaving her mum so young is lessons in doggy language and behavior.
I would say it is extremely important you get her mixing(after she has had her jabs) with friendly adults who will teach her doggy manners.
Maybe you could try and see if there are Newfie people meeting up somewhere near you?

If you google newoundland weight charts quite few come up giving you average weights for different ages.
Looking at these your puppy does seem very light...

My pups when they leave me ( at 8 weeks ) are no less than 18lb , most of my pups are born between 1.5 and 2.5lb, just glanced thorugh this but i think you said that you did not see pup with mum only pictures on the net , are you sure it is a real Newfie baby.
Go on everyone shoot me down!!

Peanuts

If you want to PM me you are more than welcome

My leo pup is just 11 days old and weighs 4lb 10 oz

hi there,just wondering if you have heard any more.
i have to say,i personally would not have gone about getting one like that.My newfie pup was 8 weeks when i got him. i live in cornwall and a couple of weeks before i collected him i drove to wales where he was and visited.This gave the breeder a chance to see me,as as well as me having a chance to see the pups,mum and gran and half brother and to have a dam good chat about what i was about to take on!!When i collected him,i was given a folder with all details of his parents health tests,loads of advice on a newfie pup,food for him,i signed a contract stating that i would not send him abroad,or sell him(he goes back to the breeder,but thats over my dead body as he aint going no where)i also can not breed unless he has had all the health tests etc.
He is now 16 and a half weeks and he weighs 50lbs.The breeder has been fab,before and after buying him,i had so many telephone calls with her,she is always there if i have any questions etc,and i am  so happy that i got my newfie from her,she is an amazing example of a good breeder who does everything for her dogs and their pups. She even says we have to take the pup to our own vet within 72hours of getting him home for a check,she does not do this for us as we only have her word for it etc,
i do hope your newfie is ok,i would never hesitate to take it to the vets,insurance or not,
jo

Newfienook, that's great news about the insurance companys not insureing pups from parents that are NOT health tested.
I picked up my boy at 7 weeks and took him to the vet two days later where he was weighed at 7 kg. ( 15 lb in old money ) any breeder worth there salt would insis that you take your pup to your vet as soon as possable to get them checked over, never mind waiting for insurance.