There is something about new life that draws people. We get lots of requests from friends, friends of friends, neighbors, neighbors with kids, and long lost friends - people we haven’t heard from in months or even Years, that want to come visit our puppies, and that isn’t surprising. Who doesn’t want to touch and hold and smell a newborn puppy? We understand this desire completely, but in the interest of safety for our puppies, we have a visitation policy in place to protect the little lives that are in our care. Why do we have such a strict visitation policy?
Simply put: We are not a petting zoo. No.1 priority is the safety of our Puppies. This is our Home.
Safety of the Puppies
1. Immature immune systems. Puppies are not protected against disease that can be brought in on shoes or clothing. Many breeders have lost entire litters of puppies due to disease being brought into the breeder’s home. You don’t have to touch a puppy to transfer disease to them. Your shoes and clothing can bring it in and leave it on the floor or furniture, only to be transferred to the paws of the mama dog, who then transfers it to her babies.
2. New Mama: New mama dogs are extremely protective of their babies. When strangers enter the home, even if mama is in another part of the house, she hears their voices and kicks into a highly emotionally charged state. This stress causes her body to create cortisol, which enters her milk. When the puppies consume the milk the cortisol then causes them to become stressed, as well. A stressed puppy is more likely to succumb to illness and fail to thrive.
3. Stressed mama dogs will panic. They jump up and away from their puppies to assess what they think is a threat, and many times unintentionally step on or crush a puppy. I’ve seen this happen with multiple momma dogs. The mere sound of a stranger’s voice in another room will cause them to panic and can result in an injured puppy, or even death.
4. The puppies are reserved by purchasing families only. Would you want to have a puppy reserved and know that a lot of other families were being allowed to come and hold or play with them and put them at risk? We’d like to raise and socialize our puppies in such a way that their risk to disease and/or injury is as low as possible so that we can deliver healthy puppies to the families who are waiting for them. We enjoy meeting the families who have reserved a puppy, once the puppies are old enough to be safely visited. I regularly post updates with photos on our Facebook page and website. Usually daily+! So we keep in close contact via email, phone and texts with our future families, and also our past families. Check out our website: PicassoPoodles.com
5. No children (and Definitely no other dogs!) are allowed at visits. Children get very excited around puppies causing accidents or injuries as a result. Experience has taught us that it’s simply better to require children to be left at home and to let parent’s introduce their children to their new puppy after the puppy has left our care. That eliminates risk to our puppies and financial responsibility should a child injure a puppy while visiting.
6. Schedules, Personal Safety
Our lives are normal like everyone else with work, play and responsibilities. In addition to daily life, we’re caring for our puppies and dogs. Accommodating the many requests we receive from friends, and sometimes strangers, to come by and Visit just isn’t possible. This is why visiting is reserved Only for future parents who have completed the necessary requirements to own one of our pups and only after puppies are 6 weeks of age when the risk or illness or injury greatly decreased.
7. We only ever have one litter a year. That litter is very carefully planned. We have families on our waiting list for more than a year. Inviting people into our home, friends friends of friends, or complete strangers (under the pretext they’re interested in one of our puppies) is a risk that could compromise our home environment and the safety of the puppies and we’re simply not willing to risk under any condition. This is not a neighborhood petting zoo. Our home is not a store front open to strangers. It is our home.
We realize many families want reassurance that we are what we say we are. We have references available at request. Our veterinarian knows us well and you can contact them for a reference. Hopefully our policy is one you will view as being responsible and a reflection of being a quality breeder who cares about our puppies and our purchasing families.
Our visiting policy allows for families with a deposit to visit their particular puppy once the puppies are 6 weeks of age. We also only allow adults at these visits, no children, no dogs. No Exceptions. Visits are limited to 15 minutes for each family.
Picasso Poodles
PicassoPoodles.com
Simply put: We are not a petting zoo. No.1 priority is the safety of our Puppies. This is our Home.
Safety of the Puppies
1. Immature immune systems. Puppies are not protected against disease that can be brought in on shoes or clothing. Many breeders have lost entire litters of puppies due to disease being brought into the breeder’s home. You don’t have to touch a puppy to transfer disease to them. Your shoes and clothing can bring it in and leave it on the floor or furniture, only to be transferred to the paws of the mama dog, who then transfers it to her babies.
2. New Mama: New mama dogs are extremely protective of their babies. When strangers enter the home, even if mama is in another part of the house, she hears their voices and kicks into a highly emotionally charged state. This stress causes her body to create cortisol, which enters her milk. When the puppies consume the milk the cortisol then causes them to become stressed, as well. A stressed puppy is more likely to succumb to illness and fail to thrive.
3. Stressed mama dogs will panic. They jump up and away from their puppies to assess what they think is a threat, and many times unintentionally step on or crush a puppy. I’ve seen this happen with multiple momma dogs. The mere sound of a stranger’s voice in another room will cause them to panic and can result in an injured puppy, or even death.
4. The puppies are reserved by purchasing families only. Would you want to have a puppy reserved and know that a lot of other families were being allowed to come and hold or play with them and put them at risk? We’d like to raise and socialize our puppies in such a way that their risk to disease and/or injury is as low as possible so that we can deliver healthy puppies to the families who are waiting for them. We enjoy meeting the families who have reserved a puppy, once the puppies are old enough to be safely visited. I regularly post updates with photos on our Facebook page and website. Usually daily+! So we keep in close contact via email, phone and texts with our future families, and also our past families. Check out our website: PicassoPoodles.com
5. No children (and Definitely no other dogs!) are allowed at visits. Children get very excited around puppies causing accidents or injuries as a result. Experience has taught us that it’s simply better to require children to be left at home and to let parent’s introduce their children to their new puppy after the puppy has left our care. That eliminates risk to our puppies and financial responsibility should a child injure a puppy while visiting.
6. Schedules, Personal Safety
Our lives are normal like everyone else with work, play and responsibilities. In addition to daily life, we’re caring for our puppies and dogs. Accommodating the many requests we receive from friends, and sometimes strangers, to come by and Visit just isn’t possible. This is why visiting is reserved Only for future parents who have completed the necessary requirements to own one of our pups and only after puppies are 6 weeks of age when the risk or illness or injury greatly decreased.
7. We only ever have one litter a year. That litter is very carefully planned. We have families on our waiting list for more than a year. Inviting people into our home, friends friends of friends, or complete strangers (under the pretext they’re interested in one of our puppies) is a risk that could compromise our home environment and the safety of the puppies and we’re simply not willing to risk under any condition. This is not a neighborhood petting zoo. Our home is not a store front open to strangers. It is our home.
We realize many families want reassurance that we are what we say we are. We have references available at request. Our veterinarian knows us well and you can contact them for a reference. Hopefully our policy is one you will view as being responsible and a reflection of being a quality breeder who cares about our puppies and our purchasing families.
Our visiting policy allows for families with a deposit to visit their particular puppy once the puppies are 6 weeks of age. We also only allow adults at these visits, no children, no dogs. No Exceptions. Visits are limited to 15 minutes for each family.
Picasso Poodles
PicassoPoodles.com