POLICIES
***POLICY ON DOCKING TAILS AND REMOVING DEW CLAWS***
TAILS:
Our focus, as we breed our dogs, is to produce a dog for families 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 dogs 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 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 in all sizes and colors and that focus on show confirmation. We’d be happy to refer you if that is your goal.
DEW CLAWS:
Poodle’s have gorgeous, shed free coats that do require grooming. The reason given that dew claws are often removed is that there is a possibility that it can be injured (especially since most groomers are used to poodles not having dew claws and aren’t looking for them) by clippers/shaving razors or could possibly catch on things and rip away from the dogs leg causing pain and bleeding. Again though, we believe that this is the exception and not the norm and is not a good enough reason to remove dew claws. Our puppies have kept their dew claws and we have never experienced a problem. We clip them just like the remaining 4 toe nails and if taking our dogs to a professional groomer we remind them that our dogs have their dew claws.
REHOMING:
We understand that when you purchase a puppy, that puppy is now your pet. If something unforeseen happens and one of our families is no longer able to care for or keep their pet, we will take the pup back at any age and either keep it or re-home it to a vetted family. We are also happy to work with you to help find the pup a new family (oftentimes a family member or close friend would make an excellent home). Sometimes 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.
WAITING LIST:
H If you would like to be placed on our waiting list a $200 deposit (with an approved application) will secure your spot on the list. 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. Please check out our WAITLIST+BREEDING PLANS for future litter plans. Puppy updates will be posted on our waiting list page and Facebook page.
HOW PUPPIES ARE CHOSEN?
Being on our waiting list puts you in line to receive a puppy from Two Acre Wood. Once available puppies are four weeks old, we ask people on the waiting list 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. We schedule a puppy pick out day between six and seven weeks of age. Puppy picking is done on a specific day and is either in person, remotely through Facetime, Skype, or on our website (with descriptions and pictures or each puppy). 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; 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.
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 from $350-500. 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.
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 and always sanitize our hands before handling the puppies.
Here are a few more of our reasons for not allowing visitor:
-Stressed out Moms create stressed out puppies. A new mother is emotionally charged and in hyper-protective mode. When a stranger comes to visit, Mom(s) becomes stressed causing her body to create cortisol, which goes into the milk. The puppies consume this cortisol-rich milk and become stressed themselves.
We want our mama dogs to be relaxed, calm and surrounded by the people they’ve known and not worried about their puppies because they don’t recognize the visitor. Panicked Moms can hurt puppies. When a stranger comes to visit a mother dog’s state of mind changes rapidly. She feels threatened and moves quickly to assess the threat. Many Moms have unintentionally stepped on or crushed a puppy in their urgency to get out of the whelping box to assess the threat.
-We don’t consider these our puppies. Our puppies are spoken for and have families that have been planning for and waiting as the puppies are born and grow up. We are their caretakers for the first critical weeks of their lives. We do everything I can to protect the puppies and give them a great start in life. If one of the puppies was yours, we hope that you that for your puppy.
-We have a normal family life. We have family activities, responsibilities and commitments. Having visitors continually coming and going to and from our home interferes with our ability to live as a normal family. Especially at the stage of life that we’re in.
-Time spent with visitors is time not spent with our puppies and dogs. Raising puppies and dogs is a full time job. Especially when we have litters being raised, every minute I spend with visitors is time not spent working with and caring for your puppy or spending time with our dogs. Which is what we’re passionate about.
-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.
On that note, I will add that we do offer Skype or Facetime calls by appointment. We understand that fake websites and scams exist and we want you to be reassured that we are who we say we are. We also offer references to previous families and are happy to have a conversation over the phone with you.