Question about the runt of the litter

[Derf]

Does the runt of the litter need to stay with the mother longer than the other pups? The runt in our litter is a lot smaller than all the other pups. How long should the runt stay with the mother before going to his new home?

[Dax]

No... all the pups should be weaned at the same time and should be ok away from Mom at about 8 weeks of age.

[Appylvr]

The runt of my litter was the smallest pup, by quite a bit. The bigger ones were almost 2 times bigger than he was. I ended up keeping him and saw one of the bigger pups like 8 months later and mine was bigger than it! He ended up being 125lbs and I never gave him any special treatment.

[Deidre]

It does sometimes happen that the runt ends up bigger than his littermates who may have been twice its size to begin with. I do keep the runts a little longer especially if they are quite tiny at least for my own piece of mind until I feel secure that they are robust and completely independent and able to look after themselves by the time they go to their new home as some people may not have the necessary experience to look after a tiny dog.

[whimzikal]

I only had the 1 litter this spring. Jorge was the runt, he is still the runt.
I think it depends the pup. Jorge is fine, just smaller. The vet is very pleased with his developement. Also he weaned with the rest, our biggest pup was the one who kept running back to mama trying to score a meal!

[haunani]

Deoji was the runt of 9, with him being 8lbs at 8 weeks and his bros and sisters being at least 14lbs (one bro was 18lbs!!). Now, he's the 2nd biggest of the litter (only behind that monster bro!) and is 90lbs at 1 year (for a dobie!!)