In my city, it is most commonplace for breeders to release Yorkie pups at about 7-8 weeks. We got our Rowdy at 7 weeks and he was little, 1.1 lbs. He had two bouts of diarrhea requiring medication in the first couple of months and we had much trouble getting him to eat. He is a sweetie pie, loves everyone, and other dogs (so far at one year). He is such a sweetie pie that we wanted to get another pup from his parents. So we contacted the breeder and reserved a pup born in January. She let the littermates go at 7 weeks, but she kept our Rex till 8 weeks because we asked her to - but that was as long as she could keep him due to her need to be out of town. Rex is much bigger than Rowdy was at 8 weeks, and he LOVES to eat and has had no health problems at all (he's 12 weeks now). He is far more advanced, developmentally and socially, than Rowdy was at the same age. Of course he has max socialization AND PLAY TIME from Rowdy!!! I can definitely see the difference between Rowdy and Rex and I know Rowdy would have benefited from a few more weeks with mom and littermates. But I really couldn't see that or understand it till I got Rex.
It's a dilemma when the common practice is to let them go so young.
