Harper is a very sweet beautiful trained young adult. She was spayed the first part of October and had a good clean check up. She will be ready for her new home as soon as she has recovered from the spay in mid to late October. She was a year old on December 10, 2023. Harper’s parents are Sydney and Jake. All pictures on this page are Harper. Scroll below Harper’s pictures for a personality description and more information.
Harper at 20 Months
Harper at 12 Months
Harper’s History
We bred Harper and trained her until she was 3 months old. She went to live with a family with two small children and a stay-at-home mom. Then, due to family circumstances that had absolutely nothing to do with Harper, her family brought her back to us at 10 months of age. The mother in this family found herself in a position of needing to go back to work full time. She couldn’t bear to send Harper off to doggy day-care five days a week. So she asked us to take her back.
Instead of re-homing her, I, Karen, thought I saw in her a propensity to be my next competitive obedience and agility partner. Therefore we kept her and trained her for competitive obedience, rally, and agility. Harper lived inside our home as part of our family for almost a year while being trained.
Harper has a lot of the qualities I was looking for. She’s smart and an extremely fast learner. She loves to play obedience games and has a very high desire to please. However, recently I have determined that Harper is not exactly what I had hoped for in terms of being trained to the top levels of obedience. I’ll explain more in the next section.
Why We are Placing Harper in a New Home
Harper is very focused and loves to work and do obedience games at home. However, she lacks some qualities that a high level obedience competitor would have. These qualities keep her from having the necessary ability and desire to work and tune out distractions in stressful environments.
Top working and agility dogs are almost always from working lines. I had hoped to find a dog with the working qualities necessary to be a good working dog without all the energy that comes with those high drive lines. Harper is not a high energy dog. I had hoped to have found my dream dog with working qualities as well as a calm disposition (a rare combination).
Harper Would Rather be a Loving Companion Than a Working Dog
Harper does not have the qualities necessary to successfully and consistently work in trial environments on a national level for two reasons. First of all, she loves everyone and would rather socialize with people than to focus on me and work obedience exercises. Secondly, she is sound sensitive when out in certain loud public places. (I’ll explain more in the following paragraphs.). Her sound sensitivity was a quality that I was unaware of until she’d been with us for at least 9 months and I began working obedience exercises in Tractor Supply.
Harper’s focus is excellent in terms of what is needed to be a good family pet and companion. See the section on her training for more details.
Harper’s sound sensitivity is something you’d never recognize at home or in most public places. She’s totally fine in a home environment with everything I can think of: leaf blower, lawn mower, loud Vita-mix blender, vacuum cleaner, thunder. She’s fine out on walks in our neighborhood with normal neighborhood sounds. She’s fine in public, in crowds, at parks, and on loud agility equipment. None of that bothers her. However, she is uncomfortable in places like Tractor Supply where there are loud sudden noises when she cannot see the source of the noise.
My main reason for keeping Harper was to be my dog sports partner. I could probably eventually condition her to be what I want. However, I’d be forcing a round post into a square hole. We feel that she’d be happier in a home where she could be what she excels at: being a loving companion. See the section on her temperament for more information on what she is like.
Harper’s Looks
Harper is a beautiful dog with a gorgeous head and coat. People comment on how pretty she is almost every time I take her out somewhere. She was the smallest puppy in her litter with a huge puffy coat. She’s still small, weighing in at only 47 pounds as a full grown adult and still has a really nice coat. As long as she is not overfed, she should never hit 50 pounds.
Harper’s Training
We have spent considerable time with Harper getting her up to our high standards of training including training her to the point of performing at home all the AKC Rally exercises through the very top level, all of the AKC Novice and Open exercises, most of the AKC utility exercises, and through the Open level in AKC agility. See AKC’s website for what those exercises entail.
Harper walks well on a leash. She waits before passing through doors and gates with good eye contact until we release her either with an “okay” or by saying her name. She also gives good eye contact and waits for the “okay” before eating her food.
Harper is well house-trained and crate-trained. She is friendly and loving. She gets along well with all of our dogs including all of our Goldens, the many puppies she’s been around, our Border Collie, and my daughter’s Havanese.
Harper’s Temperament and Personality
Harper has a calm personality in our home and loves nothing more than to snuggle and be petted. She thinks she is a lap dog. However, she also loves playing with our other dogs, playing our obedience and agility training games, playing fetch, and going on outdoor adventures.
Harper learns quickly. She is what I call an easy keeper. She barks less than any dog I can remember and is just a very happy easy going girl.
Harper’s previous home had two small children and according to their mother, Harper did well with them. Though we don’t have young children or grandchildren, she does do well with them when we’ve run into children out in public.
She has a cute, cute personality and is always entertaining us with her antics. If she wants something, she’ll come up to you and sit up very straight sticking her chest out; it’s almost like she’s sitting at attention. Once she gets your attention, she’ll let you know what she wants. Sometimes, she’ll lie down with her butt up in the air for a butt scratch. Other times, she’ll roll over for a belly rub. Sometimes, she’ll just stare into your eyes while you gently rub the sides of her face. She melts and groans while you pet her face. Then, if it’s not petting she wants, she’ll stand up and back up from you in order to lead you to the door to let you know she needs to go outside.
The funniest thing about her sitting at such an erect sit is that if she can’t get to the front of you, she’ll sit patiently behind you staring intently at the back of your head! Eventually, someone will notice her sitting at attention and we can rarely resist her!
Type Home We are Looking For
Harper must go to a home where someone is home most of the time. We will not send her to a place where everyone is gone from the home for long periods of time during the day.
She’s not a needy dog. She does fine when left alone. However, Harper loves companionship. Someone is home at our house most of the time and we want her to have as good a life in her new home as she has here!
Harper loves to play with other dogs more than most of our dogs. Therefore, we’d prefer her to go to a home with another good-natured doggy friend. She also loves to play outside (as long as someone or another dog is with her).
We’d love her to go to a home where someone wants a companion to love on. Harper absolutely loves butt scratches, belly rubs, and curling up on the couch with a person.
We won’t allow her to leave us by cargo in a plane. You must be within driving distance or take her by private plane.
Price
Harper’s price is $10,000.
Adoption Process
Our adoption process is thorough and we are very particular about where our puppies go. We are even more particular about where our adults go. Most of our adults have gone to homes with families who already have another dog bred by us. Families with an already established relationship with us are always priority. However, we have on occasion placed an adult dog with a new family.
If interested in Harper, start the process by filling out our puppy questionnaire. If you have general questions about Harper not answered on this page, feel free to give us a call. Once we have received your questionnaire, our entire family will go over it. If we think that your family and Harper would possibly be a good fit for each other, we’ll have an in-depth conversation by phone giving details about Harper and answering specific questions you might have.
If we still all agree that Harper would be a good fit for you, then it’s time for you to come to our home, meet Harper, and possibly take her home. Payment is required prior to your coming for Harper. However, all funds are fully refundable if either you or we determine that upon meeting, she is not a good fit for you. We will do all we can to make sure that you and Harper are a good fit prior to your coming.
Once you take Harper home, you will have a 2 weeks trial period. You may bring her back to us prior to her being with you for 2 weeks for any reason. We will give a full refund as long as she is returned in the same condition she left us within the 2 week period.
