Frenchie puppy

[KoratheFrenchie]

Hi all! I am new here but my vet recommended this website to me. I am not sure if this is the right board for this question so I apologize if it belongs somewhere else

To make a long story less long: we have a 12 yr old spayed Frenchie who is in great health and still very playful.We've decided to get a puppy (another Frenchie) and have found a local breeder (I am in Italy) who has a few litters of pups. We have visited the breeder and they are kept very well, the puppies are healthy and active and they take great care of them. My question is this...

One litter of 8 has a sweet little boy who we've fallen in love with. They were born on April 21 and so are 5 weeks now. When we went to see them on Saturday, the breeder told us that the mom of these pups, who are ahead for their age, already does not want to spend much time with them. We know it is very important that our little guy learns as much as possible in the coming weeks so we were a little worried about this. The breeder said that the mom of another litter born a few days later is much more "maternal" and so the pups will learn from her and from each other what they should learn from their mom. In your opinion, is an "auntie" just as good at teaching the rules of behavior to puppies as mom is? What to do if mom is no longer interested in bein with the puppies at 5 weeks?

The breeder also has the father on site and he is a very laidback well tempered male, and more and more the puppies will be allowed to interact with him too, but is this enough to ensure that we don't get a puppy who doesn't know how to interact with older dogs?

We really adore this little guy, he is very confident yet relaxed and we are hoping that getting a boy will make it easier for our older girl to accept him.

Any advice is very much appreciated!

(just to add: we know that we'll have to teach him the rules as well that he doesn't get to pester our older dog/she is not his toy and will make sure to give her her space when needed, but we also know that this critical period from 6-8/9 weeks is important for dogs to learn the social rules of being a dog that we humans can't teach them)

[Nettle]

hello and welcome You ask sensible questions.

I have bred litters in the past, and so have many of my "doggie" friends. All of us find that the Mommadog does not want to spend much time with her pups after 5 weeks and very often earlier. She'll check on them at intervals, top them up with milk, and go away. We all have well-adjusted really nice pups that grow up into lovely dogs.

So your breeder sounds great, and I would have every confidence in her.

[KoratheFrenchie]

Thanks for this! It is very reassuring. We are thinking of leaving him with his puppy pals (remaining siblings and parents/aunties) until he is 9 weeks old instead of 8, but maybe at this point this isn't necessary as long as we continue to socialize him with other dogs?

[Nettle]

No, get him earlier. By 9 weeks, puppies are more than ready to leave home, and some will have started to learn to bully the quieter puppies.

Puppies know how to be puppies - what yours needs is gentle controlled exposure to puppy-friendly adult dogs that are owned by sensible people who won't mind you stepping in and stopping any interaction that looks as if it is going to upset one or other. One adult dog at a time. Free-for-all puppy classes do a lot of damage, as all they teach puppies is either to be thugs or to be victims. Nice sensible adult dogs that will gently remind him if he forgets his manners are what puppies need.

He needs to bond with YOU and see YOU as his best friend and mentor - not other dogs.

[KoratheFrenchie]

Thank you again!

So our breeder just sent us a video of the little dude and his siblings playing around, and our guy is the one going around getting all of his bros and sisters to roll over on their backs... I'll admit the video is only half a minute, so it is very possible that they do the same thing to him and it just wasn't in the video... but I am concerned that "some will have started to learn to bully the quieter puppies" is ringing true here. Do you think this will pose a significant problem when he comes home and our older female will want to be the boss of him?

[Nettle]

You can't really say without being there, but normally an older female dog has the measure of a bumptious puppy.