I was wondering if you all allow puppy buyers to visit the puppies and what age if so?
I have a couple of families who want to come by for a visit. Of course I will have them wash their hands, and dip thier shoes in bleach/ h2o solution. But it still concerns me as I have never done this.
Pups are 4 weeks old.

Are you letting them chose their puppy?
A good idea is to have puppy viewing day on a Sat or a Sunday at 7 or 8 weeks and invite everyone to visit that day. Then it is over all in one day. Let them know they cannot visit a pet store or another breeder before coming to your home.
Be prepared that buyer x may want the puppy buyer z is holding and buyer y was there first so he should have it. It's never easy.

I let them visit after 4weeks. They need to come straight from home with clean clothes. I make them remove their shoes and wash their hands with disinfectant.

Thank-you. No I will be choosing the puppies for them according to pup's temperament and the families..
They all know that so no issue there.
I send the families photos and I think they are just getting really excited and want to see and hold them.
Thanks!

I rely on visitors to help socialize my puppies, and who better than puppy buyers? In 25 years I have never had a puppy become ill from being handled by visitors. If there were a parvo outbreak I would be more careful, but during normal times I feel that the benefits of socializing puppies outweigh the dangers of visits from ordinary people with only a pet dog or two. Yes, make them wash their hands and remove shoes if you are concerned about their bringing in an infectious disease.

On the other hand I am very careful about going to dog shows while I have a litter. Right now Jake is running in hunt tests, but he isn't living at home, so I'm not worried about him. I will enter outdoor shows where I can stay away from other dogs but not a crowded indoor show.

No visits here until after the first shots... and by that time most people are happy to wait until pick up day anyway.

I used to allow visitors and everything went along well for about 10 years - until a family brought parvo here. They insist they had not visited another breeder or been in contact with other dogs but as we all know, parvo can be picked up at a gas station or rest stop and carried on the cuff of your pants. 10 puppies in ICU for 8 days was more than enough to convince me that from now on the safety of my litter comes first.

People are almost always in agreement and just about nobody has had any issue with it. Those that did ended up off my list because that is not the kind of person I want to be dealing with. I don't breed often and when I do, it is for myself first so I call the shots.

I will not compromise the safety of my puppies (or my own sleep because of worry and stress over a visit) for anyone. As soon as I start bending what I feel are important rules in place to protect my puppies just to make someone else happy or keep the peace is the day that I will quit breeding. This is my home, not a pet store or petting zoo. I end up selling most of my puppies to pet families but I am not breeding to please those families and their "buying experience" is not my first priority. My puppies are.

I have to agree with Peggy on this one. The more people my puppies visit with, the more social and outgoing my puppies will be. It is a great leaning time for buyers as well and I use those weeks prior to take home time to educate them further on care and raising of the new family member. By the time take home day arrives all that is left is handing over the pup education is complete and they are eager to spend a lifetime with their new dog.

I can see why/how some would be concerned because yes things can/do get brought in but from my perspective I could pick up the bug at the gas station as much as the people visiting my home. Heck you can't stop the world from going round and while I am very sorry the previous poster had a horrible experience I do believe stuff happens and it could just as easily be me or the Fed Ex guy that brings it in my door. Be smart, use proper protocols and enjoy the time you have with your puppies.

I like new owners visits. It gives me time to know them better and at the same time the puppies get socialized better.
I got Parvo once, so now I ask if they have been in a "dog place" lately. in another time, I got a family said they just came from another breeder, but they didn't like them because the puppies were very sick and there were puppies diarrhea. I had to ask them to leave immediately and bleach everything they touched. They were not happy. Thanks God the puppies did not cached anything
I also have a purel (sp) bottle handy.
I do not allow people to bring their trainer or vet.
Last litter one brought their vet friend and didn't say anything before. The vet had to stay outside. I showed her the puppy from the distance. She understood.

I am actually less concerned with visitors up until pups are about 4 to 5 weeks old. They are still nursing alot until about 5 weeks or so, so I figure that they have mom's immunity as long as they got colostrum and early milk. I do still observe sanitary precautions.

Once they are almost fully non-reliant on mom, I discourage visitors until pups have had their first shot for a few days or so.

I allow the visitors I trust to possibly have a puppy come at 3.5-4 weeks of age. I try not to let them come back until it's time for me to choose their pup. I do let them help if I have 2 pups in mind for them.

Everyone takes their shoes off outside the door, washes their hands thoroughly and promises not to go elsewhere until after they visit my pups.

I never have all of the prospective buyers at the same time. Everyone I know who has, finds it can cause multiple problems. I space them out 2-3 hours apart over a weekend, for example 4 buyers per day.

Don't promise they can pick their puppy. You might lose 1 or 2 due to that but you're not a pet shop and want to match puppy to owner.

I love the puppy buyers coming to visit. My pups are 6 weeks old now and a couple of families have come multiple times. It is a big help as I do let puppies out on the lawn to play and get all nice and tired. It's great to have the help of a couple of extra people. I find that I get to know the puppy buyers a lot better during these informal play times. My last litter it came up that a puppy would be left alone in his crate from 7-4 each day and they said there was "no way" he would be getting lunch and a potty break. They did not get a pup from me. I figure my puppy buyers do not have any more germs than we have...they do remove shoes and wash hands. One thing I learned not to do was have all the families come at the same time. I didn';t like that one family (the gone all day one) freely gave advice on puppy/dog rearing and feeding to other families.

I allowed visitors using reasonable guidelines from about 3 weeks on. The earliest folks didn't want to hold them, just see them and they lived in the area. Having families and kids around to socialize the pups helped me determine which pups thrived with more activity in the house and which pups typically hid. A couple that tended to hide with large groups of people in the house...one ended up with me and the other with an older couple with 3 other dogs.

I went to work and walked dogs daily, especially momma. I believe that natural exposure also helps build the immune system as well.

I really am not at all paranoid about my puppies catching stuff from visitors. I do however take the precaution of telling folks they must not have contact with any dogs before they come to visit. They are great socializers.

I do have a couple of other rules. Nobody can stay longer than 45 minutes. Well, maybe an hour max. I tell them young puppies sleep most of the time and that is their limit. Also not more often than once a week. I had one young couple that would have moved in if I'd have let them.

This is true. The most susceptible time is from week 6 to week 10.

Nobody gets into my home before the puppies have their first shots. I provide weekly pictures and a puppy cam.

Doesn't a vaccination just stimulate an immune response to a particular disease? The vaccination itself does not fight or treat the disease so why would anyone feel more comfortable having possible exposure once a vaccination is given? It's my understanding that it could take up to 2 weeks for the puppy to produce an immune response of it's own assuming antibodies acquired from the dam have lessened.

By sending them home at 8 weeks we're right smack in the middle of that time frame.

I take mine to my vet for a health certificate required by my state, then the buyer goes to theirs. So they're exposed to 2 vet offices between 8 & 9 weeks.

I guess ya can't win either way.