Hello everyone! I'm very excited to say that this weekend I'm visiting a breeder and will hopefully pick out a puppy that will be mine!
Hoping all goes well, the puppies look good, the environment they’re in looks good, I fall in love and choose one (which I don't think will be hard), and no red flags go up I'll give her a deposit. The little one will come home to her forever home with me about a month later.
I’ve been in contact with this breeder for about a month or so. She’s been great, answering all of my questions and she’s sent two sets of pictures of the puppies (as well as pictures of her parents). The bad part is that the breeder is a little over 4 hours away from me, so we’ll visit this weekend and then not again until we pick the puppy up. (The good part is that my boyfriend’s family lives about an hour away from the breeder so we’ve got somewhere to stay for the weekend, instead of having to make it down and up and then right back home.)
Right now she'll be about 7-8 weeks old, which the breeder said is old enough I can tell what their personalities are. There are two females in the litter and I should have my pick (she shows but since she has many show dogs she doesn't believe she'll keep one to possibly show, but she’s not completely sure). I don’t want to go just on looks, so when visiting we’re going to try to decide on personality, not overly shy but not crazy hyper and of course if one just picks me. Are there any specific qualities/traits I should look for while choosing (that is, if I do get to choose), keeping in mind there’s only two in the litter?
Also, because she's not typically a breeder for selling (but instead for showing) I know I won't have the same luxuries that some of the YT breeders provide (such as overflowing baby baskets with all kinds of goodies). So having read as much as I can, I've purchased a baby blanket to leave with the puppy for the next month, so when she comes home she'll have the blanket with her littermate's scent as well as her parents’ scents. And may I just add, below is a picture of the blanket, which is just adorable! It even has a little elephant with its trunk up, which is good luck in my family!
Anyway, other than the blanket, should I bring anything with me to the breeders? Like I said, this will be my one and only visit before taking the puppy home for good, so if there’s anything else I should bring (to leave) I need to get it ASAP so I can bring it with me. Also, as good measure, while I've spoken with the breeder a lot, are there any questions I should ask her (to determine that she's legit and a good breeder?)
I really appreciate everyone’s genuine caring and the overflowing amount of knowledge here, YT has been an extremely useful resource! Thanks in advance!
-Vicky