[blueskies]

It is quite the predicament for breeders! On one hand it is scary to have people you don't know come to your home. As a woman, especially being home alone, it would be quite easy for someone to take one or several of your dogs and overpower you. I have felt quite nervous with some of my visitors, especially when they far outnumbered me. On the other hand if you don't allow potential buyers to come to your home, they feel as if you're automatically hiding something. Many would immediately look elsewhere, no matter how much you tried to explain yourself. I have really found no happy medium thus far. I have met several people halfway and shipped a few, but 3/4 of the time the buyers come to my home. I usually put my adults in separate rooms of the house and just have the puppies out in an xp or running around, depending on their age. If they request to see the parents I have them in the closest room so I don't have to go far from the pups. I never leave anyone alone with any of my dogs to go get anything, I make sure everything I need is on hand, and I keep my phone in my pocket. It's really the best you can do if you don't want to turn several potentially great buyers away. I don't mind people petting my adult dogs because they have been properly vaccinated, but yes something like parvo can affect even vaccinated dogs, and if they pet your adults and then you touch your puppies that haven't been vaccinated yet, they can easily get something. I am usually very careful to keep any puppies that haven't been vaccinated away from adults and older pups, and I ask that anyone coming into my home wash and sanitize their hands. I also ask that nobody come and see my puppies on a day they have seen others, and I don't like to show on weekends because that's when the "browers" come out. And finally I don't let anyone except me or my vet touch my puppies until they have had two vaccines.