The Underage Puppy Rule - Decision

As you know, some forum members have expressed a wish to change the forum rules that prohibit providing advice to members with puppies that have been removed prematurely from their mothers. The whole mods team have spent a lot of time discussing this, and I want you to know that we have taken your concerns very seriously.

All the mods care very deeply about the welfare of dogs and puppies. And we wish to help discourage the trade in underage puppies that still exists in some parts of the world. We feel that providing resources to help people raise puppies of three four and five weeks old encourages this trade, and that the special skills needed to raise such tiny puppies are best learned from a vet or very experienced breeder, not on an internet forum. We have therefore decided to uphold our ban.

This has been a tough decision and we’d like to thank you all for your feedback and the constructive discussion that has taken place here. We have gone over the mods note with a fine tooth comb and decided that we are happy with it the way that it is. But have taken on board suggestions to accompany the note with a few kind words to ‘soften’ the impact.