Why 12 Weeks?

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Belle Noir

I enjoy the discussion about bringing home puppy. One of the posters was right in that just because YTCA says something, doesn't mean it's so, since there are a number of people who own yorkies that do not live in the US.
I am grateful of the things that I did learn from this thread. I am happy that there is something that I can tell people that are looking to buy puppies. An ounce of knowledge can be worth a pound of prevention, (not exactly the correct quote, but appropriate, I think). There is not ONE person on this board that wants anyone to have to deal with a sick or dying puppy, especially if the puppy is sick and dying primarily from being brought home too early.
But a few of these posts have gone off topic, and it seems to me, to be scab picking between members that have past issues with each other. That bothers me, because we are adults (I THINK, lol), we should be able to deal with the randomness and insanity that comes from having a lot of people with a lot of different views in one place.

In any case, it would be really nice if we can stay on topic. Even if we can't get along, can we not at least be civil? I'm fine with discussing the various aspects of taking home puppy at different ages, and why some people may be comfortable taking them home earlier, and why some may think it's better... But if the MODs think it's prudent to close the thread, well, then I bow to your greater knowledge, ability and power

There you are, you *are* still here!

Great post.

I think it's me bowing to you on this one, not the other way around .

[SWHouston]

Originally Posted by Belle Noir

An ounce of knowledge can be worth a pound of prevention

Maybe better: "A moment of knowledge, can avoid a lifetime of misery".

Originally Posted by Belle Noir

In any case, it would be really nice if we can stay on topic

Of all the Forums I have ever EVER been on, this is the most passionate ! This comes from the absolute love and devotion we have for our animals, and in fact I think, for each other as well. As you, I really haven't been on the Forum here, for all that long, but it has become a home, within my home.

With that passion, comes strong opinions (Ha, I can definitely relate to that) and we see those "off topic" excursions quite frequently. What I do is , skim over them, and continue with the mater at hand.

[Belle Noir]

Passion is good. I don't think there is anyone that doesn't love their dogs here. Just some difference in opinion in how that love should be expressed, I think, lol.

Can I add to your paraphrase? "A moment of knowledge, can avoid a lifetime of misery and a great amount of wear and tear on your wallet."

I recently told someone how my neighbor brought home a chihuahua... A week later she's banging on my door because the puppy is having seizures, and I'm the dog lady, you know?
Honey on the gums, and speeding down Spruce St to University of Pennsylvania, which is about 15minutes from my house. Puppy had critically low blood sugar.. Had she not come to me, had I not had a car, had UofP been further away, puppy might well have died.

What I didn't mention was that said neighbor could not afford to pay the hospital, and puppy needed to stay over night. I paid for it.

Oh, and this puppy... 6 weeks old. AND I had suggested to this woman that she wait until the puppy was 10-12 weeks old, but she just HAD to get the puppy UNDER 8 weeks of age. Some people, you talk to them, it's like beating your head into a wall, so I don't bother getting myself upset over other people's stupidity.

Pepper is doing well NOW, He plays with my guys, since I also have a papillon puppy a little younger than he is (they're now 4 - 41/2 months, and I have the yorkie's and now a maltese foster (Fatty is the self appointed fun police), so he can get some socialization in. But this didn't have to happen had she waited.
And as an aside, she has made no effort to pay me back a single penny. I don't regret it, it wasn't for her anyway, it was for the puppy. But some people, you just cannot teach them anything. If they do not want to listen, they will not listen.

I had talked with this woman for several weeks about this puppy, about waiting to get the puppy, and in the end, she says Oh, I heard everything you said, and it's not that I didn't agree with it, it's just I couldn't wait to get my puppy. Oh, and the puppy was bred by family, so if she had asked them to hold the puppy, they would have. She even admitted as much.

There is nothing you can do to get through to willful ignorance, except, maybe, let the puppy die. That would have taught her her lesson for sure, but I'm not that cold and cruel.

But for every ignorant neighbor, there are plenty of Pixies. There are many puppies that go home earlier than 12 weeks, with no problems. But with yorkies being as popular a breed as they are, with people caring less and less about paperwork, or showing dogs, there are to be a way to help separate the good breeders from the bad. That 12 weeks thing is a good way, I think.

Not that someone that let's puppies go at 10 weeks or 8 weeks care any less for their puppies. But those waiting 12 weeks are willing to take on the extra expense of caring for their puppies for an extra month. That tells me it's not all about the money for the breeder. It can mean something different to other people, but that's what it means to me.
This is of course, with the other added benefits of waiting until 12 weeks.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Excellent post, Belle Noir. I never will understand the "got to have it now" attitude when a little dog's health and future well-being and likely even how well it can adapt and adjust to life are all concerned. If the dogs experts and breeding authorities are right, those extra weeks with the mother, littermates and in the birth home are extremely beneficial to the puppy. I found this from the Doctors Smith and Foster website and what it says about 6-9 week old puppy development vs. 12 weeks is vital to me in just the matters of fear development, let alone considering the more fragile medical situation of a 6-9 week old pup. I'd love to see people wait and give that little one its very best chance to thrive and develop before changing homes, leaving its mom, littermates, familiar, comforting surroundings and the only people it knows to go to a totally strange, new place, often with novice, first-time dog owners.

Puppies: What to Expect the First Year

[yorkietalkjilly]

P. S. to Belle Noir's post #168, thanks for very likely saving that little chihuahua's life and paying for its overnight care. What would that little dog have done without you? I think I know.

Wonder why that person even got a dog they couldn't afford to properly care for from the get-go? I pity that little dog if it turns out to have some chronic type medical condition.

[SWHouston]

Originally Posted by Belle Noir

Can I add to your paraphrase? "A moment of knowledge, can avoid a lifetime of misery and a great amount of wear and tear on your wallet." .

HA, SO true, and a great Post by the way !