How do I convince my colleague............

[Aru]

She paying 1000 pounds for a 4 week old mongrel?
because without pedigree kc papers that is what it is??

Its also just cruel to take a 4 week old puppy on if its mother is till alive it is no where near ready to leave!!
8 weeks is the minimum age 10 weeks is prefered in some cases

...where and when will it learn how to socialise with other dogs if it doesnt get a chance to play with its littermates and interact with its mother?

..hell when will it learn what level of biting is ok in play they learn that from playing with littermates and the repercussions there...will it learn when it starts biting her young kids??

It most certainly wont be housetrained...or even trainable until its older!

And thats before i even think about the mischief that the unsupervised puppy will get up to as it gets older....

Poor poor Puppy

Shes being conned by a puppy farmer by the sounds of things to no respectable dealer would sell a 4 week old pup...even orphan pups are hand reared and kept as a litter until 8 weeks!

You should advise her to the vet before she buys the dog...

tell her to go in and ask about buying a 4 week old pup and any worthwhile vet will tell her the cons and advise against it...

Mention its a "bulldog" and she can get the list of health problems and cost of insurance as well....

Disaster waiting to happen

Feel free to show her this thread if you think it might knock some sense into her.Has she no idea what she is about to take on?

[Cobbysmum]

No, she has no sense whatsoever! Don't think she even considered vets fees and insurance until I mentioned it.

[FinnishLapphund]

That is not a breeder! That is a money-hugging bitch owner with not much sense or feeling of responsibility!


4 weeks is when the most important socialization period in a dogs life begins, at 12 weeks of age it starts to decrease and at 16 weeks, the period is over. A dog can obviously still learn to socialize more or less well with other dogs after this period but not at the same speed, it is more difficult etc.

If you take a puppy at 4 weeks of age and you don't already have a vaccinated dog that your puppy can socialize with, you will have to wait until the puppy has finished his/hers puppy vaccinations at 12 weeks of age, before you can allow it to socialize with other dogs and then the "big socialization window" is already closing!



Will it be vaccinated and have had a puppy vet check? Actually I don't know if there is vets that will vaccinate puppies already from 3, 4 weeks of age?

Will the bitch owner take back the puppy if it doesn't work out? If not, they're sponsoring a person to continue with his/hers money-hugging business/"hobby". And if it doesn't work out and the bitch owner doesn't take back, what happens to the puppy then?


We found and rescued an abandoned, half starved and half frozen to death, about 4 weeks old kitten last autumn. I was home all day, my three dogs helped me "entertain" it (our two cats didn't want anything to do with it) and I can only say that I would never pay for a 4 weeks old puppy, I would quite the opposite expect the breeder to pay me something for taking over their work in half time!


I was just asked what I was writing about. I said someone wanted reasons for why someone they knew, shouldn't buy a 4 weeks old puppy.
"What's wrong with buying a puppy? - - - - - - WHAT, how old did you say? 4 WEEKS, OH MY DEAR GOD! That is way to young, poor puppy..."

[MurphysMinder]

Every time there is one of these threads they seem to get worse If you have a name for the breeder I would report them to the RSPCA, criminal to sell a pup at that age, although as others have said anyone who is stupid enough to pay £1000 for a mongrel kind of deserves all they get, but the puppy doesnt.

[soloabe]

Give me her facebook i will send her some advice/ abuse.

[Cobbysmum]

They obviously prey on the sort of person my colleague is, never had a dog, no idea how to look after it and it makes me so sad that these poor dogs end up in rescue centres. She is not a bad person but honestly had no idea that the puppy was too young to leave its mother. Ah well, second instalment due tomorrow! Just hope someone has talked some sense into them.

[FinnishLapphund]

But you said she has two small children, would she for example leave perhaps a 6 months old child home alone, while she and the children's father is at work all day?

If she doesn't know how old a puppy should be, for a responsible breeder to allow it to leave their kennel/home, why did she not lend a book at a library or do a quick google search, to look it up?





If it is a bitch puppy they're buying, e.g. let's say that she doesn't know that you shouldn't mate a bitch until it almost or over 2 years old, would that make it "okay" for her to breed it, at its first season?


If it is a male puppy, then I'm sorry but I will be impolite enough to cross my fingers and hope its testicles doesn't come down properly.

[Cobbysmum]

Hopefully after conversations at work today, the puppy situation is on hold. I think me and her boss have convinced her that it's not a good idea, added to the fact that a friend of her boss' has just got a boxer puppy and it is running riot!

[CaveCanem]

[FinnishLapphund]