Puppy pick up time is such an exciting time for families and their puppies. This page discusses the time frame for puppy pick up.
All of our puppies currently will go home with our 11-week training program at a minimum. The ideal time to pick up your puppy trained to this level is on your puppy’s 11 week birthday or the day before. If necessary, these puppies can be picked up as early as 10 weeks 4 days. All puppies enrolled in this program will receive the same amount of training no matter which day you pick up. We double up on the obedience training for those puppies leaving us early.
However, potty training and bladder control cannot be rushed. Therefore, we recommend pick up at 10 weeks 6 days or right at 11 weeks for the maximum benefits to our program. The price for puppies leaving us with our 11-week program is the same no matter what day you pick up as long as it is on or before the puppy’s 11-week birthday.
For many of our litters, we also offer our 12 1/2 week program where the pick up days are from 12 weeks 1 day to 12 weeks 3 days. Again, later is better for the maximum benefits. We recommend leaving your puppy until puppies are right at 12 weeks 3 days of age if possible. The price is the same whether you pick up at 12 weeks 1 day or 12 weeks 3 days.
See our Trained Puppies Page for more information on both programs.
See our puppy questionnaire for details on pricing.
Two Hour Individual Pick Up Appointments
We schedule 2 hour appointments with 30 minutes in between appointments (necessary to bathe and get the next puppy ready). Appointment times are at 8:30, 11:00, 1:30, and 4:00. If a litter is large, we could accommodate a fifth appointment.
Though we cannot schedule more than 5 appointments in a day, we do offer a quick-pick-up-and-go option which would enable families traveling long distances to book their appointment on one day and pick up their puppy on the next. This option will be discussed in more detail.
Late Arrivals For Appointments
Please be on time for your appointment. If we have an appointment with another family after your appointment, your appointment cannot go over for any reason. We have to have at least 30 minutes to get the next puppy ready for his or her family and it is not fair to make subsequent families wait because of late families. If you are late, you will either miss out on meeting the parents of your puppy or the going over of training will be cut short.
Please plan on being early to account for possible travel issues. There are several restaurants close by where you can relax until your appointment time. If you are flying in and out on the same day, make sure you schedule enough time between incoming and outgoing flights. Also, keep in mind that we are on central time.
The Quick Pick Up and Go
We recommend families that are flying take advantage of our “quick pick up and go” option. With this option, you schedule your appointment with us for the day you arrive in town. At your appointment, you’ll meet us, your puppy, and the parents of your puppy. We’ll go over your puppy’s training and how to continue it. Then after your meeting with us, you’ll leave your puppy overnight with us while you enjoy an evening in a local hotel. Then the next morning, you can pick up your puppy any time between 7:00 and 8:00 and head to the airport for your return flight.
Those who are traveling long distances and need to spend the night in town should ideally schedule your appointment with us for the day puppies are 10 weeks 6 days. You’d then do a quick pick up and go on your puppy’s 11 week birthday thereby enabling you to get the maximum benefit from the house training portion of our program.
Early Puppy Pick Up
It is best to pick up your puppy right at 11 weeks or a day early. If you need to pick up earlier than this, we can double up on the obedience training to get your puppy to the level of the other puppies picked up at 11 weeks. However, bladder control and house-training cannot be rushed. We do not recommend picking up your puppy any earlier than when he is 10 weeks 4 days.
Our puppies are already on a very fast pace in order to get them to our 11 week level of training by 11 weeks. Our program is very rigorous even without accelerating the training. In addition, puppies picked up early will go home with bladders that are not quite as developed as those that leave us at the optimum time. Picking up one or even two days shouldn’t matter much, but if you should pick up much earlier, there will be a difference.
Late Puppy Pick Up
We don’t normally keep puppies past the stated pick up day for trained puppies including the “pick up and go” puppies. If you are taking the quick-pick-up-and-go option, your visit must be the day prior to puppies turning 11 weeks so that you pick up your puppy by your puppy’s 11 week birthday.
If we are keeping your puppy for our 12 week plus program, you must pick up your puppy between the time he is 12 weeks 1 day and 12 weeks 3 days.
Exceptions
I’m sorry, but we rarely can handle exceptions. Our puppy families and their schedules are our priority during our puppy pick up days but not beyond those days. We are not a large scale breeder. We are a family who has a small number of litters per year and we often have other plans that begin the day after our puppy pick up days.
However, we do occasionally make exceptions. IF we are able to accommodate families who are unable to pick up their puppy during our normal pick up times, there will be a fee of $200 per day up until the $1500 mark (7 1/2 days). These puppies will follow the same training routine as those being left for our 12 weeks plus program.
However, if you are wanting to pick your puppy up on a weekend that is not during our regular puppy pick up days, Karen may or may not be able to demonstrate the training. In Karen’s absence, Jenna can do it if she is available. Jenna is a very capable trainer and has demonstrated the training on multiple occasions. We might be able to make exceptions if unforeseeable circumstances should present themselves.
However, before reserving a puppy from us, please make sure that you have the flexibility to pick up your puppy during our puppy pick up days unless there is a rare emergency.
What If More Than Five Families Want Appointments on the Same Day
This is not the norm, even with large litters. Many people want to pick up their puppy on the day puppies turn 11 weeks. However, because of our quick pick up and go option, many families also prefer scheduling their appointment with us for the day that puppies are 10 weeks 6 days so that they can spend the night in town and fly out after a “quick pick up and go” right at 11 weeks. The quick pick up and go option allows multiple families to arrive at the same time.
In addition, for those litters where we offer it, close to half want our 12 weeks plus program.
These two facts spread our pick-up appointments out considerably. However, we encourage families to book their pick-up appointments early if particular days are important to you. We begin booking pick-up appointments any time after puppies are two weeks of age.