We have been seriously looking into buying a puppy as a family pet for several months now and have read all we can lay our hands on about Labradors (our chosen breed) and puppies generally. Of those breeders we have contacted so far, some let their puppies go at 6 weeks and some at 8. The books we have read also differ in their advice on this topic. The last breeder we met who, all being well, was going to sell us one of hers, advocated 8 weeks - unfortunately her bitch reabsorbed her litter - whilst the breeder we have just contacted sells hers at 6 weeks.

What do you think is the best age? We have been advised that a Labrador from a working strain would be best for us and we would like a male pup. We understand the importance of a pup being socialised to dogs and all that it can learn from its Mum, but would like to hear the voices of experience on the matter.

By the way, this is an absolutely fantastic forum - full of really good information - I feel that I have learnt so much from it.

Hi Cathryn,
I won't let mine go before 7 weeks - they can learn an awful lot about proper dog behaviour from their mum and the rest of the litter in that week - but prefer nearer 8 weeks, before they start getting too involved in the pack. By 8 weeks their mum is usually thoroughly fed up with them and can't wait to see them go! At 6 weeks she will still "top them up" whenever they can catch her, so I feel it's a little too young.

Hope this helps. :)

I let them go between 7 and 8 weeks. I have their ear tattoos done then and their second worming. Most people like to collect around the weekend, so they are sometimes just over 7 weeks if born mid week, but I aim for 8 weeks!

It is ilegal to sell a pup under 6 weeks, and if the breeder is commercial and registered (breeds 5 or more litters in any 12 month)with the local authority, pups have to be at least 8 weeks old.

Hi Cathryn,
I am not a breeder, just a lover :), but I have just purchased our lovely puppy and she was two days short of eight weeks when we got her. (She had not been needing mums milk since she was six weeks). She has been absolutely brilliant, very calm and unphased by nothing thus far. I really think that the extra time with mum gives them a little more confidence, so purely from my own point of view, would be much happier taking one of eight weeks. Very best of luck with your pup when you get him, Labs are fab! :)

Hi Cathryn,

I would contact the breed club and ask what the recommended age minimum is to let puppies go. Most of the breed clubs have a code which they require members to follow and it almost always specifies when puppies can be sold.

In general, the recommended age for any breed is no younger than 8 weeks, which is just about when they have completed their "basic training" in how to interact with other dogs.

Stacey

I currently have 3 Labs aged 6, 5 and 10 months and recently lost my old boy @ 13. One was 12 weeks when he arrived, one 12 weeks and one 8 weeks, the old chap was a rescue at 5 years.

From my experience I would say that anywhere between 8 & 12 weeks is good. Before 8 weeks and they are too young, and as someone else said still topping up from mum, @ 8 weeks they are coping nicely with food and becoming quite independant.

One question - have you been told working strain because you are actually going to work it?? I ask as I work two of mine, and have found that working strain get bored much faster, cause more damage and need more excercise than non-working.

Hello there!

Thanks for all your replies - seems the consensus so far is 8 weeks. Will no doubt be posting lots of questions in the near future.

To Julie - Throughout our search for a Lab we have stressed that temperament should be the most important factor in choosing a dog. This is because it will be my first dog (though not my husbands), and because we have two children aged 6 and 2. Several owners and breeders have said to us that a working strain dog would suit us better; the thinking being that they (in their experience) are easier to train, and show an instinctive willingness to please. I don't know - I can imagine that a working dog might get bored in the absence of adequate mental/physical stimulus but have been told that they're not quite the same as the 'herding' breeds who really do need to work. The breeders who have said this had no puppies for sale so therefore presumably had no ulterior motives..

I am at home all day and fully committed to training the puppy properly to make sure he becomes a happy, well behaved and well adapted family pet - wish me luck?!!! - perhaps there are restless and easily bored Labs to be had from both strains?

Im no expert, but Ive bred dogs for 13 years and I wouldnt entertain a breeder who allowed a puppy to leave them at 6 weeks. The only people Ive spoken to say that they lose money if the pups stay longer eating their heads off. Any reputable breeder who cares about their puppies welfare, and your experience as a new owner, will insist that the pup is with them for at LEAST!!!!!! seven weeks. Mine leave here ONLY when they have had both their innoculations. Ive resorted to having to get an american vaccine so they can be done at 6 and 8 weeks instead of the uk licensed 10 and 12wks, but there is no way a baby born here is leaving open to infection

I've never let a pup go before 8 weeks for selfish reasons i.e. I want as much time with them as I think their new owners will tolerate :) but I think it is worth noting that the Guide Dogs for the Blind place their puppies in their walker homes at 6 weeks, they regard this as the best way to help them fix their affections to humans rather that develop a greater interest in other dogs which after all is what most family dogs are required to do.

between 7 and 8 weeks....they're tooooooo little at 6 weeks bless em' I couldn't part then and the mums would have a fit.
Tracey

Hiya,

I'd say 8 weeks, definitely.

I'm hoping for a litter in the near future, and I won't let them go before 8 weeks.

Hope you find the perfect pup soon :)

Lisa

I think the breed makes a lot of difference. with my breed they are good and ready to be flying the nest by 7 to 8 weeks. they have full fledged wills and characters and are becoming very hard work as they need to have individual training. They really need to become acustomed to collar and lead before going, as can be stubborn about this. Also new owners are apt to be too indulgent, and the younger pups haven't reached the stage of outwitting them yet, and are physically more dependant.

I had my oldest one at 11 1/2 weeks old, as she was the last bitch to be homed. She was very independant byt then already, and I feel took a bit longer to get some of the basics than a younger pups that I have had here. Shew was bred with a breeder who had loads of room, and it didn't matter if the pups made a row.

A freind had a pup from me at bang on 8 weeks ( I wouldn't let her go before then) and a few years later picked her boy up at 7 weeks (she had requested this). She found him quicker to bond with her (I think he is too much of a Mummy's boy), and his Obedience pre training was started sooner, and more effective.

Hello Cathryn,

Have a look at The Labrador Retriever Club Website if you haven't already. There is a very good section on there about buying a puppy. There is also the contact details for all the local breed clubs who will put you in touch with reputable breeders close to you.

I am not an expert or breeder just have a lab as a pet. As for working strain vs show I would say from my experience I have a working strain dog and I have worked very hard with him he has been going to obedience since 14 weeks and he has just started agility to give him something else to think about and do as I don't actually work him. But I know two other people at my training club who also have working strain and they are having all sorts of problems now the dogs are geting older (one is about 20 months and the other about 14months) as the dogs work things out so quick they are constanly getting into trouble. Unfortunatly I only know one show type and he is still a puppy so I can't compare temperment but the structure of the dog is a lot different. Working type dogs tend to be a bit finer and show dogs tend to have more bone and are a bit 'sterdier' looking.

I would try and have a look at both types and see what you like the look of and go from there.

Oh and I got my Lab when he was eight weeks and he has done really well, I don't think I would have been comfortable bringing home at six weeks as they changed quite a lot in those two weeks.
HTH

Tracy :)

Hi again

I hope other people will agree with me when I say that if the Labrador has been bred "properly" you should get a good temperament anyway. Its one of their traits, as is being a good family dog and the willingness to please. I have a boy of 3 who is treated as a hairless part of the pack, and often found in their bedding being licked to death.

Of my four 2 have been working strain and 2 "show" strain. They have all had fantastic natures and all been easy to train - although each has taken a slightly different method (food vs toys). However the 2 show strain have never damaged anything in the house (unless you count a few used) nappies, whereas the other 2 have eaten just about anything including carpet and wiring. A lot tof the people I work my boys with have rescue Labs, many working strain who went into non-working homes and got bored.

I'm not saying that a "show" strain won't but I feel there is more chance of your carpets staying intact!! I envy you being home with the puppy.

Whereabouts in the country are you?

Hi Cathryn,
I just got back from Crufts, and we had a good look at the labs because in the fullness of time we want another. And my lab-adoring husband didn't see one lab he liked the look of ("short and fat with heads like Rottweilers") until we saw a man who was competing in the trials - now his (working-bred) lab was terrific - it looked like a lab. That decided us. When we want a lab, we look for a worker.

I actually took my puppy at 6 weeks because the breeder was having complications with her own pregnancy and so asked me to take her early.

The pups had already been separated completely from their mum because they were making her bleed with their sharp little teeth

I rang my vet first to check he thought it was OK and I have to say she's been fine from the word go.

She was tiny but it was a godsend for us really cos it let the cats get used to her while she was too small to be itnerested in them.

Hi there,

8 weeks is what anyone I know does and I think it is 8 weeks in the KC code of practice/ breeder/ethics.

But give or take a 2-3 days I would imagine is fine.

Pam

Hello all of you

Thanks so much for taking such an interest and for sharing your experiences. I think I will contact the NW Lab club and see what they think as Stacey suggested. The breeders who offer their pups at 6 weeks though do appear to be and would certainly consider themselves to be reputable, and since I have no experience I don't want to end up in an argument with them over how long they should be keeping their pups for!!!! It has been mostly working dog breeders who have said they let theirs go at 6 weeks and perhaps this is similar to what Isabel said about guide dogs - they have to be socialised to people more than to dogs..

Julia (sorry, got your name wrong before) - your experience does seem very compelling. My neighbour with his gundog says he never gave his dog anything at all to chew i.e. toys etc and thus found it easier to discourage the chewing of anything else. It must be said though that although his dog is extraordinarily well behaved (to my mind), she does live for the most part outside!!!! Also, he hasn't taken her on any shoots for quite a while and she remains perfectly behaved. Maybe he just found himself a real good 'un!!!! ( BTW we live in Oldham just on the edge of the moors).

I don't have any fixed ideas on what the dog should look like except I would prefer him not to be one of the really big beefy looking ones. My parents in law have one who they got from rescue at 18 months and they have worked wonders with him through love and consistancy. He is now 12 and so gorgeous I could eat him!!!! I have to say though that by the looks of him he comes from working stock!!!!

Thanks again everyone. Will post again when I've found the right breeder - we're aiming to get the puppy around May so that my husband can be off work as well for a couple of weeks to help with the initial settling in. Can't wait!!!!

between 7-8 weeks, --i think the kc asks for liscenced breeders to hang on until 8 weeks. -as for working against show, i think knowing a few of both sorts as a pet youd be better with a show one, nothing against the workers, but theyre bred to be active, the show ones arent quite as "hot" . each have great temperaments, just a touch different need in life :D

Cathryn,

The "big beefy ones" in any breed are generally those that are overfed! It's easy enough to turn a working Lab into a blimp by the liberal dosage of tasty treats.

Stacey