Best age to buy a puppy

We do not sell puppies until they are about 10 -12 weeks in age given their eating progression
and maturity. We believe in placing a pup in a home when they are ready, not before. 

For more information why we keep them past 8-Weeks check out: 

Eight weeks or twelve weeks?


Most people think the best age to get a puppy
is when the puppy is 6 - 8 weeks old.


WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

​
​Between 10 and 12 weeks is the best
time and here's a couple of well-researched
reasons why.....
REASON ONE:

A nursing puppy receives antibodies from its mother's milk (called maternal antibodies) that protect it from 
disease during the first months of its life.

Unfortunately, these antibodies can also keep a
vaccine from being effective. These maternal
antibodies gradually start to decrease around
6 weeks of age but may still interfere with early vaccinations. That is why puppies are  given
a series of vaccinations. It is best to have two 
series of vaccinations given before a puppy is
stressed by going to a new home, changing diets,
and being exposed to an environment that
​may contain animals that are sick.
REASON TWO:
Puppies have 4 critical periods of development
between birth and 16 weeks (4 months) of their
lives. What happens to them during these 4
months determines what kind of companion
they will become and shapes their character
for the rest of their lives!
​
Birth to 21 days (3 weeks) 


During this period the puppy's brain is mostly reactionary in that the brain is developing
neural pathways.


During this time the mother and her milk are
most important. The puppy needs adequate food,
the stimulation it gets from the mother licking it
and the warmth it gets from mom
​and it's littermates.


By three weeks (21st day) the puppy's brain has
taken on adult brain form and the puppy can toddle around, blink, hear, eliminate without mother's stimulation and begin to explore it's immediate surroundings. They begin to try to play with their siblings and mother.
 4 weeks to 7 weeks

During this period puppies learn canine socialization and learn dominance order - most important in training 
and getting along with other dogs! This is a time of
rapid development, both physically and mentally. 

From 21-28 days (4 weeks) is especially crucial
and should the puppy be separated from its
mother and littermates at this time it would be
so emotionally upsetting that the puppy will
never be compensated in life for the loss of
interaction of its mother and littermates.

Characteristically, puppies weaned at 4 weeks 
are a training nightmare because they never
get the connection between a reward or
correction and what they were
doing at the time.

(For example, the dog grabs your sandwich and
you yell "NO". It will not understand why you are
saying no, nor why it is unacceptable to grab what it wants.)

Between 4 and 5 weeks is when the puppy
becomes aware of its surroundings and littermates
and discovers when it bites too hard on one
of them or Mama Dog - it gets corrected by
​Mama or the littermate bites back - hard!
They learn to play bite at an acceptable level for their playmates. This is important to us because we can then teach 
them not to bite or nip us....they will learn that we are rather delicate creatures by puppy standards
Canine socialization is so important for a
puppy to be well-adjusted.

A puppy needs contact and interaction with
it's mom and littermates to learn doggy
social graces, such as how to approach
another dog, how to show submission
​and how to initiate play.
A puppy weaned at 5 weeks is typically aggressive towards strange dogs. Some people
call this "Dog aggressive", but it is basically caused by the dog not knowing how to 
approach or be approached by a another dog.


Mothers discipline pups and teach them as
well....this is as important in dogs as it is
in human children.

​
A puppy weaned at 6 weeks may have the
social skills but will not have all the self-
confidence in itself as it would after 7 weeks.


This is extremely important in a service dog
or a dog you​want to take home as a pet.
​By the 49th day a puppy is neurologically complete ...it has an adult brain, but no experience!
(Kinda like you were when you got out of school and tried to find a job -
couldn't get a job because you lacked  job experience )

A good breeder will handle their pups daily, from birth, and during this time it is critical for
someone to give it affection and guidance for the puppy to be willing to form
attachments to people and learn to trust humans.
12  - 16 weeks  

This is a great time for play training to become
more serious and when human and dog decide
who is boss.

A dog's character for life is formed between 4
weeks to 16 weeks. No matter how good
inherited character traits are, if puppies are
not given proper exposure, they will never be as
good a dog as it could have been.

There is NO way to go back and make it up to a
dog is later life for failures at this age. A dog without socialization prior to 16 weeks does not develop
​ as an individual with self-confidence in its self.
Reason Three

Socialization and puppy training during this period is critical and I focus carefully on the needs of 
my puppies and their individual personalities. A shy puppy gets more supportive attention and an overly 
outgoing puppy learns how to play correctly. I try to match a puppy's personality with its new home.
Authored and contributed by Sandra Fikes-Kalahari Ridgebacks