I am getting a puppy, almost 4 weeks old. Yes, 4 WEEKS! Aieeee!!!1111

[TorchTheWitch]

28. I've spent years researching every aspect of dog breeding

and know what I'm talking about.

It SHOULD frighten people. People are constantly getting dogs they have no idea about their breeding and/or upbringing and then can't figure out why the dog has so many illnesses or dies. If people knew what is necessary in proper breeding and upbringing then the people doing the careless breeding and improper upbringing wouldn't find it so easy and we wouldn't be so unindated with so many unwanted health compromised dogs. I wish to God that I had known any of this before getting my first one who was improperly bred, taken from its mother at far too young an age and had a long list of health problems all his life because of it.

I don't know why you think my post was "over the top". The truth is never over the top, and the most decent thing anyone could do in this instance is warn the OP what they're getting into and why so they can make an informed decision whether or not to take on this pup or give them the chance to convince the acquaintence breeder to properly care for the pup until it is old enough to go to a new environment. And the truth is this pup still needs to stay in a confined and clean area with its siblings properly cared for until it is old enough to be sent to a new home REGARDLESS of the fact that the mother dog is rejecting the pups. Bad enough that they aren't getting the very necessary immunities through nursing, but to even further compromise them be sending them off into another home with new people and new animals before they're even old enough to have their second round of shots is just begging for trouble. The very least this breeder could do is make sure that the pups are properly cared for until they are old enough to be sold or given away. Any vet will tell you that before the THIRD round of shots a pup still has to be limited in it's contact with other people and animals because they aren't protected sufficiently. At four weeks this pup who is already immune compromised because of not being able to nurse would not yet even have had its SECOND round of shots.

And that's just the physical health. Behaviorally, it is necessary that the pups remain with each other until at least eight weeks of age. Bad enough that they aren't being cared for by their mother dog, but even worse to deprive them of each other as pups NEED to be with their litter mates until old enough to leave them.