Choices Choices….
Puppies are not for everyone. Certainly, they are adorable and very appealing, but require all your time and I mean all of your time (house breaking, crate training, obedience training). If you don’t have the time, the energy or the commitment to train a small puppy as it needs to be trained, for its own sake as well as yours, maybe you should think about an older puppy or an adult dog.
My hobby is breeding and exhibiting Parson Russell Terriers and Lakeland Terriers. Puppies are evaluated at eight to ten weeks, and those with exceptional promise stay with us and are periodically re-evaluated. If, at any time, I feel they are not fulfilling their potential, I place them as companions on an AKC limited registration and with a spay/neuter contract. For many people, an older puppy (three to six months old) provides a more suitable alternative to an eight to ten week old puppy. You still have the puppy exuberance, but being that much older, they are quicker to train, and have passed the destructive puppy phase.
From time to time, I also have adult dogs to place. These could be champions who have finished their breeding and showing career or dogs that I have run on that don’t fulfill our expectation as show or breeding stock, yet are still wonderful loving pets and companions. Typically, the girls are four or five years old, the boys tend to be younger, although there are exceptions. These adult dogs are sometimes house dogs, in which case, they are house-trained, or they may have spent their lives living in a kennel. Either way, they adapt quickly to their new lives as pampered pets. They are quick to train and are more subdued than the younger dogs while retaining the terrier curiosity and delight in activity.
People’s greatest concern in taking an older dog is that they may not bond as well as a puppy. This is not an issue with terriers whose capacity for love and loyalty is unbounded. Over the years, we have placed any number of adult dogs, and without exception, their new families have found that they settle in and become an integral part of the family within a matter of days.
If you think an older puppy or adult dog may be right for you, please give me a call so we can answer your questions and let you know who might be available.
Greycottage Terriers 