Once you know how many puppies you have, and whether they are male or female, you will have some decisions to make as far as what you want to do with the puppies. Sometimes, you might want to keep one for yourself.
Many breeders will keep a female that they think is good for their program, and then bring in a new male later on to continue their program. You also might want to keep one for reasons other than breeding.
When you know what dogs you aren’t keeping, you can start to go through your waiting list to see what types of homes are going to be available for your puppies. It is important for you to know how you will be providing puppies to your waiting list – is it a first come, first serve situation, or do you have other ways of matching puppies with homes?
After you know which people on your waiting list will be able to have the puppies, you’ll need to contact them and tell them what you have, and see if they are interested. This is a good time to have them come to your home so you can meet them and they can pick out the puppy that they would like to have.
Remember, just because someone is on your waiting list does not mean that they’ll want a puppy , and it also does not mean that you owe them a puppy. If someone comes by and you don’t like them – if you don’t trust them or don’t like the way that they act around the puppy, there is no reason that you can’t say you aren’t going to give them a puppy. Remember, these are your puppies and your job is to make sure that they go to the best homes possible. Therefore, don’t be afraid to be picky.
After you have approved of homes and people have chosen their puppies, you can ask for a deposit to hold that particular puppy. Then, you can continue to raise the puppy until you feel that they are old enough to go to their new homes.
Please note: This article is part of a collection of dog-related content that we purchased the rights to. Opinions expressed may or may not agree with those espoused by Master Dog Trainer Adam G. Katz. When in doubt, please refer to the advice given in Adam’s dog training book. This article is provided for your enjoyment, only. It’s relevance to real world working dog training may be limited.