Best age to seperate - Page 6

ANY DOG that would rather spend time with the other dogs, over it's person, was in my opinion, not raised correctly.

   In my experience, and I have plenty, any dog crVes the attention, companship of its owner. That includes dogs raised within their canine families. I have mothers,fathers,brothers,sisters, cousins,aunts,and uncles...AND unrelated dogs.

   Not one of these dogs would refuse the offer to jump in my car and go for a ride with me, or joy me when I walk to my mofhers hoyse. NOT ONE.

    While they totally enjoy running around, playing with each other, EVERY SINGLE ONE would prefer to come with me. My dogs also have their own living room, complete with couch and chair, woodstove, toys, they prefer to come lay up on the couch with me.

    My dogs have it made, as far as dogs go. My yard is fenced half woods ( woods that have actual bear,deer,turkeys,etc.,)half mowed yard. They catch frogs,mice,snakes. Not a one of them will reject a call in from me. 

   Do they come because they think they are getting a snack or food. No. My dogs have access to food 24/7. 

They come because they want my company and want to please me.

I know this, because I live it...everyday.

FATHER AND DAUGHTER...SIT AND STAY

IT'S THE TIME,TRAINING AND DEVOTION THAT MATTERS....

Maybe some males/females don't get along well enough with one another or puppies to allow them to interact with one another? I doubt many GSD breeders are going to eliminate every dog from a breeding progam based only on their not being able to live harmoniously in a pack. 

Kitkat, I haven't even read this since my last response so please excuse me if I repeat anything anyone else said, but this whole thing seemed to get redundant so I took a break. I have no doubt that you have HAPPY dogs. And that's fantastic. Truly. But you cannot say that anyone could do this and with any dogs. It's just not so. I'm leaning toward keeping pups later and later if they're going into relatively inexperienced homes because my limited experience with pet homes has shown me that they can screw up even the easiest, most well-rounded puppy and turn it into a problem (dominant, pushy, obnoxious, aggressive, etc.) in just a few short months. I can preach til I'm blue in the face about how you do and do not raise a puppy with some character and drive, but NO ONE listens until all the problems I've predicted have come true. 

I'm sticking to my "experienced folks ought to take their pup earlier and inexperienced folks ought to take them later" theory. And just because a young pup leaves the breeder's home, it doesn't mean the socialization with other dogs, if the owner feels that's important, has to stop! I am not kidding when I say one of the best, most capable dogs I ever had was brought home at 4 weeks. Now, I took most of the litter so they had a few more weeks together but they left their dam at 4 weeks due to odd circumstances with their breeder and the dam (turns out the dam was kind of stolen .....). He spent time with my other dogs- my CORRECT, STABLE adult, Caleb, and and my APBT who was just a tiny pup too. Caleb let both of them crawl all over him. He never corrected either of them until they were nearly a year old . They both grew up extremely confident and strong. You can not fault either dog in temperament in any way. The GSD passed his selection tests for SWAT. Unfortunately, an illness took him off the street and brought him back home to me.

My point is that the QUALITY of the influences in the environment have far more to do with how a dog turns out than the FACTORS in the environment. A breeder with sketchy dogs and no handling skills would do more for their pups by getting them off that property at 6 weeks, and on the flip side, a breeder with really solid dogs and who knows their way around a dog will do more for the dog by keeping it out of a novice's hands until the dog is at a less "corruptible" age. 

And I do firmly believe that genetics has a strong tie to how handler-oriented they are regardless of environment. I have kept a lot of young dogs for a year or two and they are SUPER solid when they leave, despite never being with anyone but me their whole lives. They bond as quickly as any others and even better, they're stable and confident and don't have "issues" that need to be undone. They've been places, seen things, hung out with other dogs...they can take them or leave them...their handler is the focus. I think that's hugely genetic and only partly my ifluence, though it'd be fun to take all the credit. 

  '  While they totally enjoy running around, playing with each other, EVERY SINGLE ONE would prefer to come with me. My dogs also have their own living room, complete with couch and chair, woodstove, toys, they prefer to come lay up on the couch with me'.'

Thats because the gsdog is hard wired to have a master to serve and not live as a pack of hounds.

I would say most mine don't really enjoy "playing" with other dogs, period. I have a couple that have buddies they'll goof around with a bit, but most of mine are tolerating each other peacefully if they're outside together, or napping, not playing. My Pits will play. My GSDs have never really played with other dogs like some breeds do. I don't think a correct GSD enjoys a pack life more than a good relationship with a human handler. 

And that jenn and joan, is my point.

   Although my dogs can be in a pack, each and everyone of them would prefer to be with me.

I put alot of time in with my dogs. Like i said, they live with me, not for me. If I kept a dog back for possible breeding down the road, and the dog turns out, not breeding quality, I DO NOT send it packing because it has no monetary value to me. I keep it.

   Can every puppy and every home be judge equally, of course not. While one person may be able to adequately care for a pup at 6 or 8 weeks, another can't. But i am the only one that can deceide what quality of care I want for my pups.

    There is NO difference in the actual raising of pups,mine anyway, up to 6-7 weeks old, for pet homes, police k9, os sport or protection dogs, WHICH I DO HAVE DOGS DOING EACH.

    I enjoy my dogs. Their sole purpose for being with me is not to make money off them....

I think there comes a point where you have too many dogs to do justice to them. They are not hounds. They need one-on-one time. I am meeting a great guy on Friday who is adopting one of my "didn't work out for breeding" dogs. I don't see it as "sending her packing" because she's of "no monetary gain."  I see it as "why stay here and split time 6 ways when she can have her own handler and a real life FULL time?"

^^^  Jenni's  post, a couple back, about "playing" with each other:

Yes, as a breed I never have found them all that (excessively ?)  'playful',  they're

unlike many other breeds and crossbreeds.  Although IME that tends to apply more

when they are with other GSDs -  a rather non-dog friendly, and non-playful,

bitch of mine changed completely in the company of a young Rottie she

liked;  they used to wrestle & chase for long sessions, every time they met up.

Go figure.

There has been plenty of scientific research into the development of canines and science teaches us that a puppy's brain is still being formed until about the fourth month of age. Experiences occurring during this time frame can imprint for a lifetime building the dog into the adult that it will be. I would rather raise an infant or toddler to know that learning is fun and rewarding rather than try to beat into submission a teenager who knows everything because it has been running wild in it's pack.