Well thanks for the info. Ive never dealt with litters and this one was a completely unexpected one as the mom was supposedly spayed already. Anubis has an allergy to Ketamine which is why he is not neutered. I am hoping no one here is calling ME cruel as I did not know. I always see puppies listed for sale on sites at 6wks so I thought it was totally fine.
@Anubis's:
Well thanks for the info. Ive never dealt with litters and this one was a completely unexpected one as the mom was supposedly spayed already. Anubis has an allergy to Ketamine which is why he is not neutered. I am hoping no one here is calling ME cruel as I did not know. I always see puppies listed for sale on sites at 6wks so I thought it was totally fine.
No one is calling you cruel… but just pointing out that now that you have these pups, placing them at 6 to 7 wks is not a very good idea. They really need the time with their littermates and any adults in the house. Teaches them more then you can ever teach them. They might offer them for sale, just not to take... or at least they should not... but we all know that puppymillers separate pups at 5 to 6 wks and ship them off to pet stores which is why they have so many problems with pups that are placed/purchased.
And you need to work with them with socialization.. especially before they are placed... and hopefully you are screening possible homes? And require that they be spayed/neutered?
Makes a lot of sense about the pet store puppies. And I certainly aren't running a mill and would hate to be looked at as one. And yeah ive seen people actually letting them go at 6wks. Im certainly keeping them longer than 6wks! Id hate for puppies to come back due to issues.
Please read the links that lvoss sent to you… you will learn lots from them and this is the time you need to learn .....
They are starting to get to the age where you will have lots of work to do if you want these puppies to turn into wonderfully well adjusted adults. You need to start inviting people over to visit so the pups are exposed to men, women, and children of as much diversity as you can find. You will need to invest in some puppy safe objects to enrich their environment so they have things to explore and challenges to face. You will need to start establishing expectations and rewarding good behavior. You will also need to get them accustomed to normal household noise, running the dishwasher, vacuuming, watching loud movies, dropping pots and pans so that they learn these things are no big deal. My house is probably cleaner when we have a litter of pups than it is any other time because they need to get used to all the hustle and bustle and noises. With 8 of them most of your time that isn't spent at work is probably going to be spent handling them and interacting with them so they learn that touch is a good thing and humans mean good things. By 8 weeks old you will be thoroughly exhausted by them and ready to send them to loving homes.
They are kept in the kitchen inside a large exercise pen with a door so mom can go in and out. I normally watch loud TV anyways lol and ive vacuumed around them and Im slowly exposing them to those things. Since their ears are opening more now that their eyes are open. They will be able to hear everything going on soon. Im always holding and cuddling them and they seem to LOVE it. They have been touched and handled from birth basically. They already know who I am by my scent. When I sit in their pen with them they all crawl over to me. Now they can see me as well. Im going to look into some safe toys for them to play with, And my nieces (ages 9-10) are always over so they get time around kids. I have 2 other adult dogs and they will have time with them as well as both adults (The dad, and my lab/pitbull mix) are great with other dogs and puppies. Im going to be getting them used to going on the puppy pads as well. So new owners will have papertrained pups.
@Anubis's:
Since their ears are opening more now that their eyes are open. They will be able to hear everything going on soon.
I've never heard of this. Can someone explain it to me? Don't they hear from day 1?
Their ear canals have to form as they get older. The insides of their ears are closed up when born. From 13-20 days: Eyes open, puppy can hear, begins to walk in a wobbly fashion. They will begin to hear and will respond to taste and smell. Puppies are born both deaf and blind.
They can not see, nor can they hear at birth. About the time the eyes start to open, they begin to hear. Eyes open between 10 and 15 days. One interesting thing I have noticed with my litters is the bitches will open their eyes before the males. Also when first born, the first 5 days or so, they do not have the shiver reflex so it is very important that they are kept warm especially during this time. If you watch a litter, you will see a "puppy pile"… this is to generate warmth between all the little bodies. If you see the pups spread out, then they are too warm....
Thanks both Pat and Anubis's Mom…. I don't remember reading that in my research. 
You're welcome! I learned that myself from research when I found out momma was pregnant.
