[quote="crnosrce1"]I prefer to take a pup at 6 weeks old. Pups biggest bonding ages are at the 7-9 week age, and i like to be the one who is the CONSTANT in the VAST equation of variables in their young life, so that they truly understand that if NOBODY else will be good in their life, that [color=darkred]I WILL[/color]. PLus, it is very cool to watch your new puppy go from infantile, to babyish, to toddler, to child, to teenager to adult to elderly, and NOT miss a week of it.[/quote] It is a common misconseption that puppies taken from mother at 6 weeks bond with the owners better. These puppies miss out on many important things - immune protection coming from mothers milk, and from vaccinations (6 weeks old is too early to vaccinate, so the puppy will go unprotected) proper pack social skills taught by mother and littermates, age appropriate exercise ... etc. Human owner can not provide these important development aids because we are different species. I don't send my puppies away until at least 10 weeks old, 12 is even better. They need to learn stuff here to be able to adapt, socialize with the new world and bond with new owner easier and more effective. You don't send your children to school before they are mentally ready. If you do - it becomes frasterating for child and teacher and classmates.