People who submit an Expression of Interest may be selected to visit the puppies at six weeks of age. This is not a guarantee of being assigned a puppy from this litter (but it is a good sign!). Note that if there is a Covid-19 lockdown, this may need to be by video chat instead 😥.
You should bring your immediate family – that is, everyone who will be living with the dog. However, it’s not appropriate to bring others who just want to have a go with some puppies (but if you live alone, it’s fine to bring a friend).
You’ll meet the full litter of puppies. Diving into a puppy puddle is a pretty awesome experience, and at this age, the puppies are very playful, smell lovely, are trusting, and are inquisitive – it’s pretty much the funnest thing you can experience, honestly. 🤯 It’s a great experience for kids and adults alike! If the day is warm, this will be outside on a lawn, in a large fenced area (if it’s raining, we have a good inside area for this).
Once that excitement dies down, you’ll be able to meet the mother of the puppies, some other adult dogs (to get an idea of their size and temperament).
You can ask questions, for example about their current living conditions, feeding, and other care, advice on how it might work if you were selected to take a puppy home (when they are 8 weeks of age). You can tour the area where the puppies were born and raised (which is where they will spend their next two weeks before going to their new homes).
We’ll ask you to select your first, second and third preference, from those available (the puppies wear collars with numbers, so we can tell them apart). Often this involves a lot of back and forth between the family members, but we can be patient – the appointment lasts for one hour, after which we have another family visiting, so please don’t overstay!
Throughout the visit, we’ll be assessing you: how you and your family handle the puppies (we know that kids naturally need guidance in this area, and we’re interested to see how kids take that guidance on board), the nature of the questions you ask, how well what you say and ask seems to match up with your Expression of Interest.
We don’t care how you’re dressed, what car you drive, what school you went to, what job you have, or where you live. Our only concern is, will you provide the best possible home for this puppy?
Within a few days of your visit, and once all 6-week visits are concluded for this litter, we’ll let each family know if they have been successful or not. If your application is successful, you’ll need to make the $1000 deposit by the time the puppies are seven weeks old to secure your puppy.
