When Are Puppies Cutest?

There’s no arguing that puppies are cute. But when are they cutest?

A new study finds that puppies are cutest to humans when they’re about 6 to 8 weeks old. That’s when they’re weaned, leading researchers to speculate that puppies are cutest when they need the most human attention.

“Just when the mother dog is bored with her puppies and is about to kick them out of the nest, they’re going to have to fend for themselves, and that’s when they’re cutest,” said Clive Wynne, lead author of the study, a psychology professor and director of the Arizona State University Canine Science Center.

The new findings could help scientists better understand how dogs evolved to rely on human care.

“This human affection for puppies at that time may have given early undomesticated dogs, and today’s wild dogs, a competitive advantage [over other species] in being adopted and cared for by humans,” the researchers wrote in the May issue of the journal Anthrozoös.

Cute and adorable

Dogs evolved from wolves, but the two canids have distinct differences, such as wolf pups being cared for by their parents until they are two years old, while puppies are abandoned by their mothers after they are weaned, which is around six to 11 weeks old.

Because they are abandoned at such a young age, puppy mortality is very high without human care; by some estimates, more than 80 percent of puppies die in their first year of life without human care.

Previous studies have shown that people find animals more adorable when they have “baby-like features” such as large eyes, round faces, and small mouths. But those studies did not look at whether there is a “golden age” for cuteness.

In the new study, 51 (very lucky) students were asked to rate the cuteness of three breeds of puppies: Jack Russell terriers, Cane Corso puppies, and white shepherd puppies at different ages, from newborn to 7 months old.

The cuteness ratings of the puppies were lowest when they were newborns, peaked at 10 weeks old, and then declined as they got older.

In the study, Cane Corso puppies were rated cutest when they were 6.3 weeks old, while Jack Russell terriers were rated cutest at 7.7 weeks old, and white shepherds were rated cutest at 8.3 weeks old.

The researchers also noted that the volunteers were not asked about their knowledge of the three breeds, which could have influenced their ratings.

In addition, the study only used photos of puppies, and the volunteers might have given different ratings if they had been shown videos of puppies performing specific movements. This will be tested in future research, Wynne said.

He also stressed that the study does not imply that we stop loving dogs after they are eight weeks old. “Eight weeks is when we are most attracted to them,” Wynne said. “But once we love them, we love them for life.”