How A Pug Breeder Should Put On A Puppy Presentation (Part 2)

November 20, 2006 on 11:22 am | In Pug Articles |

If the puppies are inside your home when visitors arrive, place a barrier such as an exercise pen between these people and the dam and her puppies. When stared at, dogs become nervous, feeling threatened. A new mother’s protective instincts, although generally uncharacteristic of her temperament, as a result frequently rise in this situation. The dam will in most cases be relaxed and friendly with visitors when a “buffer zone” is established, one where strangers cannot move too closely to “threaten” her offspring’s security.

Babies of any kind are irresistible but never allow your puppies to be picked up or indiscriminately touched by visitors. Handling of this nature can make even the most relaxed dam nervous. More importantly, such handling is not healthy for the puppies. You never know what the visitors may bring into your home.

If your prospective clients have recently looked at other litters, you particularly do not want your puppies handled until the youngsters have been given either a measles complex vaccine or their first DHLPP vaccination. The intervening buffer zone allows you to safely pick up individuals to show prospective clients only those puppies in which they are the most interested (show quality or pet, male or female). No one, aside from the regular caretakers, should handle puppies until they are independently active and have had their first shots. Of course your buyers want to hold “their” puppy. Once selection is narrowed to a choice between two or three puppies, and shots have been given, clients may be allowed to hold their potential future companion.

Always teach your clients exactly how to pick up and hold a puppy: never by the scruff of the neck, ears, tail or legs. A Pug puppy of any age must only be picked up (much as you would support a newborn baby) securely with either one hand under the stomach, through the hind legs and forelegs (called the football carry), or one hand supporting the rear and the other holding the forequarters. Clients must be taught how to hold a puppy securely, yet never so tightly that it feels trapped and struggles for freedom. When a puppy is picked up in a manner so its legs are never against any surface, against which it can push, there is far less chance of dropping the youngster and causing injury.

You must be on a fact-finding mission when initially interviewing prospective visitors during the first telephone conversation. Inquire if the people have had a dog before, and if so, ask how long they had it. It is important to find out what kind of record they have had with previous pets: if they have had a succession of numerous animals through their home and what happened to them. There are families who have had numerous pets as a result of failure to inoculate in a timely manner, therefore losing them to diseases; failing to have adequately fenced yards and subsequently losing them to cars or wandering; failing to make proper pet selections and finding out months or even years later that the dog does not fit their life-styles, and so is brought to the local pound and dumped. These are families with whom you want to avoid doing any business. Certainly, also, if you receive a call from someone (bereft or not) whose pet died of a communicable disease, you do not want them to visit, exposing your puppies and contaminating your home.