[Catalin]

Hi to all that can help me understand better this situation. I have a female Labrador that give birth to a litter of 7 puppies. The next door neighbor , who owns a male Labrador, claims that is in his right to have one puppy because , probably , my bitch have been mate with his dog. I have not a problem with that but not it separate one of the puppy, 6 weeks old from the mother and the only thing is one fence between them. I should be worried because of continues calls from the puppy for her mother or the mother trying to reach her lost puppy? Is a very distressed call between them two.

 

[LeoRose]

Unless you had a contract or agreement in place before the breeding took place, I really don't see why your neighbor should get a puppy. However, since it's happened, then yes, six weeks is too young for the puppy to be separated from its mother and littermates. The fact that both the puppy and the dam are in distress is very indicative of this. If he insists on having the puppy, at least see if he is willing to wait until the litter is at least 8 weeks (preferably 10 weeks) before taking it home. Also, since they will be living so close to each other, letting the pup spend a few hours at a time at his house, gradually increasing the time, can help ease the transition.

 

[storyist]

Decent breeders don't allow puppies to go to new homes until they're at least 8 weeks old. At that time they should have a first vaccination and be weaned and eating on their own. Here in Colorado, U.S., it's illegal to sell, give, or trade a puppy until it's 8 weeks old.

As to giving this guy a puppy - it's common when people deliberately breed their purebred bitch to a certain dog that the owner of the stud dog takes a puppy instead of getting a payment as a stud fee. In a case like yours where you don't even know for sure his dog is the sire of the litter, you don't owe this neighbor a thing. You both should be more responsible. If you need to maintain good relations with the guy because he lives next door and are willing to let him have a puppy, that's up to you, but you certainly have no obligation to do so.