I think Candy will be the best resource here since she has raised a litter and is quite knowledgeable about this stuff. Both of mine came to me between six and seven weeks old. I don't know if it did any permanent damage.........they couldn't be better dogs, either of them. I have always heard something about that 8th week though, that it isn't good to get them at 8 and 9 is supposed to be perfect. Sooooooooooooo if you can hold out and wait until they are 9 weeks old, that's probably the best, but as I said, I'm no expert, and mine came to me far earlier than that.