Our Puppy Placement Process
Bringing home a puppy is exciting, and we want the experience to be a positive one for both our families and our puppies.
At Rocky Oak Cavaliers & Biewer Terriers, our placement process is about more than choosing a puppy and making a payment. We have invested a tremendous amount of time, care, love, and work into every puppy born here, and we take seriously the responsibility of deciding where they will spend their lives.
Because of that, finding the right fit matters to us.
Step 1: Getting to Know Each Other
The process begins with a conversation.
We want to know a little about you, your family, your lifestyle, your experience with dogs, and what you’re looking for in a puppy. We also encourage you to ask questions about us, our dogs, our breeding program, and what you can expect when purchasing a puppy from Rocky Oak.
This isn’t an interrogation, and we’re not looking for a “perfect” family.
We’re simply trying to make thoughtful placements.
Sometimes a wonderful family may not be the right fit for a particular puppy, and sometimes a breeder and prospective buyer simply aren’t the right fit for one another. That’s okay.
Step 2: Communication Matters
Good communication is an important part of our placement process.
We absolutely understand that people have jobs, families, appointments, responsibilities, and busy lives. We do not expect immediate responses.
However, purchasing a puppy requires communication and planning.
There will be things we need to discuss along the way—puppy selection, deposits, veterinary care, paperwork, pickup or delivery arrangements, feeding instructions, and preparing for your puppy to come home.
If we repeatedly have difficulty receiving responses or communicating with a prospective family, we may decide that we aren’t the right fit for one another.
This isn’t meant to be harsh.
We simply believe that a comfortable, respectful line of communication should exist between breeder and puppy family—especially before one of our puppies leaves our care.
Communication works both ways, too.
We do our best to answer questions, provide information, send updates when appropriate, and make sure our families know what is happening with their puppy.
We ask for that same consideration in return.
Step 3: Application & Approval
We may ask prospective families to complete a puppy application before moving forward.
An application helps us learn more about your household and what you’re looking for. Completing an application does not automatically guarantee approval or placement of a puppy.
Our goal isn’t simply to find someone who wants a puppy.
Our goal is to find the right home for each individual puppy.
For that reason, we reserve the right to decline a placement if we don’t believe it is the right fit.
Step 4: Joining Our Commitment List
Once we’ve spoken and mutually decided that Rocky Oak is a good fit for your family, we’ll discuss available puppies or upcoming litters and our commitment process.
A deposit is what officially reserves your place or puppy according to the terms discussed with you.
We will clearly explain what your deposit covers, how puppy selection works, anticipated timelines, and what happens if circumstances change.
Please ask questions before submitting a deposit if anything is unclear.
We want everyone comfortable with the process from the beginning.
Step 5: While Your Puppy Is Growing
Waiting for your puppy to come home can feel like forever!
During this time, we’re busy doing what we do every day raising puppies.
That includes feeding, cleaning, socializing, monitoring development, veterinary care, vaccinations, deworming, photographs, paperwork, and all of the other work that happens behind the scenes.
We love sharing our puppies with their future families, but please remember that caring for the dogs and puppies always comes first.
Step 6: Preparing to Go Home
As your puppy’s go-home date approaches, we encourage you to visit our “Items We Recommend” page. This page is a great starting point for preparing for your new puppy and includes many of the items we use and recommend.
You’ll also find the food we currently feed our puppies listed there. We recommend having the same food available when your puppy arrives home to help avoid unnecessary dietary changes during an already exciting transition.
You certainly don’t need everything on the list! We’ve simply put together some of our favorite and most useful items to make preparing for your puppy a little easier.
We want the transition from our home to yours to be as smooth and comfortable as possible—for both you and your puppy.
Step 7: Welcome to the Rocky Oak Family
Our responsibility doesn’t suddenly disappear when your puppy leaves.
We’re always happy to hear updates, see pictures, celebrate birthdays, and answer questions when we can.
We don’t expect constant communication after your puppy goes home—but we hope you’ll always feel comfortable reaching out if you need us.
Some of our puppy families stay in touch for years, and we genuinely enjoy watching the puppies we’ve raised grow into beloved family members.
One Last Thing…
We know there are many breeders to choose from, just as there are many wonderful families looking for puppies.
Not every breeder is right for every family.
And not every family is right for every breeder.
That’s not rejection. That’s responsible placement.
We want you to feel comfortable with us.
We also need to feel comfortable entrusting one of our puppies to you.
Respect, honesty, patience, and communication go a long way toward making that happen.
Our goal has never been simply to sell puppies.
It’s to place puppies we love with families who will love them for the rest of their lives.
Rocky Oak Cavaliers & Biewer Terriers
