Hi Everyone
This is my first litter. I have already got people interested in my puppies, at what age should I let people view them as regards to choosing one and what age should I let them go?  I am looking towards the bank holiday weekend which will make the puppies 8 1/2 weeks old for them to go to their new homes.
Thanks
Patricia

Every breeder will be different,  I personally will not allow people to come and visit the pups until they are at least 4 weeks of age, (given the choice I prefer from 6 weeks, as the pups have got their personalities shinning through, and they are running around and playing at this age.) I always send photo's by e-mail from birth and the pups are usually chosen this way, I keep them fully updated with 2-3 e-mails a week and tons of photo's so that they can watch their pups growing up and don't feel they are missing out on anything. Most are happy to wait until 6 weeks, but I certainly would not say no to anyone who wished to visit beforehand, I generally meet everyone before the birth even happens though and they get to know my bitch and myself and see all certificates etc, from 6 weeks they can come and visit as often as they like.

I find there's no point in people coming to see them before 5 weeks, when they're starting to get more independent and their characters are starting to develop.

I know that the TOS won't allow you to say what breed you have at the moment, most dogs are ready for their new homes from 8 weeks (some breeders let them go at 7) unless a toy breed which many keep until 12 weeks.  If you have a large-medium breed 8 weeks is plenty, (are you doing first vaccination if so 8 and a half weeks is fine) if you are not doing first vac, remember the pups need to be fully vaccinated before going out in the world for socialising so try not to keep them back as the three month socialising window is very important.

HI

Yes my puppies will have their first vaccinations and will be micro-chipped.

Personally, I do not like to give first vaccinations as the pups new vet may not use the same manufacturer and I dont like the idea of mixing two sets.

Worse still most will want to do the full course with whatever they use, so pup ends up with three lots of jabs.

for this reason pups from here that go before 10 weeks go without jabs, but any due to go after 10 weeks will be fully vaccinated.

Ditto, Brainless. In my last litter I had one without an owner at just over 9 weeks (my vet will not do second jab under 11 weeks) so I made sure the new owner didnt collect him until a few days after the second jab.

Ditto again. A complete course of jabs or none.

Personally (large breed) I let mine go at 7 ½ weeks as a lot of people say pups enter a fear stage at 8 weeks so are better off going just before then. Mum usually is quite fed up by then as well. :)

Hi

As already been said every breeder has there own ideas. My last litter I had pups booked weeks before they were due. Some people dropped out when the litter was born for various reasons. Not the colour, sex they wanted or had got one else were. But the ones that did want a pup were desperate to see them. I sent photos from birth and let them come when the bitch was more settled and the eyes were open so that was about 2 weeks old. AS I wasnt keeping a pup I let them choose the ones they would like. My breed comes in different colours and has different markings so they chose the ones with the markings they liked. The buyers then came back either weekly or fortnightly to see there pups and we swapped lots of emails in between.

This was hard work for me but I really feel that every one beneitted. The buyers were able to see there pups grow and they saw a huge difference every visit. The pups knew the people and I felt happy to go away with them. I was able to spend ages chatting and asking questions and they did to which was great.

The pups saw lots of people and were well socialised which was good to

I will say however as the pups grew so did there personalitites, they were all different. I do wonder if they would of chosen the same pups at 7 weeks as they did at 2.  I let them go at 7.5 weeks and they were more than ready to go then.   I made it the weekend so the buyers didnt have to worry about work ect

All the pups are getting along great in there new homes and i have remaind friends with all the buyers and i think this is because of the amount of time I spent with them

Wendy

This interests me, Lumphy. My breed doesnt vary in colour and I always ask perspective owners to let me guide them as the puppies personality develops - a puppy perfect for one owner may not be right for another. Didnt anyone want to change their minds as the puppies got older? Certainly my owners from first seeing the pups at around 4 weeks old and later visits all say that it is very dificult to choose as they change so much in both looks and personality.

I have been told recently that micro-chipping pups before 6 months of age is not usually done because the chip can move. Is this so, and would it not be better to tatoo at 8 weeks?
Also the Petlog people will not give the micro-chip details out if a dog is lost they will only contact the breeder/owner themselves, whereas the
National tatoo register will let you know who the pup belongs to.
Our rescue have this problem with dogs brought in with a micro-chip, we know the dog belongs to some one but cannot get the information to follow through and if the dog has been dumped the owners just ignore the Petlog people.

Our rescue was microchipped at 9 weeks old and I recently had it checked to see if it has moved at all. It was slightly off to the left of its original site but still easily found. When we took our pup home the rescue sent a form off notifying Petlog of his new address and owner's name.
We recently had to phone Petlog and had no problem as everything was registered in our name. However if we move or have any other changes we have to make the changes through the Dogs Trust as they still retain legal ownership of our pup.
From the point of view of a rescue trying to find the original owner of a micro chipped dog - if the owners have reported it missing the Petlog people will let them know it has been found and if they haven't reported it then the dog is probably better off in rescue anyway.

I microchip all my pups myself at around 6 weeks and I've never had a chipped pup had the chip move, only in cats -whether adult or kittens doesn't seem to matter at all.

Just re-read above - should of coursde be prospective owners!!!

just another thought....you say that the new owers are coming to chooses their pups.... however certainly in my breed, I actually choose the pup for the owner, unless its for a show/working home to another experienced person within the breed that is!!! I wil always have at least two in mind for myself, & then I narrow down their "choice" to their prefered sex & if there are then, say three left, i generally tell them which one is theirs, unless they are very similar in type & temperament & both suit prospective owner....only then can they choose. Obviously if your breed is a very straight forward breed with no real breed specific requirements like mine, then its slightly different.  any way, just a thought thats all!

Sam what breed do you own?
I would feel a little cheated if the breeder insisted picking out the puppy who was going to live with *me* for the next 15 or so years.Thus far i've always been able to pick out the puppy i wanted,unless some already were spoken for ofcourse.
Patricia speaking from purely a pet owners point of view,i've always wanted to see the puppies ASAP,after waiting so long from the booking through to mums pregnancy etc,once the pups are finally born i'm bursting at the seams to see the little bundles.The last 2 breeders i got my dogs from let me see them at one week old and as many times thereafter as i wanted,which was once a week.It was so exciting to see how much they had grown from the last week,and the breeders and myself got to know eachother better.I usually stayed for an hour or two at each time.For me,my puppy ownership starts from the minute they are born :)
Also with my last dog,i paid him off,so each week when i visited pup i gave the breeder some money and by the time he was ready to go i had paid him off fully,this was much easier than finding the lump sum all at once.

the thing is you will only ever get a snapshot of the pup when you visit, the breeder has spent weeks watching their character develop and will actually be in a better position to choose one that will suit you.

Interestingly I leave the choice up to people after describing the characters and which I think they are most likely to suit and most people go with the one I think will suit them best.  I suppose it does help that my breed are all one colour and other than me people would be hared pressed to tell me which pup they had just been cuddling once put down on the floor again.

A good breeder wants the homing to work out for you and the pup.

This is what I do too.I describe the pups and gently try to nudge the buyer towards the one I think would be most suitable. 9 times out of 10 it works well. :) Again there's little variation in colour in my breed. Of course, my breed never go as pure pets , each pup has an intended purpose be it showing or agility (the most common ones) or anything else.

I have to say that my breeder's approach suited perfectly in that you get to choose your own pup by being gently lead towards the one she knows will suit best! It helps that she rarely has to let her pups go to strangers so she's already got a very good idea about which pup is best for which prospective owner.

ktee  bloodhounds
if a family comes along & they wanted to "choose" a big sturdy dog hound, then the answer would be a resounding "no"! Likewise if someone who wanted a quieter life with one as a household pet & lived in a village rather than having their own land, they wouldnt be having the one with the most active nose!!!! Most times i can narrow it down to 2 pups for them to choose from, but invariably by the time the prospective owners who are not already within the breed get to see the pups, the majority have already been selected, & there is no choice left. I certainly dont let them have free rein over what pup they want!! they can go elsewhere if they dont trust me to choose wahts best from the few available!! or they can have the one I run on but dont keep, out of the 2 or 3 I run on.

I get people to come and see my Spanish at 4 weeks.  But they are not like other breeds, they are feeding whilst half of them is still inside their mother at birth (yep this has happened :d)  As soon as their eyes open they get up on their feet.  At four weeks of age they are climbing the pen and jumping out.  Then I sell them at 7 weeks.

The ones that I've kept longer I advise their new owners to go and see a vet and to tell them what vaccinations my vet gives so that they only have their second one once they are with their new owners,  This has always worked for me in over 8 years and I've only ever had one vet who said that they wouldn't do it, so I didn't give the vaccination.

I thought it was normal for pups already born to suckle whilst there are still pups to come into the world - it helps the others along?

My bitches have never suckled any pups until whelping's finished.

Mine has, must be an individual's thing :)

Both mine did

Oh I get them onto a teat as quick as I can if they don't so so themselves and Mum tends to them.  when another birth is imminent I move them away from the flood.

My bitches would never tolerate having their pups removed or even put in a box beside them.

My bitches have always cleaned each whelp as it arrives, and themselves, then pushed them to one side when the next arrives.

brainless, where do you move them when another birth is imminent - do you just put them up round the bitch's head, if you don't remove them into a box?

Yes I keep them on a heat pad to help them dry off and just make sure they are out of the dams way while she is birthing. 

I have never had a bitch whelp in less than 3 hours, with usually 20 minutes to an hour between pups so in that time she busily cleans and cleans them while they suckle. 

The actual deliveries are very quick, and the bitch has her head at her rear cleaning the pup as it is born.

Very occasionally the bitch is so busy caring for her pups she doesn't notice the birth of the next one so I simply move it to her nose for her to clean it having first ruptured the membranes and cleared the mouth of the pup.

I think in general 8 weeks is just right, but with small breeds like Chihuahua (the breed I own) I wouldn't let the pup go before he's 3 months old. I picked up mine when he was 3,5 months...