i met a woman today carrying a puppy in the market and she told me it was 6 weeks old and she had had it over a week already, i didnt ask any more, no point really, is this common?

Having a pup from 5 weeks of age Nope extremely uncommon!!! Poor pup. :-(

A bit of a long story but Unfortunatly we got our first pup at about 4-5 weeks old.  We were told that he was 8 weeks old, and all the documentation we had for him was all forged including the jabs he was meant to of had.  Infact in the first 24hours of us having him, he took a real turn for the worse and our Vet saved his life.  She was so angry that we had been given a 'Puppy farm pup' and been lied to that she rang the breeder and told her that she was going to reporter her, plus alot more.  To this day, that breeder has never breed or sold another puppy, with any luck shes in Jail.
The good news is, that our pup is now a very happy and well looked after 3 year old.  When we brought our 2nd pup a year ago, we made sure we did alot more homework.  Infact all of his brothers and sisters were in Crufts! :-)

Don't know how common this is but I spoke with a woman at the vets who had a yorkie pup that looked very frail, I mentioned that it was very small when compared to my yorkies as pups.  When she came out from seeing the vet I asked how she got on and she said that the vet told her the puppy should still be with the mother and was far too young to be on it's own. IMO it looked roughly 5 weeks old.

Hi Sorry not been about for a while , as ive got a litter on the ground  (All Sold) And have had No me time at all:rolleyes::rolleyes:. BUT I had a phone call from one off my puppy buyers telling me that a friend off a friend off hers had bought a puppy from an advert in the Paper shop window. She recieved a call from the breeder to say she had to collect puppy that day or they were all going to the RSPCA. She was told this was because the bitch did not want to feed them any more.
She went and collected her puppy but wasnt sure what to feed it......hence the phone call to me!!!!  and guess what???.... This poor little puppy was 4 weeks old!!! I am so angry. How can people do this???

A colleague of mine recently asked me what is the right age for a pup to leave its Mum as a friend of hers had just brought home a 4 week old Staffy pup :( Apparently the 'breeder' (:rolleyes:) was moving house and didn't want to deal with the inconvenience of puppies whilst doing so

I saw an advert for 4 week old staff pups on a classifieds a couple of weeks back, described as "ready to go to new homes".  I contacted the buyer and asked why so early - she told me the mother had stopped feeding them so they didn't need to stay with her anymore.  I pointed out that staying with mum isn't just about weaning, it's also to do with social skills and socialisation - I got basically the same reply; the mother's last litter stayed longer because they needed it, this time the mother wasn't bothered so they didn't need to stay as long.  Straight over her head then :rolleyes:

My friend (who lives in Spain) took on a puppy at 4 weeks of age maximum!  The rest of the litter were drowned!  Her dog (well puppy really) is still only about 9 months old and is really wonderful with people and very well behaved for her age.  Unfortunately she is sadly lacking in doggie social skills.  She's a very big girl (rough collie crossed with German shepherd) but is terrified of most other dogs, although she's quite happy with my papillons now.  However, she still has no idea how to play with other dogs and I feel that she is missing out on so much fun because of this. 

In this particular case, of course, the dog is very well cared for and has a comfortable home which none of her litter mates (or subsequent litters) have!

ive met one at 5weeks, a BC from a working farm (NOT a puppy farm)
she was abit little & nervous at 5weeks,but now at 7 shes completley normal/

i got my pup Mav at 6 weeks, hes now 7 weeks, & its been alot more work than getting a 8 week old pup.

def not recommened for a novice!

can i ask why it has been so hard? is it because they need more time and socialisation or is there other specific things that younger pups need more off.

sleeping more,so needing to wee more,just being more babyish ,clingy,mouthy etc. smaller bowels so needs to go out even more often.
now hes turned 7 weeks hes changed alot,much more independant.

felt ive really hard to work hard helping him to explore new things & take over from his litter mates.

It will be interesting to see if i have a stronger bond with him,(as i have a HUGE bond with flynn who came at weeks),which was the reason for them going at 6 weeks

i feel a great respnsiblity to make sure hes not at all backward "socially" & domestically because he left early

Between 5 and 8 weeks pups learn a lot from their dam and littermates about canine behaviour. If they don't get the canine input there can be behavioural problems later regarding interaction with other dogs. If they go to a household where there are already other dogs they don't lose out so much but it's still a major mental upheaval for them. Leaving the litter to a home with no other dogs, so no canine interaction for at least a month till the injections are complete at 10+ weeks is in general not to be recommended.