5 Week Old Puppy!!!!

Tomorrow we're adopting a five-week-old male orphan puppy. He's been in a foster home with one of his brothers and we have an older dog to help socialize him as well. I've been doing a ton of reading on the Labrador site about training, crate training, house breaking, etc. and they all suggest starting at about eight weeks old. I know that's when most people bring their puppies home, so my question is, do I wait three weeks before we start training or can we start right away? Is he too young to comprehend anything or is waiting three weeks only going to create bad habits that will be harder to break later on? Thanks in advance-I'm excited to learn and grow with our new little boy!

 

Hi @JessVizzy
Unfortunately we have a strict policy on underage dogs.
There are lots of resources on the labrador site that you may find useful, but unfortunately we cannot allow forum posts and discussion until your puppy is seven weeks old.
I have copied the Moderator advice about this.
Please do learn all you can from the site, and ask advice from your vet in the meantime.
Jacqui

Moderator Note: Moderators note

Sadly, in some parts of the world there is a tragic trade in tiny puppies barely able to walk. On the Labrador site we frequently get comments from people who have purchased puppies as young as 21 days old. Their owners will usually need help from a qualified veterinary professional if the puppy is to survive and thrive.

Our forum policy is to encourage people to wait until their puppy is eight weeks old before collecting it from the breeder. To make sure we are not encouraging the trade in underage puppies, nor depriving these puppies of essential veterinary attention, we have the following rule.

If a forum member’s puppy has been removed from the breeder/ mother before the age of seven weeks, that member must wait until their puppy is seven weeks old before posting about him or her on the forum

We recommend that anyone with a puppy under this age contacts their vet without delay for instructions on feeding, general care, and medical treatment. We understand that members want to help these puppies, but the forum is not the right place to be distributing specialist advice of this nature.