Almost time to bring that brand new family member home

We approach breeding and raising animals in a very professional manner, beginning with the careful selection of parents in order to ensure health. This includes testing for genetic diseases and studying pedigrees. Only after careful selection do we move forward with breeding. Our top priorities are health and socialization.

Your new puppy will go home vet checked, dewormed, and up to date on all of their vaccinations. We will send your puppy home with a copy of their official vet record, as well as their vaccination and deworming record that we keep ourselves.

Be sure to have a vet visit scheduled so that your pup can be checked out when he or she gets home. You should get in contact with your vet right away, as appointments fill up quickly! Finding the right vet is an extremely important step. A great vet is going to save you countless hours of worry, appointments and, yes, dollars.

You will want to keep your puppy up to date on recommended deworming, heartworm preventative, and vaccinations for the utmost health of your puppy. Vets have different opinions on which vaccines are required, and on which schedule they should be administered. Once you have found a vet that you trust and agree with, stick with the schedule they recommend!

As much as you will want to show your puppy off, you should NOT take your puppy to dog parks, PetSmart, or anywhere they have the chance of coming in contact with unvaccinated dogs before you have completed your vaccination schedule with your vet. This is generally around 16 weeks of age.

We recommend waiting to neuter a male dog until he is 12-18 months old, as a minimum. A female should be spayed after her first or second heat, typically occurring between 10-14 months. Cutting off growth hormones by spaying or neutering before the dog is fully mature can have a major affect their development.

Crate training is something we absolutely believe in. Although the puppy will not like it at first, they will eventually learn to love their crate. It will end up becoming a "safe space" for the dog to go when they want to be alone or go to sleep. Our puppies do not go home crate trained, but training can begin as soon as you bring them home.

There are many options when it comes to choosing a crate, but the most important thing is to choose the correct size. A dog instinctively wants to keep its living area clean. If there is room in the crate for the puppy to potty on one side, and still have a clean sleeping area on the other, then the crate is too big and the puppy will learn to go inside its crate. If the crate is the correct size, your puppy will not want to potty while inside.

In order for crate training to be most effective, consistency is key. As hard as it is, your puppy WILL whine. This is normal, as they have never been in a small confined space before. They need to learn that whining will not get them out of their crate. If you need to - put the crate on the other side of the house where you can't hear them and let them "cry it out." Eventually, if you are consistent, they will learn to be happy and peaceful in their crates. Most dogs with the correct crate training think of their crate as their home, and learn to prefer it when they are sleeping or want to be alone.

Making their crate enjoyable is a huge step toward making your pup learn to love it. We recommend lots of nice toys, soft bedding, and a Kong stuffed with cream cheese or peanut butter for them to chew on, etc. They will soon learn that being in their crate means extra treats and will start to think of it as an awesome place where they really want to be. The whining and stress won't last forever! You just have to outlast them.

Each of our pups has begun the housebreaking process with US to give YOU a head start! Our pups spend most of their time in nice, big indoor runs, divided into two so that the puppies have a distinct "potty area" and "play area." (When weather permits, the pups are also taken outside for playtime where they get to hang out in the grass in a large x-pen.) By the time the pups go home, they have a good foundation for potty training.

There will of course still be a bit of a transition when moving the puppy to a new environment and setup that they aren't used to. This is completely fine! Potty training will take a bit of time and lots of patience, but you can do it!

Good rules of thumb are to take your puppy out immediately after they wake up from a nap. If your puppy is going off in a corner away from you and sniffing around, they are most likely looking for a place to potty. Your pup will probably need to go out around 30 minutes after eating, if not sooner.

If the puppy is in the house, it should be in one of three places. 1. Right with you, where you can keep an eye on them take them out if they are showing signs of needing to go potty (keeping puppy on a leash is best!). 2. In a crate (more info on that below!). 3. In a pen if they are going to be alone for a longer period of time.

We feed our pups Diamond Puppy Food. You're of course welcome to switch to a dog food of your choice, but you will want to mix their old food with the new to make the transition easy on their tummy. The important thing is to keep them on puppy-specific food until they are about a year old.

We feed our pups three times a day. An eight week old puppy is similar to a newborn baby - they are growing constantly and need plenty of nourishment. While you don't want to overfeed them, most dogs don't become overweight until they are older and have stopped turning that food into growth. We recommend putting a bowl of food in front of them, and letting them eat as much as they want for 20 minutes, three times a day.

As your puppy gets older, have your vet give you a recommendation on how much they should be eating, or take a look at the portions recommended on the back of the dog food bag.

A snack of a spoonful or two of canned pumpkin and cottage cheese once a day is also highly recommended for probiotics and healthy digestion!

We know. You're going to want to show off that pup. But remember--these are infants. The fact that they can walk, does not mean they don't need to be made to rest. PROTECT THOSE KNEES AND ELBOWS! No high jumping, and no long walks/hikes OR RUNNING ON CEMENT until fully grown. EXERCISE RULE OF THUMB-- No more than 5-10 minutes of rigorous exercise per month of age, twice per day.

Have a leash and collar on hand in case you have a long drive home and need to let the puppy out. We'll send your puppy home with a blanket and our pups' favorite toy, so they'll have something to keep them cozy and occupied in their crate.

You're welcome to hold your pup all the way home! However, if this gets too much for you or you're driving alone, you may want to bring a crate for the puppy to travel inside.