Kessel Run Puppies
Thank you for your interest in a Kessel Run puppy! On this page, you will find everything you need to know about bringing a Kessel Run puppy into your family!
Puppy Information
Puppy Raising
All Kessel Run puppies stay with us until they are 12 weeks old. We follow Puppy Culture protocol and Avidog protocols for raising, and spend a lot of time socializing and teaching our puppies basic life skills. Below are some of the things you can expect from your Kessel Run puppy.
Sleeping through the night in a crate
Traveling in a vehicle while crated, we take them on a minimum of two car trips per week for various lengths of time
Used to having nails trimmed every few days, and dremel de sensitization started
Socialized, they are exposed to a wide variety of different people of all ages
Confidence, our puppies are exposed to many new surfaces, sounds, objects, and places each week so they learn to take everything in stride.
Exposure to other animals, and various events such as parades, festivals depending on time of year
Puppies have spent time learning to walk on a leash and harness/collar
Puppies are started on potty training, using a litter box as a backup while transitioning to outdoors
Puppies are used to being in a pen with a potty area for a workday with 1 break in the middle of the day
Puppies have good dog to dog social skills from the extra time spent with their siblings and other household dogs
Puppies learn to 'trade' for high value items to prevent resource guarding
Puppies participate in ‘adventure walks’ and are used to following a human on of leash walks. This is good preparation for future hikes.
And more!
We actively post to social media while raising our puppies, so it's easy to follow along with their progress. Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) begins by 3 days old. AT two weeks of age they are introduced to a litter box which aids in easier potty training later on. Starting at 4 weeks old they are introduced to their larger playpen. By 5 weeks crate training is starting and they are sleeping solo in a crate by 8 weeks. We use the Volhard temperament test at 7 weeks, and do conformation evaluations at both 8 and 10 weeks. By 10 weeks puppies new homes are chosen and they will begin to learn their new names (if you have one picked out). Those traveling via an airplane carry on then begin exposure to their carrier so they are easy to fly with. They leave here at 12 weeks. If you have any questions about our puppy raising process don't hesitate to ask!
Everything we do with them NEEDS to be kept up with when they leave us! Using a crate, regular grooming and nail maintenance, social outings, and training, all of these are skills they will lose if not practiced regularly in their new homes as well!
Common Questions
Registration - Kessel Run Icelandic Sheepdog puppies are only available to pre-approved homes. Our pet puppies are sold on limited AKC registration with a contract all parties sign. All puppies are sold as a co-ownership only. We sign off on pet puppies when proof of spay/neuter is received. All show prospects will be sold on full AKC registration, and remain co-owned until the terms of the contract are met or the dog is altered. We do not sell any dogs outright, so please do not ask.
Price - Our puppies cost $2500. This price recently increased to reflect all of the time that goes into our puppies, and enables us to offer things like embark testing before they leave which helps the breed. (This is subject to change overtime.)
Shipping - We do NOT ship puppies in cargo. For puppies traveling out of state, we require that either you fly your puppy with you as a carry-on, OR I will fly them to you personally as my own carry-on at your expense. You are also responsible for purchasing their carrier and having it sent to me so I am able to start teaching them to ride in it.
Spay/Neuter - All pet puppies are sold on a spay/neuter contract. We require all pet puppies to be altered by 2 years of age. It is our recommendation to wait until at least 11 months before altering. Certain parts of the health guarantee are void if altered early.
Vaccinations - Our puppies are vaccinated by a licensed veterinarian at 8 and 11 weeks of age. Once they leave they will need their last set of puppy shots at 14 weeks and we request not vaccinating them for rabies until they are 6 months old. We urge you to consider three-year boosters instead of yearly. We also support titer testing if available.
Microchips - All puppies will come microchipped, I will register the microchips before they leave. I require that I am kept as a contact on their microchip for their lifetime. If this is an issue please do not apply for a puppy. It is strictly a safety net for them.
Return Policy/Refunds - We require that ALL dogs that we produce, must be returned to us if no longer wanted (regardless of age or reason they are no longer wanted). We are happy to refund your purchase price, we just want our babies back with us if the home we picked for them doesn't work out for any reason.
The Process
Interested in purchasing a puppy, but not sure what to expect? Read this!
1- [before getting on a waitlist] Do your homework, learn everything you can about the breed and be honest about your lifestyle and what you need in your perfect dog, Please reach out and ask questions, be thorough, if possible meet some dogs in person, and really experience the breed so you know they are 'the one!
2- [before getting on a waitlist] Research Breeders, find someone with dogs you like, a program with goals that fit what you are wanting in a dog, and bonus points if you can see them as someone you are happy to be tied to for the next 10+ years. (feel free to ask us for our recommendations)
3- [If you decide that you would like to be considered for a puppy from us] Fill out our puppy application. Take your time and answer in as much detail as possible, this is our first tool to matching you to your future puppy. Once we've received and reviewed your application you will get an email letting you know your application was approved (not likely to be right away, feel free to reach back out if it’s been over a week). This gets you put on our waiting list. Everyone on the waiting list will receive email updates about any breeding-related decisions and progressions, including confirmed pregnancies, puppy count via X-ray, and notice when litters are born.
4- Several weeks after puppies are born, and we have a headcount and everyone is thriving, I will reach back out for the second part of my application process with phone interviews/zoom calls to get to know each other better, and really give me a feel for what you want in your puppy. At this point, nothing is set in stone, and I still CAN NOT guarantee anyone a puppy. What I can do is make the best guess based on the temperaments of the parents and tell if you based on
what you want I’m not anticipating a good fit. Otherwise, you are stuck in limbo for a little longer.
During this waiting time I share puppy updates daily, everyone is encouraged to follow my social media page to see how everyone is growing and changing.
5- Between 6 and 8 weeks you will know if you are someone I am strongly considering for a puppy, based on everything I have seen from them up to this point. I will be working on getting my shortlist together. It is still subject to change, but chances are higher that I can make an accurate match.
6- Temperament evaluations are at 7 weeks, and their first conformation evaluation at 8 weeks. New homes are chosen between 8-10 weeks (and maybe as late as 10 weeks to the day). At this time I will let you know the puppy I think would be the best fit for you, if two puppies are very similar I will let you choose between them. My priority is matching the perfect puppy to the perfect home.
7- Between 10 and 12 weeks I'll require the new owners to attend a zoom meeting 'class' going over everything from potty training to leash walking, to how to handle chewing and biting, here you can ask any questions they may have about how to raise your puppy to be the best dog possible. We will go over the payment process, and make sure everyone is really comfortable with the next steps at this point.
8- Last we work out payment and pickup details, go over contract details, puppies are ready to go at 12 weeks and you're off! But don't disappear, Consider me a resource to you for the life of the dog (we LOVE updates <3)
Puppies are not first come first serve, and waitlist order only matters as a tie-breaker if one puppy would do equally well in two different families. Being on the waitlist is not a guarantee of a puppy! It simply means that in your application we saw no reason why this breed wouldn’t be a good fit for you based on the information you’ve provided.
I know it’s difficult but I will NOT guarantee a puppy to you before the 8-10 week mark. The best I can do is tell you if (based on your application and my knowledge of the pairing) you are definitely not in the running for one due to a higher likelihood of incompatibility.
How Often Do you Have Puppies?
The short answer is usually every few years, the long answer is I am just one person and I do not have a large program or a lot of dogs. I keep my dogs their entire life and do not ‘replace’ them, so the amount of dogs in my home who are actually breeding age, have passed health testing, and are titled to my satisfaction will fluctuate between 1-3 at any give time. I try and space out breeding’s so I do not have multiple at the same time if I can help it (though nature has other ideas sometimes). I primarily breed for myself, I aim for 2 litters for each of my girls (would consider 3 for various reasons, depending on the dog). I do not breed my girls back to back as I want them to have a good break so that they can enjoy their normal life activities outside of having puppies. So far it has worked out to have 1 litter a year, skipping years when it doesn’t make sense based on things going on in my life. This could change later on!
How Do You Place Puppies?
It all starts with your questionnaire, we ask a lot of questions to get a feel for the best type of puppy for your lifestyle. We may email back and forth a bit to get more information, and eventually, we will do phone calls or in-person meetings as well. All of this is so we can make the best placement possible, and so YOU can become comfortable with US! When our puppies are born, we take detailed notes of their behaviors and personalities from day 1. We are with them 24/7 for 12 weeks of their life, we get to know them really well and what makes them who they are. At 7 weeks of age, we also use an outside trainer to perform temperament tests to get an unbiased opinion about each puppy. We take all this information and use it to match the best puppy to the best family for that puppy. At this time we use the waitlist as a tie-breaker, if two families would be equally good for one specific puppy, the one who is higher on the list will be offered the puppy first. We want to make sure our active puppies end up in active families, and vice versa.
What Your Puppy Comes Home With
-Proof of Registration (all puppies are registered by me before they leave)
- Contract with a health guarantee
- 30 days of pet insurance activated by me before they leave
- Microchip information (all microchips registered by me before they leave)
- Vaccine record listing all of the vaccinations they have received, and when their next shots are due
- Embark DNA results
- Digital copy of the puppy raising presentation we go over before pickup
- USB with all of the camera photos I have taken of them since they were born (weekly)
- Access to a private FB group for Kessel Run puppy owners
- Bag with the Kessel Run logo on it
- Blanket that smells like their littermates and mother
- Leash, collar, harness
- Puppy toys & treats
- Various chews for the ride home
- Bag of food for you to use to switch them over to your food of choice
- Bag of their litter to use to show them where they should potty outdoors
- A LIFETIME of breeder support. And I can not stress this enough. I want to hear everything! These puppies have a piece of my heart and I want to hear about all the things you struggle with, all the things you're proud of, and all the things that make you laugh. You become a part of our extended puppy family!
