Separation from family - mom and sibs next door

[MidwestGreen]

Our darling Tonka came from the litter next door. The mother and two of her brothers are still there - and likely to stay there. The yards do not connect. She's about 11 weeks old.

While she is adapting quite well to our place, and forming attachments to the three of us who live here, I worry about the attachment to the birth pack next door.

It's like breaking up with someone - do you want a clean break, or a long drawn-out messy one?

We've been trying to minimize the times we take her out for potty when the other dogs are next door - they're far more interesting than any ol' bodily function. We have had her over on play dates every couple of days.

When she's on the front porch, she does whine at the outside door (where she goes to meet the others). She doesn't seem to pine for them once we get her inside our house, or if she does, it's not for long.

This is my first post - just wondering about these issues.

[gmacleod]

Actually, I think that's a very fortuitous situation and I'd take her back frequently to play if you can

We take puppies from their new homes at around the 8-10 week mark, because that's an ideal time for them to bond with their new families. But in doing so, we interrupt their learning on a number of important life issues - how to be a dog, bite inhibition, social orders, discipline, etc And we have to compensate that by doing some of the teaching ourselves, and by finding as many socialisation opportunities (eg. puppy kindergarten classes) as we can to give them the opportunity to socialise with others their own age.

It sounds as though you've the opportunity to have the best of both worlds here. Your pup is settling in well with you (and you note she isn't pining), but you've got ready socialisation experiences for her with her littermates pretty much on tap. As long as you include a range of other socialisation experiences for her also, I'd say you should end up with a well rounded puppy out of that

[kassa]

Sounds great to me, too. Assuming the neighbors are interested in keeping up the acquaintance. If they're not, down the line it could be sad that she'd want to play with her friends and they don't get to any more, but you probably already know whether that's true or not.

But if you just mean does the pup feel like she's "left her real home" -- think of it this way -- You've had her for almost a quarter of her entire life already, and with each passing week it's even more of her life. And when you count the ~ 2 weeks before she could see and hear and interact in any kind of meaningful way, it's even more significant!

[MidwestGreen]

Thanks for the responses! I feel pretty good about it, and we had them playing today.

The bite inhibition thing I've seen in the last few times she was playing with them. She used to bite and mouth us, which we are discouraging (Tonka! No!) but she's still mighty fond of it - and over the last week, her bite is much calmer when she does so.

It was pretty funny, watching her tug on the hock and jowels of her big brother... and ears... and then they would run away behind the house.

We're pretty good buddies with the neighbors - both moderately young couples, native Minnesotans, etc - so I don't think it will be a problem having access to them.

What could be an issue is when Tonka gets big enough to seriously tussle with her momma, Winona! I've read that genders tend to sort out pack order among each other - so these two girls could be in for it! (and they look so alike - blaze fawns with white feet, little lines up the snout to mid-forehead... it's great...)

[Checkers]

If there ever becomes a problem with the mum you could always invite the brothers over to your house to play