How Your Puppy is Selected

Which puppy will it be???

As a puppy buyer, you have done your homework to decide upon a breeder, a litter, and you have chosen a color and sex preference. As a breeder, I spend years with the parent dogs, months planning a breeding, and every waking minute with the puppies. We have studied generations of puppies and learned how they mature and develop into adult dogs. Thus, the Eromit puppy matching process uses your preferences along with the information we’ve gathered about  notice subtle differences between the puppies to identify which puppy will be the best match for your family. In other words- the final decision on which puppy is yours will be made by me, not you. After spending all this time observing/training/evaluating the little ones it would seem silly to require you to pick your future companion based on a few photos!

We believe that their is no ‘first pick’ puppy that is best for all families, and choose to evaluate each puppy individually in order to best match them to a suitable family. Puppies aren’t in competition with each other to achieve some arbitrary ‘best’ status. They are under evaluation to determine if they are a good fit for your family, or not. In some litters, there may be many puppies who would be a great match and in other litters, there might be just one puppy who is right for you!

The Evaluation Process

1) When the puppies are first born, we generally are able to narrow down which group of puppies you might be matched with, based on your sex and color preferences.For example, if your first choice is a black male, and there are four black males, then the puppy that comes home with you will be one of the black males- as long as you were one of the first 4 families to place a reservation that preferred a black male. If you were 5th in line, then the black male puppies would be matched to the families who had placed their reservations earlier, and you would be offered to be matched with another available color/sex combination, a refund on your deposit, or the chance to apply your deposit to another litter. ( Being flexible on either your sex or color preference (or both) puts the odds in your favor of getting a puppy from a specific litter regardless of when your deposit is placed.) Note: Being first in line does not mean that you pick your own puppy. It only means that if there is a limited number of your preferred color/sex combination of puppy, you will have the first opportunity to be matched with that puppy provided his other traits turn out to be complementary to what you are seeking. Even if you are first in line and there is only one puppy born, we still need to evaluate his or her personality and structural traits to ensure the puppy is a match!

2) From birth to six weeks, each puppy is exposed to a variety of new things. We observe and record any significant behavior patterns. At six weeks, puppies visit our vet for a checkup and vaccinations (this is important because we wouldn’t want to match a puppy to a family until our vet could confirm there are no hidden health issues to be aware of).  By now, we are starting to get a very good idea of their temperament – which puppy is the bravest, who is laid back, which one is most crazy for birds, etc.

3) At 7-7.5 weeks, the puppies are evaluated structurally based on Helen King’s philosophies.

4) By combining the temperament and structural evaluations, we are able to determine what puppies are best suited for a performance home, which ones will make great hunters, and which puppies will make the best family pets. Most of our puppies are suitable for several purposes but usually there is one puppy that is best suited for each family. By comparing each puppy’s evaluation to our reservation list, we can determine which puppy is your perfect match.  In this sense, every family gets a ‘first pick’ puppy!

COMMON QUESTIONS about puppy selection:

1) Who gets stuck with the runt?First of all, true runts are few and far between. There is always a ‘smallest puppy’ in every litter, but there isn’t always a runt. A runt is a sickly puppy that fails to thrive. Most of the time, a true runt will not survive. Sometimes there are tiny fighters that just take a little longer to blossom. In any case, we do NOT sell sickly, unhealthy puppies – any runt born here will stay here until he or she is 100% healthy, even if that means that we keep the puppy for several extra months. We don’t ‘stick’ anyone with the runt, regardless of when you’ve placed your deposit.

2) What if I reserve a puppy and none of them are suitable for me? This is a possibility, although fairly uncommon. Prior to reserving a puppy, we will discuss your needs with you to ensure that the litter you are interested in is expected to produce puppies that will meet your needs. If we don’t think you are likely to get a puppy matching your request from one of our specific litters, we will not accept a deposit. However, in the event that a litter surprises us and none of the puppies have the correct temperament, structure, or drive for what you are looking for, we will let you know and allow you to have your deposit refunded or wait for another litter. It is in everyone’s best interest (ours, yours, and of course the puppy’s) to ensure, to the best of our abilities, that each puppy is placed into their ideal situation. That said, we cannot guarantee that any specific puppy will be suitable for any specific purpose – training plays a HUGE role and all we can do is provide you with a puppy predicted to be successful – the rest is up to you!

3) What if I’d rather have a different puppy?Puppy matches are final. No swapping/bumping/trading puppy matches. We take this process seriously, and if you aren’t happy with the puppy we match you with, we will refund your deposit.