Expectations: Yours and Ours

You should expect that our dogs are fully health tested for hip and elbow dysplasia, and have had their eyes examined by an ophthalmologist, and that these results are registered with the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) for your viewing. You should also expect that all of our dogs are tested for all potential genetic conditions through DNA screening, and that those results will be made available to you upon your request. DNA screening will include testing for the dilute gene – you can expect that we breed only from dilute free lines. 

You should expect that all of our breeding dogs are titled and/or have proven themselves through successful working roles in actual jobs. You should expect that we know our dogs, we live with our dogs, and we provide excellent nutrition, training, physical conditioning, enrichment and regular veterinary care. You should expect that your puppy is raised in a loving, clean and happy home environment and given every opportunity to develop into a stable, balanced adult. You should expect us to put a tremendous effort into socializing, exposing and training your puppy before he or she goes home with you. 

If we have puppies available, you should expect us to provide an application process for you and if we think one of our available puppies may be a good match for you, we will contact you and will interview you in person or on the phone. You should expect that we will match you with an appropriate puppy based on your goals and lifestyle, which we learned about through the application process. Once your puppy is placed with you, you should expect that we will always be here to support you not only in achieving your goals but in the case that any issue should arise. You should expect that should you ever not want to keep your puppy, that your puppy will come back to us at Clearmountain. Our dogs will always have a home and will never, ever be relinquished to a shelter or rescue in accordance with our contract. 

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We expect you to provide a loving home that provides leadership and training to guide your puppy into adulthood with appropriate manners and foundational obedience for safety and the freedom that comes from reliable balanced training methods. We expect you to train your dog or to work with a professional who will train your dog with you. We will not place a puppy with homes that do not train, or train with “positive only” or “punishment only” methodologies. We prefer experienced owners for our dogs, but we are happy to place puppies in less experienced homes as long as you’ve preselected your trainer and have a training plan in place.

We expect that you have read the research on the impact of early spaying and neutering, and are willing to keep your male dog intact until at least age two, or until your female has had her first heat cycle. We expect that you will use proper containment methods to keep your puppy safe. We expect that you will feed your puppy a premium diet, provide regular veterinary care, keep your dog at an appropriate weight and provide regular daily exercise and conditioning to keep your dog in excellent physical health.

We expect that your dog will be a member of your family and will live in your home with you. We expect that you understand the level of commitment a dog requires, and are not looking for a spontaneous, disposable distraction. We expect you to understand that you are not raising a puppy, you are raising your future dog. We expect you to understand that dogs are not human infants in furry coats, and that to do best by them is to teach them with appropriate interspecies communication, and to hold them accountable to an excellent standard. We expect you to provide your dog with a job, even if that job is being an obedient companion. You will understand that raising a dog takes a massive amount of time and energy, and that you have the financial ability to support your dog’s veterinary, training, social/enrichment and nutrition requirements.