Puppy Placement Policies
The first step in reserving one of our Maremma Sheepdog puppies is filling out our puppy questionnaire. We have carefully designed this to help us get as much information as possible in order to determine if one of our puppies is right for you, and we continually tweak it to make it more helpful. We will be happy to answer a few quick questions by text or email but we do require you to fill out the questionnaire before we have a phone conversation. This is so that we will already know a little bit about you and your needs for a LGD before speaking to you on the phone. Also, it’s been our experience that people who refuse to fill out the puppy questionnaire are generally not serious about purchasing a puppy or are not a good match for our puppies. Our time is valuable, as is the time of our customers, therefore we use the questionnaire to screen the serious customers from the tire kickers.
After we receive your submission we will will contact you to discuss things further to determine if a Prancing Pony Farm Maremma Sheepdog is the right dog for you, and if you are the right family for a one of our puppies. Once both parties have decided that one of our puppies (or adult started Maremmas) is a good fit for you have a few choices on how to proceed. If we have any current litters with available pups you can place a Reservation Fee for a puppy from that particular litter. If we do not have any available pups you can pay a $200 fee to get on our Waiting List for a future litter, or you can check the Available Pups and Adults page occasionally for updates about upcoming litters.
After we receive your submission we will will contact you to discuss things further to determine if a Prancing Pony Farm Maremma Sheepdog is the right dog for you, and if you are the right family for a one of our puppies. Once both parties have decided that one of our puppies (or adult started Maremmas) is a good fit for you have a few choices on how to proceed. If we have any current litters with available pups you can place a Reservation Fee for a puppy from that particular litter. If we do not have any available pups you can pay a $200 fee to get on our Waiting List for a future litter, or you can check the Available Pups and Adults page occasionally for updates about upcoming litters.
How puppies are matched to homes
Most of our pups are spoken for before they are born or soon after. As each litter is born we get to know the pups over several weeks as they grow and interact with people and livestock. We decide on puppy placements, choosing which puppy goes to which home and the puppies are placed in the homes we deem best for them depending on the temperament and personalities of the puppies, the type of livestock to be guarded and the farm/ranch setting the dog will work in and the potential families. We do not take reservations by gender (though we will take gender preferences into consideration) unless it’s for a breeding quality puppy with full registration. We will do our best to honor requests for a specific gender but other factors such as temperament and the farm/ranch setting and livestock to be guarded will always come before gender when making puppy placements.
We do not allow our new puppy owners to pick out their puppies!
This is not meant to sound arrogant, however, it has been our experience that after spending several weeks with a litter we have a strong understanding of each pup's personality. We ask many questions of our prospective owners and use the information they provide to us along with our observations to determine placement. Beginning in 2021 we will also be doing temperament testing with our pups around 7 weeks old to further help us match the best puppies with each home.
After spending weeks with the puppies, getting to know them as individuals, and observing their interactions with livestock and people we have a very good understanding of what each puppy is like. For this reason, we match each family to the best pup for them. Some people would prefer to select their pup themselves, but even if you visit several times you cannot know the pups' personalities as well as we do. The best advice from experts is, "you pick the breeder that you trust, and then trust the breeder to find the right puppy for you". Another great thing about this method is there is no first pick, second pick, etc. No two homes and working situations are exactly alike, and so each family has a different ideal puppy. If you do not trust us to choose your puppy for you then we would respectfully say that our puppies are probably not a good fit for you and you should seek a puppy elsewhere.
We do not allow our new puppy owners to pick out their puppies!
This is not meant to sound arrogant, however, it has been our experience that after spending several weeks with a litter we have a strong understanding of each pup's personality. We ask many questions of our prospective owners and use the information they provide to us along with our observations to determine placement. Beginning in 2021 we will also be doing temperament testing with our pups around 7 weeks old to further help us match the best puppies with each home.
After spending weeks with the puppies, getting to know them as individuals, and observing their interactions with livestock and people we have a very good understanding of what each puppy is like. For this reason, we match each family to the best pup for them. Some people would prefer to select their pup themselves, but even if you visit several times you cannot know the pups' personalities as well as we do. The best advice from experts is, "you pick the breeder that you trust, and then trust the breeder to find the right puppy for you". Another great thing about this method is there is no first pick, second pick, etc. No two homes and working situations are exactly alike, and so each family has a different ideal puppy. If you do not trust us to choose your puppy for you then we would respectfully say that our puppies are probably not a good fit for you and you should seek a puppy elsewhere.
Puppy Evaluations
Besides the observations we make as the puppies grow and develop and go through our Puppy Socialization Program we also perform BAB Puppy Evaluations at approximately 7-8 weeks old. These evaluations give us a in-depth look at the temperaments of each individual puppy. We then use this information along with the Puppy Questionnaire that each family has filled out to match the right puppy to the right home.
Age of Placememt
In general we prefer to place our puppies at approximately 4 months old. We chose this age for several reasons. First because the first 16 weeks of a puppy’s life are the most critical for learning. We provide a rich learning experience for our puppies. They learn how to be LGD’s from both of their parents and other mentor dogs. They learn proper dog socialization skills, such as bite inhibition, from these adult dogs and from their siblings. They learn an incredible amount from being immersed with livestock from an early age. They learn to respect livestock, to see them as their natural companions and they learn their “language” of the livestock they live with, much the way young children learn a foreign language - by being immersed in that language from birth. Our puppies also learn from our Puppy Curriculum, which is a combination of Puppy Culture, Karen Pryor Clicker Training and other positive reinforcement training methods. Keeping our puppies longer allows them to get a very strong training foundation which will benefit them, their new owners and the stock they will go on to guard.
We also prefer to keep the puppies longer for health and safety reasons. Puppies are at great risk to diseases like canine parvovirus and distemper, so we prefer to keep them until their have had most, if not all, of their puppy vaccines and have built strong immune systems to keep them healthy and disease free. And because our puppies are going to Livestock Guardian Dog homes where they may be exposed to livestock that aren’t used to dogs yet, as well as large predators, it’s in their best interest to let them get a bit bigger before they leave here. There’s a huge difference between sending a 15 lb puppy out into the world and sending a 50 lb pup out to do their job!
Also because a large percentage of our puppy buyers are first time LGD owners we feel it’s in the best interests of the puppies, the new owners, and the livestock they are to protect for us to keep them long enough to get a really solid training foundation. An 8-10 week old Maremma puppy is certainly adorable and sweet, but it’s not ready to take on the job of protecting livestock against large predators, nor to be left completely unattended with stock that’s not used to LGD’s, nor is the average new owner ready to take on the task of properly socializing such a young puppy with livestock while also keeping it safe. After much trial and error and experimenting with letting puppies go at various ages we’ve decided that a little older is better overall.
We also prefer to keep the puppies longer for health and safety reasons. Puppies are at great risk to diseases like canine parvovirus and distemper, so we prefer to keep them until their have had most, if not all, of their puppy vaccines and have built strong immune systems to keep them healthy and disease free. And because our puppies are going to Livestock Guardian Dog homes where they may be exposed to livestock that aren’t used to dogs yet, as well as large predators, it’s in their best interest to let them get a bit bigger before they leave here. There’s a huge difference between sending a 15 lb puppy out into the world and sending a 50 lb pup out to do their job!
Also because a large percentage of our puppy buyers are first time LGD owners we feel it’s in the best interests of the puppies, the new owners, and the livestock they are to protect for us to keep them long enough to get a really solid training foundation. An 8-10 week old Maremma puppy is certainly adorable and sweet, but it’s not ready to take on the job of protecting livestock against large predators, nor to be left completely unattended with stock that’s not used to LGD’s, nor is the average new owner ready to take on the task of properly socializing such a young puppy with livestock while also keeping it safe. After much trial and error and experimenting with letting puppies go at various ages we’ve decided that a little older is better overall.
Preference Given to Homes that are Willing to Purchase Two Pups
We strongly believe that LGD’s work best in pairs (or packs) and it’s our preference to place puppies together. We never, ever work our dogs alone. We always have two or more dogs with any group of stock. Two dogs are better protection against predators, are happier, play together and harass stock out of boredom less. A happy LGD is a good LGD and no dog can be happy all by itself, even if it has stock to guard, particularly if that stock is poultry only, since it’s pretty hard for a puppy to snuggle with a chicken safely! The time will probably come when we will refuse to place single puppies, but for now we just highly encourage people to buy two puppies, but leave the decision to the buyer. But we do warn you that your job is going to be a lot harder if you choose to only have one LGD, and you need to be prepared to do your part to make up for the deficit in your puppy’s life.
And in case you’ve heard you should get your first puppy and then later get another puppy for it to train this is not necessarily always good advice. Not all older dogs are good puppy mentors. Some downright don’t like puppies, or don’t like puppies at certain ages and stages. Two dogs close together in age often do make better partners than an older and younger dog. That doesn’t mean you can’t add a puppy if you already have an adult LGD, but you should take the needs and feelings of both dogs into consideration and monitor the situation carefully when introducing a new puppy.
For more on this topic please see the articles below:
And in case you’ve heard you should get your first puppy and then later get another puppy for it to train this is not necessarily always good advice. Not all older dogs are good puppy mentors. Some downright don’t like puppies, or don’t like puppies at certain ages and stages. Two dogs close together in age often do make better partners than an older and younger dog. That doesn’t mean you can’t add a puppy if you already have an adult LGD, but you should take the needs and feelings of both dogs into consideration and monitor the situation carefully when introducing a new puppy.
For more on this topic please see the articles below:
