Tough decision on when to bring our pup home.

erictuley · 07-10-2008, 10:34 AM

Well we went and saw our pupp last night. Beautiful 8 week old red female. The breeder said we can take her home next weekend after her stitches on her ears come out. Our problem is that we are on vacation in the keys from August 3rd - 10th. This is a dive / lobster vacation and there is no way to accomodate a brand new puppy on that vacation. The breeder thought it would be good for us to bring our girl home for a couple of weeks, then bring her back for that weekend while we are out.

Our concern is getting the dog uprooted twice. We have her.. then bring her back.. then pick her up again. I am worried about the pup being really confused by this.

Our other alternative is to not pick the pup up until we are back from vacation.. this means however that we are getting her at 13 weeks.. and some of that critical time has now been spent with a breeder... who is not her owner.

Our other choice is to wait on a litter in GA that was just born on June 26th that accomodates our time table a little more...

What would you do?

tosca · 07-10-2008, 10:40 AM

I've had both situations occur as a breeder - held onto a puppy 'til almost 4 months of age because the new owners would be going on vacation shortly after getting her; and had a puppy come back to stay for a week while the new owners were going on vacation. Both worked very well for all parties involved. The pups are amazingly resilient and can adjust very well to the changes.

In short - if this is the right puppy and breeder for you, I'd take her home and let her go back to the breeders while you go on vacation.

**dobermansrule** · 07-10-2008, 11:39 AM

Bring the puppy home as soon as possible and start the bonding process. You want the puppy to bond to you and the natural urge to bond is strongest now. Then take the breeder up on the offer to babysit the pup while you are out catching dinner for a week.

dobegal · 07-10-2008, 11:43 AM

Been if that same situation and the breeder and pup were the right ones for me so she stayed with me and went back to breeder. I agree with Tosca puppies are amazingly resilient

jdd · 07-10-2008, 11:47 AM

I agree. No reason this won't work great for you. The puppy will handle it fine.

dobes4us · 07-10-2008, 12:47 PM

Had the same situation. Bring the pup home and take the breeder up on the offer to watch the dog. That is what we did and it worked out great. Our pup was born on 9/1 and we we went went out of town 11/25 for 5 days.

**RedFawnRising** · 07-10-2008, 01:02 PM

Well, I'd cancel my vacation and stay home with the new pup, but...I'm a freak like that!

Sounds like good advice from the others on letting the breeder babysit for you.

CoDobe · 07-10-2008, 01:04 PM

We had the same situation - we met her at 8 weeks, and left her with the breeder to get her ears done. We returned 4 weeks later to pick her up and take her home.

She's a great little gal and is truly our Velcro dog.

How exciting! Please, post pics when you can!

**ellenm** · 07-10-2008, 02:25 PM

I agree to go ahead and bring her home, back to the breeder for your trip, and then home again with you. She knows the breeder's house obviously so it would not be like leaving her at a kennel, and she will know you guys for that 2 week period before your trip.

My girl lived with her breeder to be shown last summer for 3 months (age 6-9months) and easily transitioned between the two houses. My girl basically learned to love us all!

erictuley · 07-10-2008, 02:43 PM

LITTERS

We are pretty fortunate. Our breeders Sir is CH Carosel Into The Mystic Mountains "Monty".

We have been waiting for 3 months for the right dog / breeder / temperment to come along.