# Ideal Age to Adopt a Poodle Puppy?



## lexiz (Dec 30, 2016)

Hey, everyone. I have a question for you all. What do you consider the ideal age to adopt a poodle puppy?

Is 12-13 weeks past the ideal time?


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## IdahoLiving (Jun 20, 2013)

I brought Jetson home when he was 8 months old. I think the ideal age is whatever fits with your lifestyle and desire, as long as the puppy is old enough to leave the Mom (so at least 8 weeks old, and for the Toys I think 10-12 weeks seems to be the magic age for breeders to let them go home). 
Sheilah


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## TrixieTreasure (May 24, 2015)

No, 12 to 13 weeks IS the best time. At least for Toys. A reputable breeder will make sure to keep pups with their mother for at least 11 or 12 weeks. A puppy needs its mother and siblings in order to learn social skills, and healthwise, to at least have the first set of vaccinations.


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## BorderKelpie (Dec 3, 2011)

Ideal age for me would have been mid twenties to thirties. When I still had the energy to keep up with them. 
lol


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## lexiz (Dec 30, 2016)

We are looking to adopt a standard puppy in May, and there is a breeder that is expecting puppies this month, but they hold the puppies for at least 12 weeks with their mother. So the puppy would be older than 12 weeks when we could adopt. Would that be a problem at all? I'm just not sure! I've only gotten puppies at 8 or 9 weeks in the past.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

BK, you are funny! 

I think 10-12 weeks for toys and 8 weeks for minis and spoos is the youngest you should consider. Older is just great if the puppy has been well socialized!


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## oshagcj914 (Jun 12, 2016)

lexiz said:


> We are looking to adopt a standard puppy in May, and there is a breeder that is expecting puppies this month, but they hold the puppies for at least 12 weeks with their mother. So the puppy would be older than 12 weeks when we could adopt. Would that be a problem at all? I'm just not sure! I've only gotten puppies at 8 or 9 weeks in the past.


That's not too old. Just make sure the breeder is giving them some good foundations for training and get started on socialization right away when you get your pup. My future spoo breeder often keeps her pups until they're 10-12 weeks and makes sure they have some manners (as much as you can expect from a pup that age) before they go home.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

The socialization window closes at 16 weeks, so you'll still have time to get the puppy exposed to anything the breeder doesn't. Sounds like a caring breeder to keep them until 12 weeks.


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## pudellvr (Dec 1, 2016)

oshagcj914 said:


> That's not too old. Just make sure the breeder is giving them some good foundations for training and get started on socialization right away when you get your pup. My future spoo breeder often keeps her pups until they're 10-12 weeks and makes sure they have some manners (as much as you can expect from a pup that age) before they go home.




Mine has the same rule as well. This is great when the breeder is focused on exposing pups to a wide variety of situations and people. Early Neurological Simulations and Conditioned Emotional Response are the current buzz words.


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## lexiz (Dec 30, 2016)

Thanks for all of the great responses! We are still looking around but since we have never had a poodle, all info is appreciated.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

All of my dogs (2 spoos and a GSD, so all big) came home to us between 7 1/2 and 9 weeks old (Peeves was on the younger side, but it was about getting there on the weekend before Christmas).

For both poodles, Lily and Javelin, I was happy to get them home when we did because they both came from big litters of 8 and 9 puppies. I think we had much greater ability to spend individual attention on starting to teach them puppy manners with them being in essentially one on one attention situations than would have been happening with their breeders at that point. Javelin's breeders specifically feel that moving puppies to their forever homes at the age of just over 8 weeks is important for that one on one time. By then they already had really good bite inhibition and introducing them to new people, new places and even to healthy and temperamentally suitable dogs was more of a priority than keeping them with their littermates. Javelin started coming to my obedience club with me when he was about 10 weeks old. This made it easy for me to introduce him to tons of dog savvy people and dogs.

If a breeder can do that for a litter of standard puppies then having them stay with the breeder until 12 weeks is fine, but if not then I would rather manage that window of important opportunities myself.

For tpoo pups they need to stay with the breeder and their mom longer, but since the litters are smaller it is easier for the breeder to do the socialization that needs to be done. For mpoos I guess I think it would depend on the number of pups in the litter and on whether the pups are closer to tpoo size or spoo size.

The bottom line is about making sure that the critical developmental events regarding social skills are met in a timely fashion that takes advantage of the neurological growth of the puppy. Socialization to people has a critical window that generally closes around 12 weeks of age and dog to dog skills have a critical window that closes around 18 weeks of age. These developmental events and the work that should be done in relation to them are discussed in this article from Dog Star Daily. Developmental Priorities | Dog Star Daily


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