FAQ
Do we dock tails and remove dew claws?
Our focus, as we breed our dogs, is to produce a puppy for families to enjoy and therapy/service work. An excellent, mild-mannered temperament and a healthy, proportionate and beautiful dog. Since show homes are not our goal, and because we strongly believe that a puppies early experiences contribute to shaping a dog’s perspective on it’s surroundings and it’s people, we do not dock tails. We want as many positive experiences in a puppy’s early life as possible. This way, when you take your puppy home the groundwork for a great relationship has already been laid. We also think poodles are beautiful, elegant and athletic dogs with their natural tails. We LOVE them. We are excited to see the breed standard for poodles has started to change in many countries (37 countries have restrictions or have banned tail docking altogether) We understand that, in the USA, to compete in the confirmation area of the showing world Standard poodles needs to comply with the tail docked standards. And we personally know many excellent breeders that provide standard poodles with a focus on show confirmation. We’d are happy to refer you if that is your goal.
REHOMING:
We understand that when you purchase a puppy, that puppy is now your pet, companion and part of your family.. If something unforeseen happens and one of our families is no longer able to care for or keep their pet, we will take the puppy back at any age and either keep the puppy or re-home the puppy to a vetted family. We are also happy to work with you to help find the puppy a new family (oftentimes a family member or close friend would make an excellent home). Oftentimes, life doesn’t go as we plan and we at TAW want to be there to support both our families and the puppies that are purchased from us. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you need help in this area.
WAITING LIST:
To be added to our waiting list you must first get in touch with Ashley by phone or email or you can fill out our application online. Our email is tawpuppies@gmail.com. Once we’ve asked our questions and determined if the standard poodle is a good fit for you we’ll ask you to put a $200.00 non-refundable deposit down. This amount goes towards your final purchase price. Our waitlist goes in numerical order (1,2,3, etc.). Whenever a litter is born we reach out to everyone on our waitlist and ask if it is a good time to choose a puppy. Your spot on our waitlist does not expire. We appreciate you making a commitment to our program and we want the timing of getting a puppy to fit well into your plans. Each family is able to choose a puppy or pass on their turn. As families choose puppies and go off of the waitlist, families at the bottom move up toward the top. Our waitlist often looks long (and it changes often) but, so far, we’ve been able to match a puppy with every family that wanted to choose every time we’ve had puppies. It is never too early to get on our list! The sooner you do the better chance you have of getting the puppy you want. We place many puppies with families that were never on our waitlist but we work hard at the experience that we can provide our waitlist families and they are our top priority.
HOW PUPPIES ARE CHOSEN?
Being on our waiting list puts you in line to receive a puppy from Two Acre Wood. Once puppies are born we ask our waitlist families if you are interested in choosing a puppy from the puppies available. We start at the beginning of our waiting list and work our way down. Waitlist families visit at 4 weeks and puppy pick day happens just before 5 weeks of age. Puppy picking is done on a specific day after our waitlist families have had the chance to visit. I (Ashley) do my very best to be as descriptive as possible about each of our puppies. Puppies go home at 8 weeks of age. We do offer shipping with our flight nanny.
If the preferred sex, color, etc. is NOT available or the timing is not right; you are welcome to wait until additional puppies become available. You will not loose your spot on our waitlist until you find that special puppy to call your own. If you plan to be on our waitlist for longer then 24 months I will reach out to you to let you know that you will be moved to an inactive waitlist that has no expiration date. When you think you are getting closer to choosing a puppy I will move you back onto the main waitlist into the next available spot. As puppies are chosen you will continue to move up in order.
HOW DOES SHIPPING WORK?
We currently offer shipping from our airport to yours with our flight nanny. A flight nanny meets us at the airport to pick up your puppy. We personally hand him/her the puppy, travel documents, food and water. He/she then flies, with your puppy in their possession, to your airport where he/she hands you your puppy. Payment is collected from you at the airport when the puppy transfer is complete. Depending on the airports and schedules cost can range quite a bit but we are able to provide you with a quote within 1-2 days. We include the vet examination paperwork, food and travel accessories. We have found flying with a flight nanny to be the least traumatic. In general, the puppy spends a small amount of time traveling and is safe and sound in the flight nanny’s care the entire time. We also offer ground transportation with a specific couple that we trust. Whether the puppy can travel depends on the number of hours on the road and other details.
VISITOR POLICY
Our priority when raising TAW puppies is their health and safety. Newborn puppies are just the cutest things but they are born without much immunity to many viruses and bacterial infections (ex: parvovirus, distemper, streptococcus, adenovirus, etc.) that can easily wipe out an entire litter. Puppies get their immunity from mom through her milk and are given age appropriate vaccines as they grow up. Our puppies are raised in our home and our family is extremely careful to never wear shoes in their area and to always sanitize our hands before handling the puppies.
During the first 3-4 weeks of life we do not have families come see the puppies. Once Puppies are 4 weeks of age we do have our waitlist families visit. We offer two visiting days and our families may visit at any time during those 2 days or we can set up an appointment to do a zoom call, face time, Skype, etc. When families come we let mom decide what is comfortable and go for there. Most of the time our moms LOVE having a visitor and as long as she is the focus for the first few minutes then oftentimes she is relaxed and happy. We do ask that our families stick to these two days because this helps us to keep our family activities, responsibilities and commitments.
-Please do reach out to us if someone in your families has allergies and you are trying to find a dog that works with your family or if you would like to schedule a time to visit our adult dogs. We do try to help determine if our puppies will work with your allergies ahead of time.