4 wk old puppies separated from litter is standard practice?

[AJT]

So this morning at the dog park I met a guy with his 4 1/2 month old sable GSD. He was telling me how his puppy's sire and mare are MWD dogs and his puppy was shipped to a kennel in NJ from Czech Rep at 4 1/2 weeks old. So I was like, "hmmm that's strange I thought most breeders separate the puppies from the mom when they are 8 weeks and older before shipping them overseas". Well according to him it is standard practice over there. Then he went onto the virtues of how the puppy's dad is 130lbs and the mom is like 100lbs. Any how, do breeders overseas ship puppies at 4.5 weeks old? Seems like it goes against the grain from what I've been learning on this board. Some one kindly educate me?

I don't know why but I felt like there was a lot of ego, bravado, chest pumping for an early Sunday morning. Well too much for my liking anyway but that's a personal opinion. He complimented my dog but then went into his puppy's pedigree.

[AJT]

I got horses on my mind...ignore the mare part.

[carmspack]

there is no way a pup that age would be able to be shipped , especially from international airport , because you would have to have certificates and vet documents before boarding the plane, and be examined by the federal vet at the airport at arrival. There are strict regulations surrounding shipping -
I wouldn't believe any of his story.

so what was the dog like , anything close to resembling his "background" and since he got into his pedigree what was it?

[AJT]

I'm not sure I believe most of it, if any at all, but was more surprised about the story so early on a Sunday morning (9am, 30 deg F). The pup was cute (what 4.5 month old pup isn't?) and since it was a sable I did assume it being some type of working line.

He got into the pedigree dropping a number of names with 'von' in it but unfortunately I'm not well verse in it with my limited knowledge to engaged the guy into a conversation. Wish someone from the board was there with me this morning! Here are additional things that didn't make sense to me that I may need insight on:

-- 'von', isn't that a German word/particle? Wouldn't a Czech dog or one with Czech parentage use a different word?

-- his mention of his parents as MWD dogs and then being bred. I know from reading males are intact but females are spayed. Maybe I'm wrong?

-- if they were bred, wouldn't the bitch and sire be older? How old can a bitch be when being bred?

-- 130lbs for the sire and 100 lbs for a bitch? I thought MWD dogs tend to be on the leaner side to navigate the field or homes or cars or wherever?

-- maybe Czech GSDs are larger? Are they considered DDR?

An off topic question for GSD breeders...Czechoslovakian wolfdog and GSDs? What is the relationship/history there? Checked the Wikipedia entry but would love insight from everyone.