Our Expectations and Caveats
We must speak with every potential owner on the telephone. We love to hear how you discovered the PWD breed, and why you feel they're the right fit for you. To help assure mutual happiness between you, your family, and your future pup, we seek to learn more about your lifestyle and to educate you on the breed while sharing our stories and insights. We do the same for any pups who may be in need of a new family as well. PWDs love children, but puppies are babies and young children do not understand pain, and generally want to hold the puppy all of the time and do not understand the risks of dropping a puppy or choking it. Children are one of the greatest risks for puppy safety, so I would encourage you to wait until your children are 8 years of age or older to purchase a puppy. Older PWD's are great with very young children.
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
Questionnaire
Initial Disclaimers: We won't ask you for a picture of your house and backyard, because quite frankly, your dog won't care if it's pretty or not, just that it's available and traversable. We won't sell a pup to someone in an inner city without room for a PWD to run and exercise, as these are high-energy dogs. We also will not sell a puppy to a family with young children, as children are the greatest risk for puppy safety, so we encourage you to wait until all children are outside of the 2-year to 7-year-old range if you seek a young puppy (might sound harsh, we understand that sentiment, but we also have heard of many unfortunate accidents, from dropping to choking, even relating to cars because corralling younger children takes too much attention, to welcome further accidents, even if your child is perfect and well behaved. This is not a matter of judging parents, but rather a matter of waiting for the right time to avoid heartbreak.) We will not ask you to show your puppy, nor will we ask you to allow us to show your puppy. We are not concerned with titles, nor with the Burntwood name being out there, as this is not a competition for us. We want you to only show your puppy love, attention, compassion, and give our/your puppy the best possible life that they can imagine. They will love you unconditionally, and we want you to be true to them.
To make sure one of our pups is a good fit for you and your family, please email PWDsRUS@gmail.com with your responses to the following questions, which are designed to learn how you intend to live with a PWD:
Introduction: Please share your name, age, marital/family status, living arrangement (home with yard/apartment/travelling, etc.), and active (non-sitting) hobbies with us in an introductory about you section. We like to get an idea of who you are while reading answers to the questions below, and in preparation for a phone call.
Phone number:
*We will reach out to you in reply via this number, starting with texts if possible, then a planned call.
Questions:
1: Will they live inside, or outside, your home?
2: Will they be kennel trained?
If so, how many hours per week will they be expected to stay in the kennel?
Does that estimate include, or exclude, intended sleeping arrangements?
3: How many hours will they be home without a human (family/hired caretaker) around per workday?
4: Will there be any companion pets for your puppy?
If so, please describe each pet’s species, breed, age, and temperament around puppies (puppies, specifically. This is a necessary measurement, human babies/kittens do not count).
5: Do you plan on long vacations without your puppy?
If so, please share your next 3 planned trips’ date ranges, and your planned puppy care.
Additionally, please share the date ranges of all major vacations (lasting longer than 3 days), planned or intended, for the next 12 months, and your planned puppy care for those vacation windows.
6: Are there children around (living with you or visiting often)?
If so, what is/are their age/s, temperaments, and responsiveness to directions to disengage with a temptation/stimulus?
7: How much mental stimulus (life-long) and physical exercise (starting at 6 months of age for light exercise, and 10 months of age for intense exercise [for your puppy’s health and longevity, too young is bad]) can a puppy expect from living in your home?
8: Are you willing to drive in to pick up your puppy, or fly in (no later than 9 weeks of age – carry weight restrictions) and take them home as a carry-on? (For the safety of the puppy, we will never, ever, ship puppies – no exceptions)
9: Are you able to come to Park City, Utah, even once, to visit and interact with your puppy before taking them home with you? (we recommend between the ages of 5 and 7 weeks, please double-check the litter’s posted birthday under Puppy Blogs!)
10: Are you willing to stay in touch with us about your puppy’s development, or any major health issues/concerns you encounter later on in your pup’s life? (We have flagged several dog kibbles this way for future puppy owners to avoid, for example – consider it as willingness to contribute to research and to hold onto our contact info.)
Note: The above is for baseline information. We will seek to know more about you as a person/family, and intend to hear your enthusiasm and questions, during texts and an eventual phone call. Ergo, feel free to keep above answers short if you feel like it (we won’t judge you either way!).