Visitation PolicyWho doesn't love puppies? To hold them and smell their sweet puppy breath is one of the best parts of our day. We get numerous requests from families to come out and visit our puppies and while we understand completely, we have a visitation policy in place to protect them. Our policy allows visits from families who have deposits to visit that litter once they are 6 weeks old.
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Puppy Safety |
1. Puppies have immature immune systems. They are not protected against parasites and disease that can be brought in on shoes or clothing. While we have been extremely successful in keeping our puppies healthy, many breeders have lost entire litters of puppies due to disease being brought into the breeders home. You don't have to touch a puppy to transfer disease to them. You bring it in on your shoes or clothes and leave it on the couch or the floor and mama dog picks it up on her paws and transfers it to her puppies.
2. New moms can be extremely protective over their new babies. Because we don't have a "facility" and our puppies are born right off of our living room, our moms are always within earshot of visitors. When strangers come to visit and she hears them it can cause her to become very anxious. Once she is anxious, her body will rapidly produce cortisol which then enters her milk supply. When the puppies nurse the cortisol is then transferred to them and causes them to become stressed. 3. A stressed mom will panic. They will jump and whine and can unintentionally step on their puppies causing injury or even death. Even though our mom's know us well, they can even react this way when we are handling the puppies. This is most prevalent within the first week after delivery, but can occur at any time. This is why we handle the puppies in a calm, reassuring manner to get mom used to having "outsiders" touch her most prized possessions. 4. The puppies are reserved for purchasing families. Would you be happy to know that other families were being allowed to come and hold or play with your puppy, putting them at risk? We require you to place a deposit on a puppy before visiting because many families will do what we call "puppy shopping". This means that they will go from one breeder or pet shop to another handling puppies and then want to come out and handle our puppies. Parvo is an extremely harmful and most often deadly virus that is contracted through infected fecal matter. It can be carried on your shoes, clothes and hands without even being noticed. This is one of the reasons it's so deadly and hard to correct. We just aren't willing to put our precious babies at risk. |
Our Schedules & Personal Safety |
1. We have a normal home life that includes jobs/businesses, children and their activities, home and property needs just like you do. We are not open on a 24/7 schedule. Our days are filled with caring for the puppies and adult dogs in addition to Andrea having a fairly demanding schedule with her position at Shriner's Hospital. Our main goal is to provide our families with healthy, well adjusted puppies and in order to do this we must be protective of our time at home. This is why visiting is reserved for those who have deposits with us. It's just not possible to accommodate the many requests that we receive to "drop by" and visit.
2. We love having families who have a reservation come out and meet their new addition once they are old enough. Having perfect strangers come into our home is a risk. It's not only a risk to our puppies and dogs, but also a risk to our personal safety. Our home is not a open door storefront, it is our home that we want to preserve and protect. We hope that our policy reflects the dedication that we have to our puppies, dogs and owners and is looked at with the same respect you would want in your own home. |
Alternatives to Visiting
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We understand your desire to visit the puppies before making a decision, but we must protect the little lives entrusted to us. We have many happy families who have visited our home and own our dogs. We are more than happy to put you in touch with these families so they can share their experience with you. You may also be able to visit with these families and their doodles. Our "Doodle Alumni" page has tons of doodle pictures and letters from their owners. Please take a few moments to take a look at them. They will also give you a good idea what your future doodle will look like.
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