Shipping puppy vs picking up in person

[MattLink]

I really really wanted to drive out to the country and pick my pup in person as well as check out his home, etc. but getting there was pretty impossible, and believe me i tried. In the end I just asked what was probably an insane (and I'm sure annoying) amount of questions with focus on the dogs' personality and temperament and picked from a distance.
When he got here he was nervous for about 30 seconds then him and my brothers dog sniffed each other and he spent the rest of his day (or rather his life thus far) following me around like my shadow with an incredible attention span and patience. I am thru-the-roof happy with the pup I got and don't believe I could have done better.


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[Anubis_Star]

I know this is an old thread, but just my thoughts...

If I trust a breeder, I trust a breeder. I don't want complete control of picking out my own dog. I largely want breeder's input on personality and drives. I'm having a pup shipped from Michigan to Denver in March. Honestly, I would LOVE to make the 18 hour drive, go up meet the other dogs, meet the breeder, etc.... but it's blizzard season and no way in... heck... am I driving up to Michigan in the middle of blizzard season, lol. If it was summer or fall, it would be a different story.

[Shaolin]

I'm kind of split on this one. We originally asked the breeder to pick our pup and she picked Finn's brother. We went to go see the litter and there was just something off about the pup; he just wasn't as interractive as Finn was. We decided to go with Finn. Sadly, the first dog we looked at ended up having weak nerves and very low drive. He is a great pet, but didn't have the drive I was looking for.

If there was a breeder that I was extremely interested in and I love his/her pups, but was located more than a days' drive, then I'd be willing to ship, but I would want to see videos of the dogs and would have to hear a lot about their personality.