My bitch is about to whelp (early November). The puppies will able to go to their homes early January. I live in the far north, and shipping puppies at that time is iffy at best (that will be another thread...shipping).

Several of my puppy buyers, (some local, some in the far South) want to board/train the pups for "several months"

The question is, what would you be willing to pay/what do you charge...for board and traIn puppies, dealing with house training/nail trimming/ear cleaning/obedience classes/hunt train.. (age appropriate), etc....???

My pups are my life, and if I can give them a leg up on life I am more than happy to do it. These are not financially strapped people (major people on the international market)....

I've done it more for summer litters where family was going on vacation 3 weeks after pick up day, etc. I charge $10/day. We love keeping pups longer, it's a lot of fun and keeper pup likes it too.

However, I'm far North too and you'd be surprised that with the January thaw, some days are warm enough to ship.

There are a few things I would recommend:

- I am sure you would like to meet the owners in person, that live down south. Why not suggest to them to make the flight up to you, and they can easily travel with the pup in the cabin (at 8 weeks) - then you dont need to worry about the cold temperatures.

- If they insist that you board/train the pups for a few months, instead of flying up to you, then you and the owners should set out the expectations and date that they are expecting you to keep the pup until. Once you have set the date, lay out your expenses in a spreadsheet where you will show where the new owners finances will be going ($ food/month + $ board/month + training $ + vet $ + $ flight). Once you have done this, I suggest setting up a reoccurring payment schedule with them. I recommend this because you dont want to put all your time and money into a puppy, that just the owners might back out at the last minute. I know we shouldn't think the worse of anyone, however, you never know what may pop up.

- And dont take offense here, but you also have to really ask yourself if you are capable of taking on this responsibility. Are you able to give the puppies 1on1 time, where they wont feel like "part of a pack". I am assuming that the pups are going to single pet homes here, so just make sure you can give them that time of independence. Dogs are your life, so I am sure you have already considered this :)

At the end of the day, know your priorities: Yourself, The pup, and the Owner. Look out for all parties involved, agree on an arrangement and Good Luck!

You seem like a wonderful person, so I bet that will be easy for you both to do so.

Best of luck! :)

No offense taken! I have done this before, for a buyer who wanted a pup (my bitch's brother), but could not take it for a year (wife dying), but he still wanted a pup. I kept two from the litter, and a couple others for a week or two longer than 8weeks. it was indeed an incredible amount of work.

Fortunately at the time I could bring a pup or two to work with me since I worked seven days a week. Now I am mostly retired (working outside of the home for only three afternoons week, nine hours total), so I have a lot more time.

Thanks for the suggestions also! I'll have to ask if they are willing to fly up.

I board pups for my puppy buyers at $20 a day. I don't train them, but they are learning valuable home skills and manners. I haven't had one person balk at the price.

Boarding fees in my area are $25.00/day. I would charge nothing less. With that said, for me personally, I would not sell anyone a puppy who is not chomping at the bit to have him. Usually, my puppy buyers have to be convinced that they can't have the puppy at 6 or 7 weeks. How "right" are these people for one of your puppies? Sounds like the people, like the "idea" of the dog, but not the fuss that goes into actual ownership. And anything that people say who live in your area about why they can't take the dog "for a couple of months" is total hogwash, in my humble opinion.