# Do you have possible buyers sanitize before seeing puppies ?



## farleysd (Apr 18, 2011)

I encourage puppy buyers to come see puppies after they are 4 weeks old. They must take off their shoes, wash their hands up to their elbows in a soap mixture of 50% blue Dawn and 50% bleach. Buyers do not choose their puppy, so I must stress they are coming to help socialize puppies and not to pick. I am bad with pictures! I've been breeding prior to all the new technology where it is easy to take a lot of pictures. To us older breeders, all these pictures and videos were one of the first red flags of puppy mills and backyard breeders who could not rely on reputation.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

You can't get into any Cantope facilities without sanitizing your hands and spraying your shoes with Quat.


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## soonerfan66 (8 mo ago)

I remember as a kid anytime a litter of pups were born and it didn't matter if mutts or show dog quality everyone would go and see , but now days sure has changed . The sanitize is a good idea .


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## soonerfan66 (8 mo ago)

Been reading a lot on Parvo and how it can slip in and think that may be the issue , my brain is over loading on the fear factor .


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## JasMom (7 mo ago)

I don't breed dogs, but do raise livestock. In poultry, serious keepers have a sanitizer pan for visitors to dip the soles of their shoes in while others even keep disposable booties to cover feet. Hand sanitizer is given at the entrance to the poultry area. Handling birds is discouraged unless you are purchasing. Now that there is avian influenza affecting backyard poultry flocks, visits (if they are allowed) are away from the main flock and birds that leave the property are quarantined for 30 days. With cattle, the ones for visitors/prospective buyers to see are usually corralled separately from the herd and you don't walk into the pasture. I don't think some precaution is a bad thing. Still, people will want to see how your puppies are raised.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

I work in a vet clinic, and I also breed occasionally (not poodles). There are a lot of aspects to consider and what is ideal for one breeder might not be for another.
Things to think of:
Prevalence of parvovirus or other communicable diseases. In my area, only parvo is a concern, and honestly the last parvo case I saw was probably a year ago. I think that while there is pretty good compliance of at least the initial puppy series of vaccines which is decreasing the prevalence. Also because I am in Canada, it's generally seasonal as well. This is something you need to discuss with your vet.
Resistance in your dogs. If the mother was properly vaccinated, she will have passed that immunity to the puppies for a time. In that regards, visits are safer at 4 weeks than 7 or 8. Several years ago my clinic saw a breeder who had imported a juvenile dog that turned out to have parvo. Months later she had a litter and all the puppies became sick with parvo at 6-8 weeks because it was still in her kennel environment and that's when the maternal protection disappeared. 
Being able to trust the people visiting. I only allow people to visit who I know, or who have already been approved to have one of my puppies, even if they haven't decided if/when they will take one. This means the person has filled out an application, we have communicated back and forth, I know their lifestyle and their potential for exposure. If I can trust this person with one of my puppies, I can trust them to follow my instructions on reducing risk.
The biggest risk is visiting other litters of puppies, followed by interacting with puppies that are not fully vaccinated or dogs with unknown vaccine status (pet store pups are a big one!) and visiting places with high dog traffic like dog parks, dog shows. 
So I ask visitors to avoid all these prior to visiting (it's my same list of things to avoid when they bring a puppy home). I ask them to be sure they are wearing clean clothes and shoes. Noone is going to be carrying parvo on their hands unless they were recently in contact with a parvo positive dog so I imo hand sanitizer is not going to be of much benefit for my visitors.
If the incidence of parvo increased in my area, I would have them use a shoe dip on arrival, but so far I have not done that.
Working in a vet clinic, I am probably the riskiest person my puppies see. I don't wear my work clothes in the puppy pen, and if we have a parvo case at work I use the shoe dip before I leave (and I decline assisting with parvo patients when I have a litter) but that's it. Neither I or a coworker who also breeds have ever taken parvo home to our pups.

It's all about risk/benefit management, and for me it's more important that my puppies see a variety of people, that I can meet potential buyers in person and watch them interac with my dogs, and that buyers can see and understand how my puppies are raised.
Choosing a pup is not a big factor, I usually help people decide between a couple of pups that I think would be suitable and of course people who are farther away have to do this by video, pictures, and discussion/recommendation anyway.


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