VISITOR POLICY
Cherry Lane Doodles is dedicated to providing our families with a healthy puppy! There are many measurements we take to keep our puppies healthy and safe. Therefore, we do not allow visitors over to our home.
If you want to make sure you are getting your puppy from a reputable breeder (and you should make sure), you are welcome to ask for references, call our veterinarians, and read our health care guarantee. This should give you the confidence to know you’re working with a good breeder. Talk to your vet about vaccination schedules and when it will be safe for your pup to be out in public where other dogs have been. We sometimes get asked why we don’t allow families with reservation fees to visit our pups. This is not surprising given the number of ‘what to do when buying a dog’ websites that advocate for visiting the breeder and meeting the pup’s parents first. The problem with these sites is their priority is the buyer, not the pups’ or breeders’ health and safety. Please remember that our pups are home raised – in rooms in our home. This means you can’t come visit the adult dogs or me, without also ‘visiting’ my pups and their Momma.
SAFETY FOR OUR PUPPIES
1. Pups immune systems are very immature. Many unsuspecting visitors have brought disease (parvovirus, distemper, etc) with them when visiting pups, the result of which is the death of the entire litter. I personally know several breeders that have lost entire litters to parvovirus brought in by visitors.
2. Stressed out Moms create stressed out pups. A new mother is emotionally charged and in hyper protective mode. When a stranger comes to visit, Mom becomes stressed causing her body to create cortisol, which goes into the milk. The puppies consume this cortisol rich milk and become stressed themselves.
3. Panicked Moms unintentionally hurt pups. When a stranger comes to visit Mom’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 pup in their urgency to get out of the whelping box to assess the threat.
4. I don’t ‘own’ the pups. All the pups are sold to families. I am simply the guardian. However, I have been entrusted with the care of these pups for the first critical weeks of their lives. As guardian of other peoples’ dogs, I must do everything I can to protect them. If one of the pups was yours, I’m certain you would expect me to do that for your pup.
SAFETY FOR OUR DOGS AND FAMILY
1. People that email me are strangers. I don’t know anything about you other than the fact you emailed me with basic information (which may or may not be true) about yourself and your family. I am inviting you, a stranger, into my home. This creates a threat to the safety of my dogs and my family.
2. We have a normal family life. We have family activities, responsibilities and commitments. Inviting strangers into our home interferes with our ability to live as a normal family.
3. Time spent with visitors is time not spent with my family, pups and dogs. Raising puppies and dogs is a very demanding 24/7 job. Every minute I spend with visitors is time not spent working with and caring for your pup so that you have the best pup possible or enjoying and caring for my own dogs, which is why I breed to begin with.
4. We are not a petting zoo. Some people think visiting pups is a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I will not compromise the health and safety of my pups, my dogs and my family so someone can snuggle with pups. So, how can we help you have confidence we aren’t a puppy mill or a fake website asking for your $500 deposit? We have a page on this website dedicated to testimonials provided by families who have one or more of our puppies. Also, you can review our Facebook Page- Cherry Lane Doodles | Facebook. On our page, you will find a long history of comments and praises from our puppy families that date back to 2018. We thank you for your understanding that we will not compromise on the health and safety of our pups and hope you see this as a positive quality of a reputable breeder.