Benefits of 8 weeks
 

I will be getting my GSD puppy from a breeder in less than a week when he turns 8 weeks old. I've read numerous times how 8 wks is the minimum/ideal age you should bring home a puppy. I see others posting getting their puppies at 6-7wks old and curious on what are some of the benefits of getting him at the 8wks old versus a week or so younger.
Thanks in advance.

There may be others, but the only one of any advantage to the average owner is an extra week of bite inhibition from the dam and the rest of the litter.

I had Lisl delivered at seven weeks, but she's no worse with bite inhibition than any other GSD I've had.

I heard that if you get them younger you are asking for behavioral issues. No idea, we got ours 1 day before 8 weeks =) he is a shark and we love him!

I believe it depends on your goals and level of commitment. I talked my breeder into giving my pup at 7 weeks. During that week we spent about 3 hours apart from each other. Itd be another thing if you werent crate training and left the pup alone for 8 hours, in one day like that the pup could learn more bad stuff than my girl has learned in a month and a half. The worst thing my 13 week old does is steal a shoe and run off with it, and she knows shes being naughty- its the only time her ears are floppy.

All the behavioral stuff plus, before 7 weeks of age or older it's really hard to evaluate the puppies personalities and temperments. So if you can't get an accurate eval then you can't place the puppies properly.

My puppy was sold to me at 5 weeks old - by the decision of his whack trainer. There's issues I'm having that many other trainers have told me are a result of having separated too early from his litter. Basically it all stems from him not having learned how to interact socially with his litter and so he is generally fearful and shy.
He shows confidence left on his own but if a person walks in he'd freak out, or he hides by me, and he doesn't know how to interact with other dogs. It's a lot of extra work to develop his confidence and get him to socialize properly when he was deprived of learning the basics from his litter.

For one, it's against the law in a lot of states to sell puppies younger than 8 weeks.

Age to Sell Puppy Table

But from a developmental standpoint.

Developmental Stages

I feel really good about getting him on day 49. Sure would like him sooner but definitely see how waiting will be the best in the long run.

Thanks for posting that dev standpoint, Paul.

I think puppies are still very much babies at 7 weeks but if someone is able to spend almost 100% of the time with the pup for the first week, I think it can be just fine. I find 8 weeks to be the best time for GSD pups to go home and bond with their people, but older works well, too, as long as the pups have been socialized and given individual time.

Day 49 is the absolute earliest you should have that puppy from a development standpoint. The bare minimum when the puppy can leave. The weaning should be done between 7-12 weeks, but that doesn't mean day 49 is ideal.

Like Christine mentioned, 8 weeks is probably more ideal than 7. Personally, I've never had a puppy before 8 weeks old. I got my current one at around 9.5 weeks.