PUPPIES
Matching Puppies to Homes
We believe that matching puppies to the right home will ensure that our dogs and their owners will thrive in their lifetime together.
We evaluate our puppies in many ways; health, structure, temperament, energy level, and natural working ability. While there are no perfect puppies, owners, or matches, we do our best to match puppies to homes they can thrive in.
- Colour and Gender Preferences -
While puppy buyers may request a particular gender or colour, these requests will only be considered after matching for health, structure, energy level, and working ability. Puppies will be matched to the best homes based on the above characteristics first, while gender and colour preferences will be considered lastly.
Because liver is a recessive gene, only 7.5% of the Flat-coat population are liver in colour. We won't be producing many liver puppies, but receive many requests for liver dogs. Black and liver puppies will be placed into the homes that are the best matched for them based on the puppy's aptitude and temperament and the expectations and lifestyles of the home. We cannot guarantee that homes will get their colour preference, as it is not a priority in placing puppies.
Puppy Sales
Breeding Stock Selection
All of our breeding stock have health clearances for hips, elbows, patellas, eyes (including gonioscopy), and often times cardiac as well. Health clearance results for each of our dogs can be found on our website and are also listed publicly on the OFA website.
Memberships
I am a member of the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of Canada, as well as the Canadian Kennel Club, and abide by their Codes of Ethics. I am also a members of Betterbred (a genetic diversity database) and use Avidog methods in raising our litters, puppies, and dogs.
Vaccine Schedule & Vet Check
We run a nomograph on the dam before puppies are born, which provides us with a custom vaccine schedule for the litter based on the dam’s antibody levels. The nomographs tells us the optimal time to vaccinate the litter. Before going home, puppies will see a veterinarian where they will be health checked, will most likely have one set of vaccines (nomograph dependant), will be de-wormed, and will receive a CKC microchip.
Registration
According to Canadian law (the Animal Pedigree Act), a dog must be registered in order to be sold as purebred. All of our dogs are purebred (registered with the Canadian Kennel Club), and every puppy we sell will be registered with the CKC as well. A registered name is a dog’s official name; no two dogs can have the same registered name. Each litter will be given a theme, and buyers will then chose a registered name for their puppy from within that theme.
Puppy Pick-Up
It is our preference that buyers pick up their puppy in person. If traveling by plane, I am able to deliver the the puppy to the Edmonton airport, or to the Calgary airport (additional fee for Calgary delivery). I also offer the option to have the puppy shipped via cargo if the buyer cannot pick up their puppy in person. Please be aware that puppies traveling via cargo will have to be crated for an extended period of time due to cargo protocols. Puppies being shipped by cargo need to be checked in 3 hours before the flight departs, and it often takes 1-2 hours to collect the puppy once the flight has arrived. The buyer is responsible to cover any extra fees associated with cargo shipping (including but not limited to: the purchase of kennel and kennel mat, a fit to fly certificate, mileage if delivering puppy to Calgary, cargo shipping fee).
Deposits
A non-refundable deposit of $300 is required in order to be placed on our waiting list. The deposit will be put towards the purchase price of the puppy. In the event that we are not able to match potential buyers with an appropriate puppy within a year of being added to our waiting list, the potential buyer will have the option to either have his/her deposit refunded and be removed from our waiting list, or can chose to leave the deposit and remain on our waiting list for another year.