Puppy collection
Collecting your puppy and getting it home
Collection day is the one people plan for least and remember longest. It is a big day for you and a genuinely frightening one for the puppy, which is leaving its mother, its littermates and the only room it has ever known, all in the same hour.
Collection day
What actually happens when you come
It takes longer than people expect, and it should. Allow an hour rather than fifteen minutes.
- You see the puppy before anything is finalised — not handed a carrier at the door. If something has changed since you last saw it, you hear about it here.
- We go through the records with you and hand them over. How to read them.
- We go through the diet in detail — what the puppy is eating, how much, and how often. This is the single most useful thing you take away.
- We answer whatever is still open, including the questions you thought of on the drive over.
- You take a photograph or two before you go. You will want them later, and it costs nothing to take a minute over it.
No puppy leaves before eight weeks. It is the legal minimum in India and the point below which a puppy misses things from its mother and littermates that it does not get back. If a collection date would fall earlier than that, we move the date.
Before you set off
What to have with you
None of it is expensive, and having it in the car is the difference between a calm journey and a stressful one.
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01
A carrier or a second person
A puppy should not be loose in a moving car, and it should not be on the lap of the person driving.
A carrier is safest. Failing that, bring someone who can hold the puppy properly in the back for the whole journey.
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02
An old towel or two
Car journeys and nervous puppies produce accidents. Assume it will happen and it stops being a problem.
A towel that already smells of your home is also a small head start on settling in.
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03
Water and a small bowl
Especially in a Chandigarh summer. A short offer of water at the halfway point is plenty.
Do not feed a full meal immediately before or during the drive.
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04
Your identification
Bring the same ID for whoever made the booking, so the handover paperwork matches the person collecting.
Straightforward, and it protects both sides. How booking works.
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05
Somewhere ready at home
A small, quiet, enclosed area with bedding, water and nothing chewable that matters.
Prepare it before you leave. Doing it with a puppy already in the house is harder than it sounds.
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06
A realistic amount of time
Collect on a day when someone can be at home for the next day or two rather than straight before a work trip.
The first forty-eight hours matter more to how the puppy settles than anything you buy for it.
The drive
Getting home
For most families in Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula or Zirakpur this is a short drive, which is a real advantage — it is very likely the first car journey of the puppy’s life, and shorter is better. Keep the car cool, keep the music down, and ask whoever is holding the puppy to stay calm rather than excited. It reads the room better than you would expect at eight weeks.
Expect whining, and expect it to stop. Expect the puppy to sleep for a large part of the journey, or to be sick, or both. None of that means anything is wrong. If you are coming from further out and the drive is a long one, tell us in advance and we will talk through how to break it up.
Go straight home. Not to a relative’s house on the way, not to the market, not to meet the neighbours. The puppy has had enough new things for one day and there will be plenty of time for introductions.
Settling in
The first forty-eight hours
The instinct is to give a new puppy everything at once. Almost the opposite works better.
- Keep the food exactly the same — same brand, same amount, same times. Change it later and gradually, once the puppy has settled. An abrupt switch on day one is the most common cause of an upset stomach in the first week.
- Keep visitors to a minimum. Everyone will want to meet the puppy. It will still be there next weekend.
- Expect a disturbed first night. It is the first time the puppy has slept without its littermates. It usually improves within a few nights.
- Let the puppy sleep. Puppies at this age sleep a great deal, and being woken repeatedly for attention is genuinely hard on them.
- Register with a vet in your area and ask when the remaining vaccinations are due and when it is safe to take the puppy out. Your vet, not the internet, should set that timetable.
- Ask us anything. We stay reachable through the settling-in weeks and the questions in the first fortnight are usually the ones that matter.
Arranging it
Arranging your collection
We fix the date and the place with you directly
Collection is by appointment, so that you get an unhurried handover rather than arriving in the middle of something else. We agree the date once the puppy is old enough, and we confirm the time and the exact location with you before the day.
Collecting in person is what we recommend, because it lets you see the puppy and ask questions face to face before anything is final. Where that is genuinely not practical for where you are, ask us what handover arrangements are possible — we will tell you what can and cannot be done rather than promise something in advance.
FAQ
Questions about collection
How old will the puppy be when I collect it?
At least eight weeks. That is the legal minimum in India and we do not make exceptions to it, including when a collection date has already been discussed. If the date would fall too early, we move the date rather than the puppy.
Do you deliver the puppy to my home?
Collecting in person is what we recommend, and it is what we ask for wherever it is practical. If travelling to us genuinely is not possible for you, ask and we will tell you what handover arrangements can be made for your location — rather than advertising something in advance that may not suit your situation.
Can someone else collect on my behalf?
Tell us in advance and we will arrange it properly. We would still rather the person the puppy is going to live with is there, because the diet and records conversation is worth having first-hand.
Can I take the puppy for a walk once it is home?
Ask your vet first. A puppy that has not finished its vaccination course should not be walked in public areas yet, and your vet will tell you exactly when that changes based on the schedule your puppy is actually on.
What food should I buy before collection day?
Whatever the puppy is already eating — ask us and buy that. Keeping the food identical for the first couple of weeks avoids the stomach upset that a sudden change usually causes, and you can move to something else gradually once the puppy has settled.