Do you sell your puppies at Christmas?

[marshies]

My pup is coming before Christmas, and I CANNOT be more thrilled.

For me, and many other working families and students, holidays and planned vacations are the only good times to bring pets home. Christmas happens to be my longest break from school. I'd be devastated if my breeder told me, nope, you can't have her because you want her for Christmas.

There are many reasons to reject potential buyers, and wanting a Christmas gift may be one of them. But wanting a puppy on Christmas doesn't make a buyer an awful buyer. Having puppies are Christmas doesn't make a breeder an awful breeder either.

Though, holding the puppy after Christmas, if it's something the buyer's family wants done, is a thoughtful action.

[Chris Wild]

I really don't see how time of year matters. Not if a breeder is screening buyers as they should be. It's pretty easy to weed out the people looking to impulse buy something for under the Christmas tree. And those same sort of people will impulse buy at other times of the year too, not just Christmas, and should be avoided altogether regardless of what time of year it is. Likewise just because a litter is ready to go around Christmas and people are ready to take them around Christmas certainly does not mean that they are "Christmas puppies".

We've placed pups around the holidays, sure. They're ready to go when they're ready to go. We don't have some magic wand that allows us to pick and choose when a bitch will come into heat, be bred, whelp and then pups will hit the 8-9 week mark. Whether that happens to fall around a holiday is totally up to her. We don't get any say in the matter.

But it's never been a concern because of the types of homes we place pups in and the screening those people go through. If the pups hit the go home age of 8-9 weeks right in the middle of the holidays, then we just work with the person to figure out the best time for them to get the pup. For many people, the holidays are good for bringing a puppy home because they have time off work during the holidays and nothing much else going on. For others, the holidays might not be a good time if they're travelling, hosting lots of parties, or for any number of reasons. So we just handle that on a case by case basis to see what makes the most sense for that individual situation, and if it means us holding a puppy for an extra week or two until things settle down for the new owner and they are ready that's fine.

[CelticGlory]

I want my puppy around Christmas time, only because I will be on vacation. The only concern I would have is delayed flights due to the weather, that would be bad for a puppy to be stuck in a kennel for who knows how long. So I thought about changing my date of getting my puppy for an earlier date, but it will depend greatly on if I get a teaching job next year or not.

[robinhuerta]

There is very little importance on *when* a puppy is available....the importance will always be to *whom* the puppies are available to......