Getting a puppy tomorrow (maybe) Q&A (1 Viewer)

[Clinton McClure]

For a Christmas present for my wife, I promised her a puppy. She read an ad in the classifides today for toy pomeranians and wants to go look at them in the morning. She called the number listed and the lady on the phone told her they are 5 weeks old, AKC registered, already weened and eating puppy food. A couple of them are blue or blue/cream color. She is asking $350 each. She says they all have their shots and have been wormed. (I'm going to ask to see the vet records for that.)

1. Is $350 a fair price? It seems a bit steep to me. (My wife's mother bought a toy pom 2 years ago for $200.)

2. Is 5 weeks old enough to be weened and eating puppy food?

3. Is 5 weeks old enough to take home?

Thanks in advance.
Clint

 

[Philip_G]

I think 5 weeks is too young.

 

[Dave Simpson]

I'm no vet, but five weeks sounds waaay to young to me. Those little guys need to be with their moms until about eight weeks. And from the classifieds? Would you buy your HT gear from the classifieds in such a fashion? The gear will last a couple of years, if you feel the need to upgrade. Your pup will likely live for ten or many more years. Food for thought. Cheers.

DS.

 

[Shane Martin]

5 weeks also seems to young to me. I think we got our AKC Golden Retriever at 8 weeks. I need to recheck that though.

$350 seems like a fair price. I believe we paid over $400 for our GR.

 

[Julian Reville]

Agree with the other guys:

I always kept my pups until 8 weeks; they learn a lot about being a puppy during that time, both from their siblings and their mother. Many breeders like to sell early.......

No way that a pup could have had ALL it's shots by 8 weeks. My Infectious Diseases Prof, the inimitable Dr. Greene, Godfather of Parvo, Grand Guru of Distemper, and allround good guy, taught us that maternal antibody blocks the effects of most vaccinations befor 8 weeks of age, so any vaccinations done before that are useless. Many breeders do it anyway...................

Puppies should be weaned on to puppy food by 4-6 weeks of age, so that part's right.

 

[Philip_G]

Is this something new? This last pup I got was vaccinated like crazy, and both vets that she'd seen mentioned the same thing, but it hadn't ever come up with previous pups.

 

[Philip_T]

I wouldn't worry too much about locating a puppy through the classified. Some breeders you find through the paper are much better than your local pet stores which can very expensive and sometimes go through puppy mills. Not to say that all breeders in the classified adds golden though. The nice thing about going through a breeder as opposed to pet store or kennel, is that you can observe their living conditions and their parents. IIRC, you can go to www.akc.org and get a list of prefered breeders in your area.

I agree with the others that 5 weeks is too young to take home. Our Boston Terrier was 8 weeks when we brought him home.

 

[Mark Paquette]

I agree with what others have said so far, especially that 5 weeks is too early to remove a pup from its mother. 8 weeks is the norm. $350 sounds like a fair price for a purebred puppy as well. I wouldn't worry all that much about finding your puppy in the classifieds either. Go and visit with the breeder. Will the breeder allow you to see the parents? Any kind of a health guarantee? Most importantly, don't forget that getting a new puppy is, at the the minimum a 10 year committment.

 

[Julian Reville]

Philip, it was new about 30 years ago. Ehhh, breeders and vets don't always see eye to eye. Most breeders consider themselves experts on their breed, and vets as un-informed. We vets consider breeders as ill-informed and oppinionated with little scientific fact to back up their opinions.

 

[Carl Miller]

Definitely too young to take home.

I'd also advise against the classifieds unless you have a direct personal reference from someone you know who has used that breeder.

Your best bet is to locate a breeder referral list for Poms and you can usually obtain one from a local Pom club, or the official organization for Poms. Most breeds have an official organization to give info about the breed, the breed standards and to set up standards breeders are supposed to abide by in order to preserve the integrity of the breed itself.

The breeder referral list typically contain breeders which conform to the standards set up by the official organization, and this is really your best bet to find a reputable breeder....The pups may cost more from one of these breeders, but they typically come with extensive contracts, and come from bitches and studs which were health screened for genetic defects etc, etc. The price difference is compensated for by getting a dog that is more likely to be physically sound.

Finally, the AKC paper thing really doens't mean much. The AKC doesn't monitor breeders or breeding practices so anybody who breeds a dog can just send away for the papers, send them back and have AKC registered puppies.

 

[Philip_G]

my new vet rocks. She knows more about my breed than I do
she doesn't have any hot interns though

 

[DaveF]

Out of curiosity, have you researched the breed? Does dog's behaviors and tendencies suit your lifestyle and desires? Is this what your wife wants for the next 7 to 14 years?

It sounds like you're just dashing off to get some cute purebred, which is a bad way to buy such a dog. Get the wrong breed and you and your dog will be very unhappy for many years.

 

[Randy Tennison]

Insist on seeing the kennel. Don't meet the breeder "halfway", in a parking lot, or something like that. See the conditions, look at the parents. That will give you a good feeling for the kind of breeder they are.

 

[Julian Reville]

Not to *cough* thread fart, but I just had to tell Philip since he's been on me to hire hot interns: I did have to hire a temp during the Christmas season as one tech is out on maternity leave. The new young lady is 26, 5'5", slim, very pretty and vivacious, attending R.N. school, and a major flirt. Yesterday she pulled up her blouse to show me her butterfly tattoo, then asked me to look at her love handles and tell her if she was getting fat. :b

I didn't sleep well last night.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Ok, I'm back. Been busy lately so I didn't have a chance to post earlier.

My wife got the info a little mixed up. She thought there were 7 of them at 5 weeks. There were actually 5 of them that were 7 weeks old. I checked out the kennel conditions and it was pretty clean. Both parents were on location and were healthy. The breeder gave me a 48 hour money-back guarantee if I had any doubts about the puppy's health. We went ahead and picked out a little girl that's tan/mocha with a black mask and a blue undercoat. She looks like a little teddy bear.

We took her to the vet yesterday morning where she received a clean bill of health.

We had been researching different dog breeds last fall and had decided that when we got one, we wanted a pom.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Philip_G]

dammit.
To which address can I forward my resume?


I guess 7 wks is OK. I actually think there's some law in CO that makes it illegal to sell a pup at 5 wks, but I could be mistaken. Congrats on the new friend. Now the real fun begins

 

[DaveF]

Glad to hear it

 

[SarahG]

A little late on this, but a friend of mine got a yellow lab a couple weeks ago and I don't think they could get Gus until he was 10 weeks.