..... carrying a young pup around a game fair all day?  I saw one yesterday (I do a lot of craft/game fairs), being carried round in a rucksack (at the front), and the poor thing looked so subdued and petrified, completely overwhelmed by everything and was hardly moving.  I can't imagine anything worse for a young pup to be out for the whole day like this :( 

Better than leaving it unattended at home all day, or forcing it to walk its little legs off.

Surely if you've got a young pup, you put it's needs first though, rather than drag it round a game fair all day?  If you must go, leave the pup at home and just go for a couple of hours. 

Also good socialisation . We took  a 8 wks old pup from a litter I bred on holiday for a week , we also had her mum and our other beardies with us we stayed in a cottage by the sea ..pup had great  fun and lots of rest , she is the most friendly sociable dog I have ever had.

The window of socialisation is so short that it makes perfect sense to take a pup everywhere you go.

I've done this many times myself, and agree with others. It is very good socialisation, he is now the most friendly and well behaved dog.

I have always carried mine around at that age, car boot sales, Fairs and fetes etc :)

Surely if this is what they are going to be exoected to do then the sooner they are introduced the better??

We have took ours camping as soon as they have had their needles and have always loved it and got used to it at a young age :)

I take my dogs to shows, fairs, malls etc when they are really young.  Its great socialization and the only real problem I had with one of my dogs is that she couldnt do that when she was younger (broken leg) so its been tricky.  I am not saying she is mean or anything, totally the opposite, but it was a lot harder to socialize when she was older, than younger. 

My aunt took her Dobe pup to one Rib Fest (lots and lots of ribs done on the bbq, and lots and lots of people.)  There were so many people she had to let the dog pull infront because she couldnt find room to keep the dog at her side.  Anyways, Eby is the most fun loving, kindest, not afraid of anything dog.  She doesnt take life serious.  She figures (eby that is) that she can be serious when she is older.  Now is about loving life and people. 

Good socialisation, yes, I personally wouldn't do it for a full day, perhaps half an hour at the most.  The poor pup just looked scared stiff by the whole experience, it was being stuffed in and out of the ruck sack like a teddy bear and looked extremely lethargic.  I just cannot see the point if it is obviously that distressed by what is going on around it, or if it looks like it may possibly be ill (and I did wonder) then surely it's best to keep it at home, or head home at the very least. 

And if a pup is too young to be let down for a potter about, ie before jabs have taken effect, then I would certainly not take it to a game fair where there are going to be hundreds (literally) of other dogs that it may possibly come into contact with, not everyone has their dog vaccinated.  There are other busy places you can take a pup to ensure it gets used to sights and sounds, but each to their own, maybe I'm more of a worry wort than others. 

I just hope the poor thing was ok, it certainly did not look it one bit :(

if the dog did not look happy and looked unhappy ? then i say it WAS UNHAPPY ! i have not read this latest disliked at first glance book of THE CULTURE CLASH book yet...much prefer the latest ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS the calming signals stuff i glanced at also...but ? i am NOT in favour of saying that we cannot assume emotions similar to humans in animals...animals can "look miserable" and by that i do not mean "hang dog looks" of a bloodhound naturally with hang dog looks...can't recall that comedian on tv years ago with one that looked so good for that...sigh...am no good with names ! LOL !

but ...back to the subject...dogs, pups get tired, better to CARRY the thing for sure than make it walk...and hey...that takes knowing when pup is tired too ! mine INSISTS on walking not being carried unless very very tired i add ! and sometimes i felt she was just overexcited...however...she DOES LOOK MISERABLE when MISERABLE ! to me ! i know my pup ! and her moods ! she has them !

Probabally much better than leaving it in a hot car - if I have another pup then I would take it along to agility shows to get them used to the atmosphere and other dogs - many people do this.  They do get a lot of fuss from people though so I suppose the experience can make them tired.  At home they would perhaps be sleeping more but the socialisation is so important.

especially if it was the same game fair I was at yesterday and it was really hot!   There were quite a few pups I saw in peoples hands that didn't even look old enough to be away from their mother.

id take mine to everything but its hard carrying two lab pups - they do come to work with me though and have met loads of people in a week and had people come round to meet them - as soon as they are vaccinated they will be going to car boots and everything with me - obviously wont walk them too long and will be taking someone with me so we can carry one each