[Kelseysmom]

Originally Posted by JeanieK

The general rule is 10 to 12 weeks. At 9 1/2 it's a little early, but she sounds to be well socialized. The ones people get upset about are the 6 to 8 week old puppies. Some puppies may do fine at 8 weeks, but others do not. So the line has to be drawn somewhere.

Before you bring them home, you don't know if they are one of those that will do OK. Some people get lucky. It's just best to wait until at least 10 weeks 'cause most of them are well socialized by that time.

There is no magic number. it could be 8 weeks, it could be 9 weeks and a day. But the older they are, they greater the odds are that they will do OK.

Many unsocialized puppies end up in shelters because the people do not know how to deal with them, they do the wrong things and make it worse, and they end up blaming the poor puppy, thinking that they are untrainable, or aggresive or what ever, and it need not have happened if the puppy had just been left with it's mother longer.

If you could just observe the interaction between mom and babies between 8 and 10 weeks, you would understand.

Thanks for responding. I appreciate the information. So its a socialization thing. I didn't know. I think my baby is getting to be well socialized. She's met different people and seen different animals at the vet. But I don't really take her many places cause she's not fully vaccinated.