12/01/2025
Age matters when puppies are removed from mama dog.
🩺🐶 It's hard to know when you should bring your puppy home. There are circumstances outside of your control such as when the breeder will let you take the puppy home and when you are at the shelter or rescue looking at puppies.
Sometimes, puppies are abandoned by the mother or found by rescuers and you may be adopting your puppy before six weeks of age or later than 12 weeks of age.
📚In this study, researchers examined 20 litters of German Shepherd puppies. They were all housed identically. Half the puppies were separated from mom at six weeks of age and the other half were kept with their mother at 12 weeks of age. All puppies were kept with their litters and socialized to humans in the same way. Puppies who were separated from mom at six weeks were more likely to get sick and/or die when compared with puppies who were separated from mom at 12 weeks. Also, they gained less weight (failure to thrive) when compared with pups separated at 12 weeks.
👉You don't always have control over the circumstances, but you can be aware of the effects of adoption at certain ages. If your pup was separated from the mother before 8 weeks, he or she may be more likely to be sick.
Some studies have correlated illness as a puppy with fear, anxiety and aggression. This may be due to the lack of socialization due to illness or some other factor that we have yet to discover.
Socialization leveled the playing field for these pups behaviorally. Socialization is sooo important.
📄Here's the research: The effect of early separation from the mother on pups in bonding to humans and pup health. JM Slabbert, OAE Rasa, Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, 1993;64:4–8. (See link in comments.)
