@jan, I’ve been raising guide dog puppies for the past 5 years and I usually pickup the pups at around 7-8 weeks of age. However, my latest puppy in training was re-homed because he got to big for his original puppy raiser. Apache is a large Golden Retriever and he was 11 months when I brought him home. Although I like the 7 week old puppies it sure was nice to skip all of those early stages of puppyhood. Apache is already crate trained so no crying in the crate at 2am. He’s already been through several dog obedience training classes and is very good with his obedience. I could get used to raising these older puppies!