My first puppy Alex 5 weeks old
 

Hello Everyone,
I have a beautiful baby yorki named Alex. He's currently still with his mom. I visit him about 4-5 times a week and will be bringing him home in a week or so. I have never had a dog, so im not sure what would be healthy food to buy him. I have contacted a vet and was told that puppies get their first set of shots when they are 8 weeks. I'm afraid to take him outside to use the bathroom because he's still young and since he won't have any shots he might get sick. At what age can I begin taking him outside and what other recommendations can you guys give me to prepare for my alex.
Thank you for your time:)

-Pam

First off, welcome to YT! :wavey: You will find a lot of great people here and an overwhelming amount of useful information.

If your baby is 5 weeks old right now and you get him in a week or so he will only be 6/7 weeks, am I correct? That is far too young for any small breed dog to be taken away from his momma & litter mates. Most breeders on here will not let their puppies go until they are 12 weeks and have had at least some vaccinations.
I would, and I'm sure many other YTers will, suggest that you ask this breeder to keep your baby until 12 weeks or look elsewhere. Letting a puppy go too soon is red flag for an irresponsible breeder.

I can tell you from experience that bringing home a puppy too soon (@ 8 weeks) can be cause for a lot of health & behavioral issues. We were uneducated when we purchased our first puppy in August and have only now been free of health issues for 2 months now and are still to this day working to correct behavioral issues that would most likely not have been a problem if Jax had not been removed from his mama and litter mates so soon.

I am in no way trying to attack you or make you feel bad but to let you know ahead of time that bringing home a puppy too soon can cause many issues and sometimes even heartbreak.
Try searching around a little bit and you will find LOTS of information about when to bring a puppy home, food, vaccinations and other information you will need. :)

Hi and welcome. Congrats on Alex but I would wait til ur furbaby is 12 weeks also.

Welcome! I know you are anxious to get him and he is sooo cute, but I agree, please have the breeder keep your baby until he is 12 weeks old. These babies need that time with mom and littermates. Even at 12 weeks and 1-2 sets of shots completed, I did not take my boys out until all shots were completed, not in the yard, puppy training, pet stores, groomers. My vet said that parvo virus can live in the soil for years, so not to assume that our yard was okay. I have known of people's puppy getting kennel cough from being around other dogs at the groomer's or puppy training.

You will receive great information and helpful advise here. Congrats on your baby Alex:)

It sounds like you have a good relationship with the breeder since you are able to visit your puppy 4-5 times a week right now. I'm sure the breeder won't mind you asking if you can leave your puppy with it's mom and littermates for a few more weeks. These tiny, toy breed puppies can struggle with hypoglycemia, especially when taken away from their mom too soon. Hypoglycemic episodes are scarey and can be fatal. I know, because my Missy struggled with this for her first 3 weeks home. It is something to take very seriously. Also, your puppy is not done learning some important socialization skills from it's mom and littermates until around 12 weeks of age, such as bite inhibition. Normally this is learned naturally and effectively through contact with mom and other littermates. If the puppy bites mom during nursing mom can roll the dog over to correct it or just get up and walk away. Hungry puppy learns very quickly to control those teeth if it wants to eat. Likewise when playing with littermates, if a puppy gets bitten too hard it will yelp and stop playing. Once again puppy learns that biting hard means the end of something good. If puppy stays with his littermates for the first 3-4 months of its life it will learn bite inhibition. If you take on the task of teaching bite inhibition to your puppy yourself, it could take a year or longer, and those puppy teeth hurt! It's so much easier to just be patient and let mom do the training for you.

As far as letting your puppy outdoors, I wouldn't. Not until all vaccinations are completed. When you first bring home a yorkie puppy, a nice thing to do is purchase an "ex-pen", set it up, and inside place a crate or bed, food and water, toys, and pee pads. My adult yorkie still uses her pee pads, I find them so convenient that I never did switch her to outdoor pottying.

Congrats on your new furbaby and please be sure to share lots of pics with us when Alex arrives home! :)

Congrats on your new puppy and Welcome to YT!!

I would ask the breeder to keep him until he is atleast 12 weeks. I do not let my puppies out until they have had 3 sets of shots and then I wait a week. Most of the time around 16 weeks old.

WOW! The breeder is giving away the puppy at 6 weeks?! Too young. Seems like this breeder just want to skip the vet bills for the shots. Please dont take the puppy home at 6weeks old. He still needs his momma. I agree with everyone here. Take him home at 12 weeks.

Welcome and congrats !!! Please take the advice from all the experienced Ytrs. You will have a happy healthy pup at 12 weeks and you will be a very happy yorkie Mommy :)

I got my yorkies all at 8 weeks. It seems to be the norm here in England.
I've never had any health issues, and they're haooy and healthy. I didn't take them out until a week after the 3rd vacination.

If you have friends with dogs who have been vacinated, I was told it is
ok for them to come to visit or to visit their homes after the 2nd jab. I paper trained them first then took them out. They use both.

Good luck with your baby.

Hugs Shirl x x

Welcome! Congrats on Alex! :)

:thumbup: excellent advice andd well put.:D

me to by the way mine name is axel :) he is so loving and sweet your will love a yorkie. I got mine at 8 weeks not knowing anybetter I was NEW too! but it all worked out for us he is now in his 6 month and 4 lbs and 14 ounces and happy is a clam! but we do have that biting issue so if I could have done it different just for that I would have! but he is getting better any yes he actually split my husband ear! so they are razor sharp it looked like a razor cut ouch!

Welcome to YT and congratulation on your new addition. :)

I agree with everybody, the puppy is too young... ask the breeder to keep him longer.

hi congrats on your new puppy i was so excited when i got my new baby too i got my little girl at 7 weeks and never had a problem so just do what you feel right i think its better to take them away from there mums before the so called 12 week mark that so many breeders want because then the pup has foemed a bound with the mum and siblins so 7 weeks is a great time to bring your new puppy home as long and she/he is eating well on her own :thumbup:

Hi & Welcome to YT!

Please have the breeder keep Alex till at least 12 weeks old! Alex does not need to be outdoors till he has had all his shots.

omg 16 weeks thats not a puppy thats a dog lol iam sorry i wouldnt buy a puppy thats that age it would be too used to your house and the other dogs and could find it very distressing to be seperated i think the age of puppies going to their new homes is way too old and is doing more harm than good at times

I got Sophie Kate when she was 16 weeks, she left her Mom at 14 weeks and was in a temp home for a few weeks (long story).

I can tell you at 16 weeks she was still very much a puppy. Heck at 1.5 years she is still a puppy to me and does puppy things all the time STILL (potty training issues, we retrain a lot).

I agree with the other poster, I would ask the breeder to keep her for a while longer. If you have a relationship where you can see her 4 or 5 times a week that is GREAT. You can spend time bonding with her and let her Mom teach all those important Mom/Puppy things.

I got my Zeke at 8 weeks because he was an only puppy and his mother only slept with him at night. He was two pounds when we got him, had his first shot, and was eating very well. He had no trouble adjusting at all. He does have biting issues, but it is probably our fault because of the way we play with him. He is almost 2 yeas old and weighs 8 pounds. The only real advice I have is to get his shots one at a time with at least 2 weeks between. When they give a combination shot it is sometimes too much for these little dogs and can cause all kinds of problems. Read up on all you can find on YT about vacinations.

I think you need to do a little research! 16 weeks is not to old! Most reputable breeders keep them till at least 12 weeks. Keeping them till 12-16 weeks is doing the best for them, not harming them at all!

Most breeders keep their pups a min. of 12 weeks, I had two from my last litter go home at 4.5 months and they are doing great, it wasn't very distressing for the pup, they both have done excellent fitting in. I think it does more harm than good to get them too young.

Glad he has adjusted well! His biting issues are due to the fact he was not taught social skills from momma! Momma teaches these skills between the age of 10-12 weeks.

Here is a link that provides information as to why we keep our puppies so long http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/bre...nt-stages.html

My last pup is 15 weeks and 2 1/2 pounds that is still very much a puppy. No way would I let them go smaller than that. I don't think I would be a very good breeder if I did.

I assure you, 16 weeks is still a puppy, and will be for a very long time. I got Bentley @ 12 weeks, Lexi @ 16 weeks, and Chloe @ 1 year. Chloe still acts like just as much a puppy as the younger ones. I also have NEVER had any problems with them being distressed or upset. They have ALL been very well socialized and fit right in from day 1. Taking them before 12 weeks is what does them harm, and if it is a good breeder, you wouldn't have an option anyway.

Surely you can see that it would be more distressing for a 6-8 weeks old pup to leave its mum when it still needs her around?

over here in england no one would consisder a dog of 16 weeks a new puppy we would class it as a second hand pup because the only people who are getting selling a pup at that age would be people who dont want them no more the normal age to let go is 8 weeks i have never seen a dog over here of 16 weeks going to its new home unless it already has had 2 homes before.

i just believe that the longer you leave the pup with its mother and siblins the more bounded they become therefore its more stressful for the pup when they go to their new home.

dont forget i live in england and everythings different here breeders dont pay for the pups shots the owners do because we want to choose for ourselfs which vets our pup goes to ive had my vets for a few years and wouldnt like bella going anywhere else.

oh and ive done my research ive had dogs all my life my anutie breed pedigree dogs and i went yearly to crufts and a lot more dog shows so i know a lot about dogs :)

So glad I am in the USA! We do things ALOT different here with our puppies! I can assure you, I don't have "second hand puppies"! Please read the link in my above post, maybe you will understand why we do things a little different!

I don't have second puppies either. I will not let them go home before 12 weeks and do keep some longer than that if they are small. I would never let one go at 8 weeks. I would keep it myself first. When I was refering to 16 weeks to the OP I was talking about I did not let the ground outside before then so they will be fully vacinated. Any breeder that would send a pup home without any vacinations is not a good breeder in my book.

i read your link but iam not sure where you wanted me to look the only thing they do after 8 weeks was learn from their mums so what more can they learn because it says that they are leanring from their mums weeks 5 to 7 or something like that.

heres a link from a uk forum on their views

at what age can a pup leave its mother ? - Pet Forums Community

heres a quote from a very good breeder ....

According to Scott & Fuller in their book Dog Behavior:

The Genetic Basis (also published as Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog) and How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With by Rutherford & Neil 7 weeks or 49 days is the perfect time for a puppy to go to their new home.
If they leave the mother and their littermates to early it can result in the pup not learning everything a mother should teach her puppies and the puppy could look at you as his or her new mom. Sounds good? You won't think so the your new puppy follows you around, at your feet all the time.
If you wait to long your puppy will miss you on the important socialization they need before agout 11 or 12 weeks of age.
I also have over 35 years of dog & puppy training experience to assure to go with the 49th day.


Canidae_Dog_Trainer

no i really believe its the other way round the pup will become use to the other dogs as company and will class them as its family/friends so when you come in at 12 to 16 weeks and take them away its gonna be upset woundering where its mums at and its other playmates and will take longer to realise that your its new family.

the longer you keep that puppy with mum and bros/sis the bigger the bound will be come.

i took bella at 7 weeks and she slept in the kitchen and you never heard a peep from her she never went frantic looking for her mum and friends i never had one problem that accured from her being seperated yet ive read so many stories bout pups being scared and yelping a lot and searching for their friends and mum when they have been seperated at 12 weeks.