Taking dogs from their litter too young 'makes them aggressive'

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Risk: Badly behaved pets are often abandoned. They could become more aggressive if removed from their litter too early, says study

Seperating puppies from their litter too early can turn them into aggressive dogs, say scientists.

They are significantly more likely to display problematic behaviour as adults than those who stay for at least two months.

This raises the risk that they will be abandoned by their owners.

Researchers studied 140 dogs aged between 18 months and seven years.

Half had been taken from the litter and adopted between the ages of 30 and 40 days, and half had been taken at 60 days.

The dogs’ owners were asked to complete a questionnaire about their pets including their provenance, breed and a range of potentially problematic behaviours.

These included destructiveness, excessive barking, possessiveness around food or toys, attention seeking, aggressiveness, play biting, fearfulness on walks and reactivity to noises.

The scientists found that these behaviours were all more common in dogs who had been separated from their litter at between 30 and 40 days old.


source: dailymail