Selection & Allocation

Many breeders take “orders” for puppies, and whilst we have no problems with that, this is not how we do it. We don’t allocate puppies based on numbers, so we won’t say the litter or any puppies are sold before or even just after the pups are born.

We want to see puppies from our mating’s develop, so we wait until we have more developmental data and make educated choices based on what we know. Of course this means less puppies, but we are highly focused on quality over quantity at Herzhund Labradors.

Before allocating to their homes we wait until the pups are old enough for us to accurately assess their temperaments, and then we categorize the temperaments of the puppies into groups. Only then do we look at what homes we have interested in pups, and we assign puppies to the homes that will suit them best.

Each litter can be similar, but not the same, so we want to watch the puppies grow, put them through a number of tests and challenges and establish a deeper understanding of “who” they are and are going to be.

We do not have dogs returned because they don’t meet the owners needs, we make sure they do before they are allocated.

Steve constantly works with a huge array of dogs, belonging to everyone from all walks of life including breeders wanting to improve their progeny and we never really settle on a concept without constant development and improvement.

Our puppies are imprinted, socialised and shaped by us. We allocate a lot of time each day to spend with these pups and those interested are able to keep up with progress via our “Pupdates” and “Pupcams” at our Herzhund Facebook page.

The way we choose our mating means we are generally quite sure of how our puppies will develop. We pick the parents of each litter very carefully and for purpose. This gives us the best chance of achieving the litter of pups we require. This however does not mean that we can be complacent with our choices. We still need to observe and assess each litter and puppy the same.

Often puppy owners are made aware that they have been successful in a puppy placement, but will not know exactly which pup until a little later. This is because we are quite certain that one or more of the puppies in the litter are suitable but which exact one is still being decided. We understand people need time to prepare for a puppy and being told at 6/7 weeks might not be enough time for some, however to make the correct decision on placement this time is necessary.

It is also not unheard of that a last minute decision to swap a pup has been made. A prospective owner may have been told you will be getting “blue collar” puppy, but after last minute observations we believe “red collar” is more suitable. If this were to happen, all information would be clearly discussed and explained to the new potential owners ahead of time.