Before the age of 8 weeks, taking a puppy away from its mother has terrible consequences because the young puppy needs to receive its mother’s milk to build its immunity, and it also needs to socialize with its mother and siblings to learn good behavior. This is why you shouldn’t consider taking a puppy at 7 weeks unless you absolutely have to.
A lot of dog lovers look for younger puppies because they’re easier to train and fun to have around.
It’s true that when you get a puppy as young as possible, you’ll extend the bonding time, and this will help you train it better and easier. However, this young puppy can suffer greatly because of your decision.
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When Can You Take a Puppy At 7 Weeks?
Puppies need to be with their mothers for the first two months of their lives, and taking a 7-week puppy from its mother will harm both creatures.
However, you can have a younger puppy in the following cases.
- The mother has passed away
- Someone is leaving their puppy neglected or abandoned
- The puppy is about to be evicted from its home
If you’re the puppy owner, you should never attempt to offer a puppy for adoption before it’s at least two months old.
Likewise, if a breeder is offering you an underaged puppy, you should walk away. Not only will you suffer while training this young puppy, but it’s actually bad for the dog’s development.
Why Is It Wrong to Have a 7-Week Puppy?
Unless you’re rescuing the puppy from a stressful or dangerous situation, you should avoid taking it to a new home away from its mother before it’s at least 8 weeks old.
The best time frame to adopt or buy a puppy is between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks. This will give you a chance to train the puppy, and it will be able to survive away from its mother.
Here’s why it’s wrong to take a too young puppy.
Not Weaned
The weaning process is when the puppy no longer depends on its mother’s milk. It starts when the dog is about 3 or 4 weeks old, so it can start eating solid food with its mother’s milk.
However, the process takes a few weeks to complete.
A breeder who is willing to sell a puppy that is younger than 8 weeks is irresponsible and doesn’t care about the puppy’s well-being because it will struggle without the mother’s milk.
The weaning process means that the puppy can eat solid food for about a week, so it’s usually best to get a puppy that has passed this stage.
Bad Health
The mother’s milk provides the puppy with all the necessary nutrients, and depriving it of these nutrients will affect its immune system.
When a puppy doesn’t receive these nutrients, it becomes malnourished, and this affects its growth.
Moreover, it becomes more prone to health issues as it grows older due to malnutrition.
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Doesn’t Learn Good Behavior
The puppy needs to spend time with its mother to learn specific dog behavioral patterns that only a mother can teach.
These include the rules of canine communication and body postures. In addition, during the first 8 weeks of its life, the puppy establishes a bond with its mother that helps it become independent later on.
For example, the mother can teach her puppies that biting is bad behavior while they’re feeding or playing with the other puppies. Without this learning process, the puppy can become a biter that doesn’t measure how hard its bite really is.
The mother will also teach her puppies about discipline by growling or even making eye contact. This is highly crucial for you as a dog owner in the future.
In the beginning, the puppy recognizes the mother as the pack leader, so it follows her directions. However, when you become the pack leader, the puppy will obey you.
Not Socialized
Removing the puppy away from the mother and its siblings can affect its character and socialization later on.
During the first 8 weeks of the puppy’s life, it learns about social hierarchy and rules. For example, some puppies are able to get more milk from the mother, and they become dominant in nature, while those that get pushed away are usually more submissive.
Without interacting for enough time with the other puppies and the mother, the puppy can become too shy and fearful.
It won’t also learn about the disapproved behavioral patterns like strong biting and excessive barking. So, it can become aggressive or too fearful of others.
Psychological Issues
Separating a puppy too early from its mother and littermates leads to several psychological issues like anxiety, social discomfort, fear, and lack of confidence.
The puppy becomes too difficult to handle, and it also lives in fear and discomfort.
The mother doesn’t only provide food, but she also provides comfort, security, and love and trains the puppy to receive them from others. Separating the puppy too early from its mother means that you’ll end up with a fearful sad dog that is unable to trust anyone.
Illegal and Morally Wrong
If you’re a parent, you know that, eventually, your kids will move out and find their paths on their own. However, this shouldn’t happen when they’re newborns.
Dogs grow faster than humans, so the first few months of the dog’s life are just as important as the first few years of our lives as humans.
The mother dog and her puppies establish a healthy bond during these months. After that, the puppies become independent and will be able to live their lives as independent adult dogs.
If this isn’t convincing enough, you should know that it’s actually illegal to buy a dog that is younger than 8 weeks. Selling a dog that is younger than 8 weeks is legally banned in several states, so you might get in trouble if you’re caught selling or buying one.
Paul has been creating content for the dog niche for many years. The information he shares comes his first hand experience growing up in dog lovers household and then owning multiple dog breeds of his own as an adult. Paul enjoys doing the hard research to collect, analyze and present our dogtemperament.com readers with the best answers to their questions.