Regarding when to let puppies go to their new homes:
This is a bit hard for me to tell because it feels like a failure on my part but the lesson is huge. I think this is an important story to tell and I hope none
of the parties involved are here or offended.
Recently one of my 2nd PC litter pups came back to me. This was an experienced Bull Terrier
family. There was more to the placement
process than just an experienced home but in the end I let the puppy leave at
approx 8 weeks due to pressure of my co-breeder to get the puppy asap to her
new home to start bonding with the people and learning to play with the
existing female BT. This in and of
itself is not exactly a problem but now that I am taking the dog back it is a
problem. This dog has missed out on 4
weeks of important socialization, human bonding, dog dog interactions and
training that she would have had otherwise.
That 4 weeks is huge. The
reasons she did not work out were that she was too pushy for the existing
female who is very soft and would not correct the baby at all. She was too pushy with the child in the
house. She also had a lot of trouble
greeting people she had never met. If
anyone has taken a 7 month Bull Terrier in the confirmation ring for the first
time this isn’t exactly abnormal. She was also barking and howling and spent
long periods alone. We did have some
contact in the beginning and went over to their place to help them thru some of
the dog interactions but I am not sure if they followed thru and had the time
or patience and commitment to make it work.
Now that I have her home with me, these are the problems I
am dealing with. She has no name
recognition at all. When given a
choice she chooses other dogs all the time.
If no other dogs she will choose the human over being alone. There is not a mean bone in her body but
because she is a bit rude in her dog interactions I could see her becoming
aggressive if the other dog reacts too badly to her. As the play escalates so does she and it
becomes more difficult for the other dog to remove itself from the
interaction. I have a big benevolent
male dog who is sorting her out but I can see this going badly and have to
watch carefully for signs that it is not working. Luckily there is not a mean bone in her body
and she adores the other dogs but has a hard time with impulse control (sort of
normal for a BT, but exaggerated in her).
I am a firm believer in the 12 week mark to let pups go
home. I was a believer before this
situation and it was against my better judgement to let one so young
leave. I will never let a pup go at 8
weeks old again. I can see 10 weeks for
certain people. I think judgement
calls are important. Look at the pup’s
stage of development and the experience (and commitment) level of the new owners. I have added level of commitment as a new
requirement to look at for all new homes.
I am sure I did previously but now it is verbalized and written down and
something that will have more discussion attached to it. So
some pups would leave at 10 weeks and other stay until 12 weeks depending on
what I think the pup still needed and the new owners. Believe it or not I have rarely if ever
encountered argument about keeping the dogs from 10-12 weeks from the new
owners, only other breeders want to defend and argue letting the pups go at 8
weeks.
The Puppy Culture skills this girl would have learned at my
home from 8-12 weeks are so valuable as life skills and would have helped her
overcome every issue they had with her.
I feel I can attribute every issue to lack of early socialization. Most of the behaviors would have gone
instinct on their own with some diligence.
The barking came due to isolation because of the other behaviors
escalating. Taking this girl thru what she missed is hard
when she is out of her imprint periods.
Many homes will not or do not have the time to do what needs to be done
during that period because they really do not exactly know what needs to be
done. Something that is SOP for us
breeders and performance and show homes is not so obvious to pet homes. I suppose all breeds are slightly different,
and each pup is different and of course all new owners are different but I
really believe that 10 weeks minimum and 12 weeks is far better.
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