We are very busy here at Silver Paw Cavachons with new puppies and the fun is just getting started. This week we will begin puppy selection with the Kenzie litter, but before that happens, I want to talk a bit about how to choose a puppy.
Over the years, I’ve learned that there are 100’s of reasons why a family chooses, or doesn’t choose a puppy. Some of them are based on myths or false information, while others are based on personal experience. For some people, they need to see and touch a puppy before they are able to fall in love, and for others, it might be love at first sight, the minute we post the first picture of the litter. Still, for others, waiting till a puppy is older to see the “personality” is what is needed before they can choose their puppy.
As we begin to post videos of the litters, here are some questions to ask yourself when you’re deciding which puppy will become part of your forever family.
- Does this litter fit into your family timeline?
Most puppies will leave and go to their new homes when they are 8 weeks old. Once you know the birthdate of a litter, you can count forward 8 weeks and that is when the puppy needs to go home. Look at your family calendar and determine whether or not your family will be ready to receive a puppy at this time. This is the very first thing you need to determine when you are choosing a puppy. If you have a vacation planned, or you don’t want to potty train a puppy in the middle of your Alaska winter, then you’ll need to pass on this litter. If the timing works for a litter, then there might be a puppy for you and you’ll need to ask yourself question #2.
2. Are you particular about the gender of your puppy?
Puppies are gender specific. You either get a boy or you get a girl. If you are specific about which gender you want, this will definitely eliminate some of the choices. If a litter does not have the gender you are wanting, then you’ll need to pass and wait for a new litter. If you are not particular about gender and/or the litter does have the gender you are wanting, then you’ll want to ask yourself questions #3.
3. Does this litter have the color you are wanting?
Cavachons come in many colors. In our experience, the puppies are either a solid color (golden, solid sable, black, black/tan, red), or they are parti colored (black/white, sable/white, blenheim, tri color, red/white). Combine all these choices with two genders, and there are a LOT of choices to consider when choosing a puppy. If you are very specific about the color (and gender) that you want, and this litter does not have that color, then you’ll need to pass and wait for another litter. If you are not particular about the color, or this litter has a puppy that is the right color AND the right gender, then we’ll move on to question #4.
4. What is the personality of this particular puppy?
For many people, personality is the most important consideration when they are choosing a puppy. But true personality is very hard to determine at the young age of 5-8 weeks old. When we are asked about the personality of a puppy, we do our best to communicate what we see in our daily interactions with the puppies, but the personality is not fully developed when the puppy is 5-8 weeks old. It would be much easier to give a concrete answer to the personality question if the puppies were 12 weeks old, but unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of waiting that long.
Over the years we have had many people tell us what they are looking for in the personality of their future puppy. We have done our best to match puppies with families based on this information and we have been told that the puppy was perfect, and exactly what they wanted. We are very grateful for our excellent track record in this area.
Thankfully, the Cavachon has a generally fun loving, easy going temperament, which makes our job of puppy matching a bit easier. The range of personality differences in a litter is a very mild. There is always a “quiet” puppy, and the “rambunctious” puppy, but the bell curve is generally quite flat because all of the puppies are super sweet and they just want to be with you, living your life by your side each day.
The process of working through the waiting list is tedious. If you can ask yourself each of these questions and know what your answers are when I contact you, it will speed up the puppy selection process for all involved. When I post a litter that is open to puppy selection, if you can drop me a quick note via email that simply lets me know if you’d like to pass, or if you’d like to be considered for this litter, that would be extremely helpful. If you see a specific puppy that you’re interested in, you can let me know that as well. If I don’t hear from you within 48 hours of a litter being posted for puppy selection, I will assume that you are a “pass” on the litter and I will be moving on down the waiting list.
I hope this has been helpful as you each begin to look at the available puppies. As always, let me know if you have any questions. If you are new to Silver Paw Cavachons, we do have a waiting list for our puppies, so this information is directed toward those that are already on our list. If you would like more information about our waiting list and the available puppies, please send an email to silverpawcavachons@gmail.com.
Keep an eye out for the Kenzie litter. They are 5 weeks old this week and just the most darling little things. They are playing, and growling at each other, and being rambunctious, and just generally being completely adorable. There are 4 puppies in the litter, 3 girls and 1 boy.
Until then, puppy kisses to all, and I’ll see you in the next blog post!
SILVER PAW CAVACHONS 