Re: [PyrNet-L] Question... What is the best age to purchase your Pyr puppy?

[Andrea Green <agreen@plix.com>]

There is a really good book, at least I think it is, on dog behavior. 
It is by Clarence Pfaffenberger called "The New Knowledge of Dog
Behavior".  It goes into the critical period of the dog development.  It
is based on expirences in training the seeing eye dogs.  They recommend
not taking the puppy away from it's mother and littermate until it is 7
weeks old.  It has been my expience that a dog taken away from it's
mother too early lacks confidence in his or her ability.  Sometimes they
won't develope to their full potential. 
Quoting from page 125 of this book, it says: "Experiments at Bar Harbor
showed that when puppies were taken away from their mother and litter
mates about the end of the fourth week of age and given a great deal of
human attention they became very socialized to human beings, often
forming such attachments to people that they did not care about other
dogs."
If you are wanting you dog to be just a pet, then it probably won't hurt
much.  But if she is to work at being a guardian, she may not be as
aggressive a guardian.
Andrea
-- 
			Andrea Green	
	AJ's Udder Delight Saanen and Oberhasli Dairy Goats	 
	 Milk production in an UDDERly DELIGHTful package	
  			Colville, WA
		  http://homepage.plix.com/agreen