05/25/2024
Why we do what we do, and the way we do it...
Still in the birthing stage, with only two female puppies born so far, already folks are private messaging me left, right, and centre, wanting to know their chances.
Nobody wanted a third or fourth bitch puppy more than me, since I’m going to have to replace my precious Phyre-ball who is cut from our breeding program. Having to decide between the only two bitch puppies is hard. This will be the third time doing so.
Also , knowing two folks have been committed to obtaining a puppy from this litter and going all out to prove they were going to be excellent homes, and both wanting females, I am faced with the task of deciding who will best suit the temperament and drives of the remaining girl. Someone is going to be disappointed, and having been there , done that I know it sucks big time.
Regardless, we are not in charge of the gender disposition of the litters, so it is what it is. Perhaps some folks who initially wanted a girl pup will change their minds. A very few MIGHT wait for our next litter and then have a better chance. Likely most will move on and find their puppy elsewhere; I’ve known some even to decide on different breeds. That is none of my business, we don’t operate like that.
Which brings me to the point of this post. We Are Different. I’m not saying we’re the only ones, because there are plenty of breeders who operate in similar ways, but the majority do not. So, I completely understand the confusion our puppy buyers/inquirers might be feeling.
Typically, the puppy buying public is used to their name being added to a waiting list, often putting a deposit down to secure their position in line on the list. We stopped keeping a waiting list a long time ago, because most people don’t wait. More and more we are becoming a grab and go society - convenience, on demand, no waiting.
As for deposits, we stopped taking those after our very first litter in March 2001. Our first Giant Schnauzer litter was with a mature, proven, 4-year-old bitch. We sent her away for breeding, and she had a normal pregnancy right up to the last day. She had one male puppy (which we already had planned to keep) and then died with twelve more pups inside of her. We lost all but the first-born male.
Not only did we lose a great female (who we hadn’t even finished paying for), but we now had to refund deposits to folks on the waiting list. The lesson learned there is we don’t take money for something we don’t have. In fact, we don’t take deposits until the litter is at least one week old!
So back to my current puppy buyers and their understandable frustration, and disappointment. They’ve been waiting all along to get excited about their new puppy, and this is yet another set back. I get it, I really, really do!
I’ll tell you why I can’t promise either of them a puppy. I can’t even tell them the likelihood they will get one of the girls. The reason for this, is they both have different intentions for the puppy, different drive levels, different attitudes that will fit into their specific situation. At 24 hours old, I can’t even begin to imagine if one of them will be suitable for one or the other of them.
When you choose your offspring’s temperament and drive level to match the new home, you must wait to see the puppy’s development. To send a high driving, dominant puppy to a companion home will be disastrous for all. And the opposite is true to send a low drive puppy to a high-level competition home! I can’t just choose the “first person on the list” and send the puppy.
So, when a potential buyer asks where their position is on the list, or what their likelihood of getting a puppy is, I honestly can’t tell them, and therefore, I can’t even take a deposit from them.
I completely understand the disappointment, confusion, frustration, or any other feeling of being let down. I love being able to make puppy buyers happy, and provide them with the very best, educated assessment about which puppy we believe is best for them, but when the product falls short of the demand, we must live with the fact not everyone is going to be happy.
For all ten of the puppies, only time will tell whom they will go to. This is true of any litter; unfortunately, when there is a big difference in the gender split, some dreams just won’t come true. This time.
