So You’re Getting a Puppy from Cerca Trova
Congratulations! You’ve passed all the tests from us, and we’ve passed all yours, and you’ll get your puppy soon. This is how it generally works.
The dog breeding business can be very bad – i.e., let the buyer beware. It would be easy for us to create a perfectly beautiful website, with beautiful photos of what we want you to believe about us, we could send you a puppy, and you would never be the wiser for the experience. Rather, we want you to come here, to Dry Creek Basin, Colorado, if at all possible to pick up your puppy. This way you can see our “breeding operation” (which is our house) and meet all our Braccos, and be sure that we are who we say we are. Our place is not fancy at all – just a 6-acre old ranch, but the dogs and we love it!
We do not want to ship our puppies if at all possible. Although these pups are no more “precious” than any other breed, puppies in general should not be shipped, since the trauma of that experience can scar them for the rest of their lives. Sure, many puppies are shipped …. but we just don’t want to take any chance at all that something we KNOW is traumatic may ruin a great dog. So – you’ll come here.
One of us is on the place all the time, due to our in-home no-cage dog boarding business, so there are very few inconvenient times that you could arrive. If flying, the following airports can be used:
2 hours from us in Colorado: Montrose, Grand Junction, Telluride, Cortez
4-5 hours from us in CO – Durango
6-7 hours from us – Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, CO
So – you’ll get here to DCB somehow, and if you fly, you’ll take the pup back under the seat in an airline-approved carrier – we like the Sherpa brand. It’s also important for you to get your pup between 7 and 9 weeks old – the older he gets, the less possibility he’ll fit under the seat! You will need to make a plane reservation for the puppy too – they only allow 2-3 on a flight. You’ll need his health certificate (although hardly anyone has said that they were asked to show it.) Remember also – the cuter the pup, and the more you show him off, the fewer the questions you’ll be asked! We recommend that you make a sign that says the following:
Yes, he IS cute, isn’t he! No, he’s not a Bassett Hound (or a bloodhound, or a coonhound, or a shar pei, etc.) He’s 7 weeks old. He’ll get to be 60-80 pounds. Yes, he’s cute, isn’t he? He’s a bird dog, and his breed needs to hunt birds. Yes, he’s adorable, isn’t he? No, you’re right, you haven’t seen this breed on Animal Planet dog shows, and hopefully, never will; Yes, he really IS adorable!!
You’ll also want to bring:
paper towels, some newspaper (convenient during layovers,) some very good rawhide chewies, a water spray bottle (to spritz him with if it’s hot in the plane) a small dog bowl (the plastic ones that come in bigger dog carriers are ideal, and so are foldable fabric ones,) some small, intriguing dog toys (maybe a squeaky one, if it’s not obnoxiously loud,) a collar and a leash,
Your pup will have had his first vaccine and health certificate at 6 weeks of age. You should take him to your vet fairly quickly after you’ve gotten him (the contract says within 72 hours, but we’re fine if you want to wait til his next vaccine is due, which would be at 8-9 weeks old. Have a stool sample checked then too. When you’ve gotten your pup home, make sure you keep him away from other dogs or puppies until he’s had at least his second vaccine, and hopefully his 3rd. Of course, you do want him to be getting socialized and exercised, but there is a real possibility of his picking up serious viruses from those dogs and/or their poop – and vaccines do not protect 100%. Our rule of thumb is that your pup should not get near any dog or puppy that you don’t know personally, and those that you do know must be fully vaccinated – ESPECIALLY puppies. Parvo is a real concern in many urban areas and your puppy can die from it.
You and we will sign a contract, but do know that, if anything goes wrong, we will do our absolute best to do whatever is necessary to rectify the situation. Hopefully this is the first of more Braccos you get from us, so we want to do the right thing whenever we can.
Your pup will have been eating Diamond puppy food, but it’s fine to switch to whatever brand you prefer – just do the change over several days (to minimize the possibility of diarrhea) and be sure the food is of good to excellent quality – no supermarket brands.
