Placement at 7-8 weeks is a minimum suggestion. In these early weeks of life, a puppy is going through a rapid and critical maturation process. The puppy is generally better socialized and developed if it goes through these early stages with its litter mates. Also physical maturation, especially in terms of control of elimination functions, is better as the puppy ages. If you are interested in a puppy to ultimately show, you should be in no hurry. Determining ultimate show quality is at best an educated guess at 8 or 10 weeks. The older puppy, several months up to a year of age, is a much more certain proposition in terms of assessing future show potential.