PLACEMENT INFORMATION
This page contains some very important information about our placement process.
Please read it carefully.
If after doing so you are still interested in having a
Happy Hotdog puppy placed in your home call
(503) 212-9476 or (270) 304-7691
Getting on the "Short List"
We make every effort to match puppies into loving homes. While we do not conduct invasive "interviews," we do like to exchange considerable information with prospective homes to insure a successful experience for you and the new puppy.
We do not ask for a binding commitment from families until they take the puppy home, and we do not make a binding commitment until the puppy is placed. Home of the Happy Hotdogs may require a desposit for our puppies.
We are happy to receive email inquiries about our puppies, and make every effort to satisfactorily answer all email inquiries. Only those who actually speak with us by phone are put on our "short list," which is a preliminary, general matching of families with puppies. Those on this "list" will be invited to visit the puppies before placement (usually at about seven weeks) to meet us and the puppies, and to select their puppy. While distance or other factors may not always make this pre-placement visit possible, it is useful in transitioning the puppy into your home. It is not, however, required.
If you have spoken with us by phone and told us that you definitely are interested in a puppy please stay in weekly contact with us (by email or phone) between the puppies' 4 and 8 week old birthdays to confirm your interest.
Guidelines for Prospective Families
1. Selecting Your Puppy
We do not ship our puppies for several reasons. Shipping a young puppy is very stressful to the puppy. Also, we want to meet the families who take a Happy Hotdog puppy home with them. And finally, it is very important to us that our puppies' new families be completely satisfied with their babies when they get them home. No matter how well and accurately I describe the puppy to someone; it is not "enough."
2. Companionship
Doxies are not for everyone. They require much human contact and companionship. Left to their own devices, they may become bored, irritable, and even destructive. Most Doxies would give their lives to protect their families. We ask that families who give their homes to our puppies include them as members of their families. Doxie puppies are not toys to be taken out and played with from time to time, but rather companions to share your life with.
3. Adequate Space
We ask that prospective families allow their puppy to live indoors with their family. Additionally, we ask that they are provided a safe, spacious enclosed outside area to run. Letting your puppy sleep in bed with you is, of course, optional….
4. Health Maintenance
All our puppies have current, up to date vaccinations and deworming at the time they are placed into their new homes. A schedule of upcoming vaccinations is included in the booklet we provide to each new family, and we ask that families provide ongoing regularly scheduled health maintenance for their puppies. We also expect that puppies will be neutered or spayed between six months and one year of age unless the new families are receiving unlimited papers. Please take your new puppy to your own vet as soon as possible after placement.
5. Basic Training
While we do not believe that every Doxie must have a formal education, we do believe that a disciplined dog is a happy dog, and makes a more satisfying contribution to your family. If there is a dog training center or trainer available in your community, please take advantage of this. If not, most people can train their dogs themselves to perform the most basic tasks. Doxies are highly intelligent and tend to train quickly. They also seem to enjoy training, and it is an exceptional way to bond with your dog when done appropriately.
6. Fees
Most of our puppies are placed into homes with AKC papers. This means that all puppies from Home of the Happy Hotdogs are AKC Litter registered. Desposit fees may be requested. Fees are used to cover initial cost for ACK registrations or immunizations. A portion of your fee also supports 14PAWS Organization to support our Tenders from Home program.
Take Home Package
Each puppy we place goes to his or her new family with a take home package that includes:
- Introduction Booklet- general information about the puppy's parents and litter
- Health Record - complete record of health treatment and schedule of subsequent immunizations
- Photo Album - pictures of the puppy's parents and litter
- Pedigrees - 3 generation pedigrees of both parents
- AKC registration papers - limited except under special circumstances (see above for details)
Feeding the puppy the same food it has been on reduces the stress of being in a new home. Our puppies generally go home with a bag of Puppy Food, which we've have started our puppies on dry food.. Please keep your puppy on this food for at least four or five days after placement, and if you're planning on changing to another brand do so gradually. This will reduce the puppy's stress. We only give our puppies "Being Good Bites" as additional snacks for training purposes only. These can be obtained from Shiloh Doggiii Delii.
Each puppy goes to its new home with one of the toys the litter played with. We believe the familiarity of this object also reduces the stress of being in a new home, and enhances the puppy's adjustment.
While we do not conduct an invasive screening process of prospective homes, we are very committed to our puppies and their new families.
We do not place puppies into homes when we feel it's not a good match.
This practice protects both the puppy as well as prospective families who might otherwise become disillusioned or even dissatisfied with the puppy.
We do not require that our puppies' new families maintain ongoing contact with us, though we always enjoy receiving emails, pictures, or phone calls giving us updates. We welcome any questions or comments new families may have throughout the lifetime of their puppy.
As you probably already know, there is a huge diversity of practices, policies, and styles among Daschund breeders in terms of how they breed and place puppies. We want any prospective family of one of our puppies to be as informed about what we do here at Home for Happy Hotdogs.
We prefer that you consider the various twists and turns of living with a Daschund before you take your new puppy home rather than after.
If you'd like to talk with us about having a Happy Hotdog join your family,
please call us at (502) 212-9476 or (270) 304-7691
