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stories of chooseing your pup

Super Princess

Well-known member
As i read some of these stories of everyone choooseing tehir pup, i feel a little jellous.

when we looked at breederes, we found one close to home about 45 minutes fromw here we live.
We went in and met the parents to be..and saw some of her other dogs, they were beautiful.

We had put our name down for a tri girl.
When we got a call that our litter had been born, she said unfortunatly there was only one tri girl and it was goign to a wonderful woman in california who had waited (three years or three litteres i cant remember) but there was a nice little male tri..would we like him.
we took no time in decideing yes yes yes.

My dad went up shortly after to see him, took two pictures but was never aloud to hold him..
and when we went up..i forget how old hew as but they were fluff balls running around..and we were never aloud in the room to play with him or his litter mates, we had to watch behidn a glass door.

the first time we were able to touch or hold him was the day we picked him up to bring him home.

haha im reading all your stoires and im feeling so jellous i didnt get to hold him when he was tiny and guini pig like lol.


is this a normal pracitce? to not be able to touch or hold the puppy till you bring him home?
 
It seems like each breeder is different. I'm not seeing our litter until their 9 week vaccination (but I can't go until they're 10 weeks - bummer). I get so jealous when I see pics of people's puppies at 3 or 4 weeks ... our breeder doesn't let ANYONE come visit that early. I don't know if this is the norm ... but I totally understand and respect her decision.

So I know in my experience that I'm not getting to see our pup until 2 weeks before we bring him/her home!!! And I have to decide that day which puppy is ours ... and that'll be the last time I'll see him until 12 weeks. It's sad - I feel your pain. :cry*ing:
 
Here’s my story…

With our Boxers succumbing to Old Father Time, my husband (Frank) & I started looking to the future regarding our dogs. I’d been a Boxer woman all my life & Frank had lived with quite a few different breeds over time. As we are in our 50s & 60s Frank decided that young Boxers would be too vigorous a breed for us over the next 10 – 14 years. I disagreed with him at the time & still do, but that is beside the point. Anyway, between us we decided a small breed would probably be sensible. Though the vigour of the Boxer wasn’t a problem for me, I did & do think it would be nice to have a breed small enough to tuck under your arm & just go with. Initially we had settled on the Boston Terrier, but they are rare as hen’s teeth here in Australia and we worried about the very small gene pool that this implied.

My husband had always loved the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and though I always thought they were little darlings, when I started to do my research I was very concerned about the health problems, and unsure how I’d cope with a long haired breed. Anyway, hubby convinced me that we’d deal with the health issues and that he would take at least 50% of the responsibility of raising, caring for & grooming the CKCS. {clears throat}.

The plan was not to take on a new puppy until we were down to just one Boxer, but we decided as part of our homework we’d go check out some breeders. We looked at several and as it turned out, not far from us was one you wouldn’t touch with a barge pole and another that was just perfect. The couple are lovely, do all the health checks that are common-place among responsible breeders in this country, have beautifully socialised dogs that are raised in their home, have impressive pedigrees, and got a tick for all the other things we felt were important. We explained to them that we would not be looking to take on a new puppy for a while, but that we would like to be placed on their “potential puppy homes” list for the future.

About 3 months later, we received an email with some photos attached of a litter that was born on 30th December. We had decided that we would like a Blenheim male, and as there was only one with this criteria in the litter, we looked at the photos of this little boy with interest.

We decided that even though we weren’t ready to take on another puppy as we still had the 2 Boxers, there was no harm in going to take a look. So when the puppies were 4 weeks old we went for our first visit.

When we arrived at the breeders place, they gave us the only Blenheim boy to cuddle and of course we were sunk. We knew right there and then, that if they would allow us, this boy would be ours. They invited us and encouraged us to come & see the puppies as often as we wanted, as they felt it important that the puppies get to know their new owners as early as possible. We didn’t want to make a nuisance of ourselves so we would go see the puppy once a week for a short visit.

On our second visit the breeders told us that they had a 2 year old male that they had shown & used as stud several times, but that they were looking for a good home to go to. Well to cut a long story short, we said “yes we will take him”.

So our plan of only ever being a 2 dog family in the future blew out and we are now a 4 dog family.

Oh and about my husband’s reassurance that he would take 50% of the responsibility of raising, caring & grooming… well somewhere a zero has been dropped off that number.

Am I happy we went down this path? Yes I am.
 
It took a very long time to find a close-by and responsible breeder with puppies ready to leave at the right time! I at first talked to one woman who had excellent results in shows and had a bitch expecting around the right time. I was so excited, and she said she would be happy to give me one of her puppies. But they were born late as I wanted one born in late October so I could bring it home in January at the start of the school holidays.

Anyway she gave me the name of another breeder with an expecting bitch so I talked with her. It turns out she also shows and sounded like a great breeder! She showed me pictures of her puppies and told me the tests she'd done etc. and I told her about me and my situation and it was perfect! She showed me pictures of the puppy she had sort of already chosen for me and at first I thought his markings weren't very nice so I wasn't too sure.

When we visited the puppies when they were 6 weeks only one girl and one boy (the one chosen for me) were left. Eveything was leaning towards the boy and he was, in my eyes, the sweetest puppy, despite his markings (which I now love!). The girl was adorable too but she was the runt and I was really hoping for a boy.

I knew I wanted a boy so it was great that I got one, and I wouldn't have it any other way! :flwr:
 
I got a call from Jenny the day my litter was born. If I'd listened to my messages :roll: I'd have seen Dylan at 7 days old. I saw him at 10 days old. I got to hold him and he slept in my one hand :l*v: There isn't much you can do with them when the eyes are still shut, I found him much more interesting when he could walk about.

All along right up until close to the end, Jenny didn't know which puppy she would keep out of the 2 on offer to me. I totally fell for Dylan though and was relieved I could have him.

I visited every week or fortnight, even when Jenny was away on hoilday. I had to take three trains and it took 2 hours each way but it was worth it. I would spend the whole day and have lunch there too. I think I'm was spoilt for the best experience with my breeder and getting to know my puppy. It really made all the difference to me and to Dylan. I chose the right puppy for me and he knew me before he came home. I was shown how to groom too and got so much advice. I don't think anyone can top my experience, I sure am grateful.
 
the breeder we got jadan from was very particular about our shoes and hands. we had to take outside shoes off incase of contamination ie we could have been walking on where a dog had peed or pood and the pups had not been vacinated yet. likewise we had to wash our hands and then wipe them with aniseptic wipes before we could handle the pups and then only the pup we had chosen. we wanted a boy and there were two in the litter so these were the only ones out of there crate running around. we could see the mum and others but not to touch. jadan was the one out of the two that happily sat in seans lap (my ten yr old son) and cuddled up where as the other one i liked was more adventurous and bouncy. sean won the pick and im so glad he did as j has been cuddly ever since :flwr: ;) :flwr:
 
We had to take our shoes off and wash our hands too! But we were allowed to see all the pups in play, well the were all playing out on the courtyard anyway :)
 
Wow Chelsea, I thought we were careful!

We allow people to start visiting their puppy at about 5 weeks old. Before then they don't really do much other than eat and sleep. You wouldn't believe (or maybe you would) the pressure from people to come visit before then. After that people are encouraged to visit their puppy as often as they want, within reason.

Our only other big rule is that if they want to hold their puppy, they have to sit on the floor. The only exception to that is someone who, due to a physical limitation, is unable to; they can hold their puppy on their lap while sitting on the couch while Kris and I hold our breath. Twice over the years we have had a puppy fly out of someone's arms and on to the hardwood floor. Fortunately they weren't hurt seriously either time.

Sure is interesting hearing everyones stories!
 
I got Robbie from a breeder who had become a friend before I got him..she had had a litter about 18 months before Robbie's that had a beautiful boy that she kept for her breeding program but I had tried to steal him..LOL..When Robbie's litter was born their were two boys and she was thinking of keeping both and I had actually thought I was going to wait another year before getting my second dog...I had been over several times to play and socialize with the puppies and there was one that was a little more outgoing than the other and a little devil may care attittude (I wanted another agility dog)..anyway when they were about 7 or 8 weeks old she told me that she was only going to keep one and was I interested in the other one..only thing was she wasn't sure which one she was going to keep yet...I told her I was interested particularly in the more outgoing one...luckily she decided to keep the other boy and Robbie became mine..*G*
 
It's nice to here different experiences. Our breeder was also careful, we washed our hands And first visisted at 6 weeks. I do have and interesting story.
My husband and I had a basset hound when we got married, our present and first baby. She was the best most well trained dog, I worked hard with her. We had her 2 years, then our son was born. When my son was about to turn 2, she suddenly passed away, vet said maybe lepto. It took her fast and I was never so devestated in my whole life by a loss. I almost felt guilty that I was more upset about the loss of my dog then my grandfather. Anyway that was 8 years ago, had another baby instead of getting another dog. A few months ago I had my first dream about my dog, her name was Amber, like she was saying OK it's time for a new dog, it's OK now. So I was finally ready and open to the idea of a puppy. I figured that there would be a sign to tell me when the right one came to me. Sounds silly but I try to follow my insticts. One night I said to my husband that I named our dog, chloe, which he responded, your crazy we don't even HAVE a dog yet. I know but that's her name.
We were looking for a while, I happened upon a breeder close by. She Had a litter of 2 girls and one was sold. We decided to go look at the one puppy. She was very cute very playful, but I wasn't sure right away. We spent a lot of time talking with the breeder, I put the puppy in my lap and she fell asleep in the same position Amber did when we were deciding on her. OK first sign(to me) I put her down, looked at the breeder wondering what to do and she said," Well you can call her whatever you want, but I've been calling her Chloe." That was it, my husband freaked. He knew that was our puppy right then, and so did I. It was pretty funny we'll never forget it, and I coudn't change my mind on the name either.
We've had her for 3 weeks and love her very much as it was meant to be.
 
I met Jake when he was a couple of weeks old. We met Shelby when she was two days old. Here's a picture of Shelby when we first met her:

HPIM0175.jpg


And our visit with Jake:
JakeMomFront.jpg


We also started bringing Jake to visit before we brought Shelby home
HPIM0276.jpg


If I could have visited every week...I would have!! But I usually went about every two weeks
 
Cathy - I am loving that last picture with Shelby as a puppy with Jake!

All breeders are different, but I think typically its about six weeks when most prospective owners are able to visit the litters. Bella was already picked out for me before she was even born--I had first pick on a blenheim girl and since there was only one in the litter, and the blenheim boy was already spoken for, she was mine by default :) Other prospective owners have been able to visit the remaining puppy (a tri-girl) before the 'six week play date' and the breeder will then decide who will be taking her home. Since my breeder is out of state, I have had to rely on pictures every two weeks. I won't actually lay eyes on her in person until she arrives in a few more weeks!

I wish I had the opportunity to let the puppy 'choose me' as others have been fortunate to experience on this forum. If I ever decide to get another one, I would definitely go that route. Seeing the puppies with their mother and littermates is also key.
 
Not a story directly relating to the breeder (I suspect BYB) but here goes.
Met a friend's blenheim sweetheart and I was done, smitten. Every time we visited his house, I "threatened" to stick her under my arm and take her home. Of course, he would never let me.

His DW's mother worked at a kennel and this pretty blenheim girl came in and my friends knew how much I wanted a pupper of my own. Apparently the other owner didn't want her as she's got a bad eye(blind due to trauma, also microophthalmic, the other is bigger). So we adopted her and she hasn't looked back!
PC260140resize-1.jpg

Whatchooo lookin' at?
 
People who read this site a lot already know the backstory as to how I ended up with my most precious little boy. And I am not going to tell it agian.

I would like to start at the end of the story, finding Toby.

When I went to the breeder to see 7 month old Toby, it was love at first site for both of us. He immediately got into my lap, gave me so many Cav hugs and cuddles. I looked at the breeder and said, "This is my Dog!"

They had shown Toby to other prospective buyers, and he would have nothing to do with them. Remember, he was 7 months old, and though well socialized, he had only had one set of parents in his whole life.

But literally the moment he and I saw one another, we both knew. That very first meeting, not only did he come to my lap, give me hugs and just sort of melted into my lap, but when I left, he flollowed me all the way to the gate, and cried when I left.

I was only going to get the money to come back and get him, and I did come back and get him 4 days later. He followed me to my car and jumped in as though he had been doing it for all of his life.

There has never been one moment since the day he came home that he showed any fear or hesitation. He was my dog from the day he was born and I was his mommy from the day I needed him.

For me, there is not even one shread of doubt that God/the Goddess/The Universal Goodness, gave Toby and I to one another. They knew how desperately I needed this little dog, and they seemed to tell him that.
 
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