I saw an advert in our local paper, there seems to be quite a few at the moment, anyway it said golden labrador for sale 5 weeks old £100 genuine reason for sale. As far as i know puppy the puppy should still be with the mother at this age. Poor little thing i wonder why they don't want it. I nearly phoned up to find out why!!

Charlie, if the advert is for a "golden" labrador, it just proves that the breeder knows little about the breed.
:(

I don't think it's with the breeder, the way it's worded it sounds like the puppy has been sold which also makes it worse because the puppy was only 5 weeks old so not only has it been taken away from mum too early am i right in thinking the puppy will have missed out on worming and injections.

Contact the paper where you saw the advertisement and inform them that it is illegal to sell a pup under 8weeks of age. If they will not listen contact your trading standards officer. Our paper was often advertising pups under 8 weeks old and the trading standards visited the newspaper office. How do you know that she is'nt a breeder and has one pup left to sell

I beleived that in the old day the law said 6 weeks for puppies and Kittens. 8 weeks only applies to breeders required to be Liscensed.

Most people in our breed strat letting pups go to new homes between 7 and 8 weeks, as they are ready then. I know that in some toy breeds it is normal to leep pups until 10 or 12 weeks before allowing them to go to new homes.

It sounds like it may be a pup in the litter that isn't booked, or maybe a misprint, and should be 5 months or years.

Hopefully it is a misprint, but i very much doubt it is. What does booked mean? The reason i don't think the puppy is still with the breeder is in the advert it states genuine reason for sale and also the price makes it a little suspect, however i will write a letter if it's illegal to sell puppies of this age can anyone confirm this.

The 1999 Act established new restrictions on the sale of dogs born at licensed breeding establishements. The keeper of a licensed breeding establishment has two methods of sale, he or she may either sell a dog dirrect to its final home , providing the dog is not less than eight weeks of age and the keeper does not know or believe that the buyer intends to sell the dog on. Alternatively, he or she is restricted to sell to a licensed third party, namely a licensed pet shop or licensed Scottish rearing establishment, providing the dog is wearing a collar with an identifying tag or badge indicating the licensed breeding establishment at which it was born. Similar restrictions are imposed on Scottish rearing establisments.
There are no restrictions on any individual breeder at to what age they can or cannot sell a puppy only a recommendation of not before eight weeks of age by animal welfare groups.
Pet shops as they 'buy in' puppies from various other sources than from Licensed breeders in the UK such as from Eire. There is no requirement for dog breeders in Eire to be licensed, therefore when Irish breeders sell puppies to a dealer/pet shop they will not be restricted by the Uk legislation. The Pet Shop Licence Act 1951/91 which may set out conditions on the age that the puppies can be sold, again usually eight weeks but it has to be a condition of the Licence to be enforced this will depend very much on which set of conditions the local council are using when licensing their pet shops.

Yes, we had a meeting with trading standards. Our paper often advertised pups for sale at 6 - 7 weeks old but they are no longer allowed to. Under the breeding & Sale of Dogs Act 1999 "the keeper of a licensed breeding establishment is guilty of an offence if he sells a dog which is less than eight weeks old otherwise than to the keeper of a licensed pet shop or Scottish rearing establishment." This also applies to the hobby breeder.

So it basically applies to any breeder then? Thankyou for your input.

No only a Licenced breeder, our breed go at 7 weeks and if you you read the Book of the Bitch it says that puppies bond better at 7 weeks than older puppies. Though 5 weeks is to young for any breed.

I think we are confusing the direct homing of a pup from a caring breeder of a well socialised pup with the advertising of such