You see that little ball of fur and you just want to scoop him up and take him home. But removing a pup too early from mom and littermates can have behavioral consequences.

Young puppies learn social manners with their mother and siblings. A stable, early development period also gives pups a sense of security that gets them through the scary first two months of life. So, a good rule of thumb is to wait a full sixty days before taking the little bundle home.

New research out of Italy confirms this truism, finding that pups removed from the litter at thirty to forty days developed significantly more behavior problems, including destructiveness, fearfulness and house soiling.

So resist that impulse to adopt little Rex before he’s ready. You’ll have the rest of his life to love him. After all, anticipation is half the fun.