I think many people miss the point of why the YTCA prefers to have the puppies left with the mom until they are older. For one thing many of the Yorkies bred by show breeders are smaller than other Yorkies. Since the breed standard goes to 7lbs tops many puppies are smaller. The smaller the puppy the easier for them to become hypoglycemic. There are other back yard breeders and puppy mills that breed various pet quality Yorkies. Many of those dogs are much bigger. However, the real reason that most breeders want to sell their puppies at 6 weeks of age is that at that age the mom stops cleaning up after the puppy. It gets very messy to have to care for a litter of puppies that is messing all over the place. Most of these breeders are in this for the "fun" of it and or the money and have no desire to clean up after a litter of puppies for 6 more weeks. But beyond that one of the other reasons that experts agree that any breed of dog should stay with the mother for those additional weeks is that the puppy learns important socialization skills from both the mom and the litter mates. These are skills that make a dog much easier to potty train and teach good behavior to if it stays with the mom and litter for those extra weeks.
Yes, with a lot of extra care a puppy at age 6 weeks can survive. It is like stunting the natural growth of the animal. Your taking it out of it's natural learning environment and stunting it's regular development. The owner ends up with 24 hour duty taking care of an infant that should be with it's mom. The puppy cries and is unhappy if it is away from warmth and comfort and it never learns the doggy socialization it should have. The owner is then confronted with a puppy that wants to bite their hands and wrestle whenever they are near. That is real cute until they start to grow a bit and it starts to hurt and the puppy is wanting to bite and wrestle even more. The mom would have taught it proper behavior and it's litter mates would have helped with that behavior. A 12 to 13 week old puppy is more mentally and emotionally mature and ready to venture out on it's own. It is also more able to deal with the separation from it's mom and litter mates. It is stronger physically and does not require the type of care that a 6 week old baby does. I guess you could compare taking a 6 week old puppy home to putting a 6 month old human baby on the bus to kindergarten. He's just not ready though he may survive it is going to cause some great repercussions.
Humans always have their own needs in the fore front of circumstances. The breeder wants their money and does not want the work involved in giving those puppies the early foundation they need and the new owner wants that cute little baby to cuddle.....when they feel like it. Who loses out? Well, the puppy and the mother dog do of course. Neither are ready to be taken from each other. Later when the owner is upset because they get tired of all the care this puppy is needing the puppy suffers again because it does not have the ability to cope and to learn that it should have. |