Trust
What Comes With Your Puppy
What’s included as standard, the two or three things that cost on top, and the kit you want in the house before the dog lands.
What’s included is this: a dated written health record, every vaccination given on schedule, worming finished, the examination by Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic, a supply of the food the puppy is already eating so you can switch it over slowly, and a takeback that holds for the dog’s whole life. Only two things sit outside that: having the puppy microchipped, and delivery once you’re past the distance I meet people for free.
Comes as standard
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Veterinary examination | Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic, Sedona, looks the puppy over before it travels |
| Vaccinations | DHPP, covering distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvovirus; and at ten weeks, dhpp booster and canine influenza |
| Worming | Every two weeks from two weeks old until ten weeks old |
| Written health record | Dated, in your hand at handover, going wherever the dog goes |
| A supply of its current food | Enough to wean it onto yours over a week instead of overnight |
| Feeding and routine notes | What it eats, how much, and the rhythm of its day so far |
| Takeback for the dog’s whole life | No clock, no conditions |
| A direct line to me | The breeder, on the phone, for as long as the dog is yours |
Costs on top
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Microchip | Available for an additional fee. Ask when you first write and it is done before the puppy leaves |
| Delivery past the meeting radius | Priced by the distance. Driven through, or a flight nanny |
| Spay or neuter | Through your own vet, at the age they advise for a big breed |
| Rabies shot | Depends on age and is usually pinned to your own state’s law |
I drive up to two hours out of Sedona to meet buyers for nothing. Beyond that it is quoted square by distance, since getting a puppy to Maine honestly costs more than getting one across to Phoenix. How each way of travelling works.
Have this ready before the puppy lands
- Book the vet visit first. Get it on the calendar for the puppy’s first week with you before the dog even arrives, not once it is sitting in your kitchen.
- Clear it in writing. Your lease, your HOA, your insurer. This is the one that trips people up, so settle it before any deposit rather than after.
- Buy the crate at adult size with a divider you slide back as the puppy fills out. Buying a small one now and a big one later is money thrown away.
- Keep it on the same food it is already eating so the changeover runs across a week, gently, instead of all in one meal.
- A plain collar and a fixed lead. Leave the retractable kind on the shelf, particularly for a powerful breed.
- Sort out the stairs. Carry the puppy up and down until it is six months old and lay a runner over bare treads. First-year joints are not something you get to repair afterward.
For an itemized shopping list with rough figures, the first-year breakdown lays it all out. The dog itself is the smallest line on that page by a distance, so plan around the whole twelve months rather than the day you collect.
Ask what a particular puppy needs
Tell me which one you are looking at and I will tell you what it eats, how its day runs, and exactly what to have waiting at home.