FAQ

To join our waitlist you must fill out a puppy application. If your application is accepted you must then place a $500 non-refundable commitment fee. This fee will go towards the final price of your puppy.

Here at Sterling Doodles we only keep one "master" waitlist. This means that you may change your puppy preferences at any time without losing your spot. Regardless of your preferences we will always present each available litter to the next in line on our waitlist. You may choose to "skip" as many litters as you would like until your perfect puppy is born.

Our puppy picks are done at 7 weeks. We wait until 7 weeks to do puppy picks because it gives our puppies time to mature. Once our puppies are 7 weeks old we will have a better idea of coat type, temperament, and size. All puppy picks are done via Facetime or video call. We will provide reccomendations to you based on your preferred coat type, size, temperament, and the puppies we feel would best suit your lifestyle, however we do not ever force families to get a certain puppy. We want you to be happy with your new family member, so ultimately your puppy pick is your choice! Please keep in mind: If we are considering keeping one or more puppies from a litter, we may delay puppy picks for a short while if we are awaiting genetic test results and such, which help us to determine the best dogs to include in our breeding program.

There are a few reasons why we don't allow in-person puppy picks. Puppies are very fragile, especially before they get their vaccines. We take every precaution we can to protect our puppies from deadly viruses such as Parvo and Distemper. Visitors can easily (and unknowingly) bring disease with them. We also aren't a kennel, so our puppies are raised in our home. For security reasons we dont allow people into our home. We are happy to Facetime with you so you can see where our puppies are raised. We do puppy pickups in our yard, so you will be able to see our property.

Yes! Please let us know ahead of time if you would like to meet your puppy's parents when you pickup your puppy. Please keep in mind that we are not able to offer meet and greets for the father if we have used an outside stud. Parent meet and greets are generally only availabe on the scheduled pickup day. This is out of respect for our guardian families.

We take updated photos of each litter once a week. We may post other photos/videos in between official updates on our Instagram and Facebook Page. Update photos will be posted on our website under the "Current Puppies" tab.

Puppy pickups are done after the puppies turn 8 weeks old. We will post the official pickup day on the "Current Puppies" section of our website well before puppy picks are made. If you can't accomodate the offical pickup day we will make other arrangements with you. Please keep in mind that you may not be able to meet your puppy's parents if you don't pickup on the official pickup day. Payment is due in full on pickup day or at 9 weeks, whichever comes first. There is also a $50 fee for every day your puppy stays with us past the scheduled pickup day. If you do not arrange for pickup by the time your puppy is 10 weeks old we will place your puppy with another family and any money paid will be forfit. Pickups are done on our property. Please do not bring your personal pets, or anyone other then immediate family. During the COVID-19 pandemic we are only allowing two people to come per puppy pickup. You must wear a properly fitted mask at all times (and we will as well).

It is very important that you are on time for your appointment on puppy pickup day. We have a very tight schedule and might not be able to accomodate you if you are late. We often have multiple puppies going home on the same day, it isn't fair to other families if you are late and infringe on their pickup appointment. There is also a lot of important information that we need to go over with you on pickup day. As a result of families being late for pickup appointments we have implemented a new policy effective immediately. Families that are more then 15 minuites late will have a $50 late fee and may be required to wait in their car if other appointments arrive. Families that are more then 30 minuites late will have a $100 late fee and might be required to reschedule for another day or time. If you are driving an exta long distance please let us know ahead of time and we will accomodate you with a longer timeslot.

If a birth defect (for example a heart murmur, an underbite, overbite, etc) is found at your puppy's vet visit you will be given the opportunity to switch your deposit to another available puppy, or wait for a puppy from a future litter.

Yes. As a proffesional breeder we are legally required to charge HST on all of our puppies (no matter your preffered payment method).

We may consider selling a puppy with breeding rights to other likeminded breeding programs. Breeding rights are considered on a case by case basis. Please be aware that if you are not purchasing a puppy with breeding rights there is the possibility that your puppy may come home already sterilized. Our puppies are sterilized via a hormone preserving procedure such as ovary sparing spay, vasectomy, etc.

It's important to us that our puppies do not end up with unethical breeders. As such some of our pet puppies may go home already sterilized. We do not preform traditional spay/neuter on our puppies, but some may be sterilized using a non-traditional method such as tubal ligation, vasectomy, or ovary sparing spay. These proceedures prevent unethical breeding without removing your puppy's vital hormones.

Dogs (and puppies) that are sterilized with a hormone sparing proceedure remain hormonally intact. This means that behaviourally and hormonally they are no different from an intact dog. Dogs that are sterilized through traditional methods lose their hormones, including important growth hormones. The only thing dogs with hormone sparing sterilization lose is the ability to have puppies.