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I have watched Brad's show and heard him ask when the puppy was removed from the litter as that may affect the behaviour of the puppy. What sort of things will be different and what should we watch for? (We got our puppy at 6 weeks.)

From what I can remember, there are people here, like 4shelties who can likely help alot more than me!! I don't think they've had a chance to really learn any manners from their littermates or their mother, so may have problems with not knowing when to stop biting, ie be very mouthy and nippy. They certainly won't have had much chance to be socialized with other people animals and experience different surroundings.

I'm right now looking around for a pup for us and found some but the owner is letting them go at 6 weeks and no vet check etc so I'm letting those ones go by.

I got Bayley at 14 weeks but to my experience she wasn't really well socialized, mind you she was housebroken. But I would have rather had her less perfect in the housebreaking part and more used to different surroundings and people and otherr dogs

QUOTE:
From what I can remember, there are people here, like 4shelties who can likely help alot more than me!! I don\'t think they\'ve had a chance to really learn any manners from their littermates or their mother, so may have problems with not knowing when to stop biting, ie be very mouthy and nippy. They certainly won\'t have had much chance to be socialized with other people animals and experience different surroundings

.

Aww shucks I am blushing.. LOL

Puppies at 6 weeks are usually not completely weened from thier mothers..and still are very dependant... the 9 nine week mark the puppies become more independant spending more time away from their mothers and exploring their terrority... The learning of littermates and order of the pack happens more at this age because moms will set boundries with what is acceptable behaviour and what is not... I have pups at 9 weeks still wanting to nurse..

If the puppy is given away too early the puppy is very confused and sometimes can have issues with separation anixety and boundry setting.. As a new pack and a young pup you have to take the role of the mother dog and how you set your boundries with your puppy.. A puppy over 9 weeks have a harder time adjusting to a new home and new rules and can sometimes rebel against its new owners and takes longer for learning newer rules..

Something to look for the bond between you and your puppy.. Is he avoiding you or not engaging in eye contract?...When you speak does the puppy look at you?.. Separation anixety?... Is he over bonded..meaning not willing to go with someone else in your home?.. Scared all the time?.. How is the emotional state?... trust issues? ..there is such a broad spectrum of things it depends on your puppy.. Confident or coward?... Dependant or independant?.. Use words to discribe your puppy.. I have a 6 month pup now that I can say she is much more mature then her littermates.. Very calm .. and has a love for kids and is very cautious of adults... Doesnt like over zellous dogs and has trust issues with fast moving hands.. but she has never left here.. She has come a long way over the last few months and is trusting more and more people..

Breeding Shelties for almost 10 years I can tell you that the age does make a big differences... But not all puppies that leave early are problem dogs.. it how you as the owner and new pack leader take on that role as its new mother.. good luck..

I just want to add something else.. I believe that personalities start right from the get go.. The runt as everyone loves to have just because they are small and helpless have a great chance of being possive and territorial... The biggest one can be aggressive and dominering... the anti
social one has difficulty in trust issues and so on... If you are buying a puppy ask the breeder about their personalities... But they also change once they leave the group... some for the better and some for the worse... You can always tell which order they are and what they were like in the pack of siblings..

Excuse the spelling errors I really need to go back to school...LOL

Thanks for the information. We chose Tupper because she seemed pretty outgoing, wasn't afraid of our children and was pretty friendly. I think she's adapting pretty well so far on that front, although she is nipping a lot. Any advice on how we can stop that would be greatly appreciated! (Tupper is 1/4 Sheltie, 1/4 Rottweiler and 1/2 Shih Tzu.)