Page 50 - ShowSight - May 2020

PLACING PUPPIES IN THE AGE OF COVID-19: SAFETY ADVICE FOR BREEDERS
disinfect,” Askin said. “Before anyone comes over, ask them if they have had a fever or any other symptoms associated with COVID-19 or if they have been exposed to it.”
“Require that everyone uses hand sanitizer—or washes with soap and water—before and after visiting the puppy area, Askin said. If you allow the visitors to touch the puppies, it is a good idea to wipe down the pups with canine disinfecting wipes afterwards,” he added.
PUPPY PICK-UP PLANS
Once the puppies are placed, then “the real rubber meets the road” when it is time for puppies to go home, Gloster said. “It is critical to observe safety measures during puppy pick-up.”
Limit the number of people arriving to get the puppy and ask that children and extended family stay home—or stay in the vehicle. Visitors must wear masks and should not touch the puppy until the “neutral transfer,” Gloster said.
“Obviously how you achieve this is dependent on what type of property you have,” he said. “It is very easy for me to set up an ex-pen on my driveway—as I am well back from the road—put the puppy in the pen, and keep the social distance of a minimum of 6 feet, more if possible.”
With all paperwork previously completed online, the puppy buyer can take the puppy out of the ex-pen while the breeder watches from a distance.
Winn said she normally spends more than an hour with the puppy buyers in her home, going over paperwork and items in a welcome bag.
This year, she will email all documents and leave the bag outside her house.
“I ask the families to name their puppies before they go home, and I start calling the puppies by that name, so they recognize their names,” Winn said. “So, when the new own- ers come to the house and get out of their car, I will bring the puppy outside and ask them to call the puppy. I will have a zip lock baggie outside where they can leave the check and pick up their signed contract.”
SOCIALIZING AT HOME
Early socialization is a tougher puzzle to solve as having visitors to your home and taking puppies on field trips (once they have vaccines) is risky these days.
“But, with some creativity, it is possible to do all socializing at home without guests or taking your puppies on the road,” Gloster said.
You can wear different clothes, glasses and hats, as well as put on different scents, to expose your puppies to “new” peo- ple. CD’s made for exposing puppies to sounds, from dog show noises to traffic din, are available to order and can be played in the puppy room.
“Often times we have our puppies in certain parts of the home, and there are probably places in the house that are off limits. But a great way to socialize at home is to bring them into different parts of the home, play loud music, and do everything you can to create the cacophony of real life,” Glo- ster said. “Take your puppies for field trips in your yard and have friends drive by your house and toot their car horns.”
“Even when this crisis ends and the world returns to nor- malcy, these practices may continue for breeders,” Breeder Field Representative Skou said.
“This might be our new norm. Perhaps we do not want strangers in our homes any longer, and this is how we prac- tice good safety and health precautions for our canines and families.”
HERE IS A LIST OF SUGGESTED SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES TO HELP BREEDERS DEAL WITH PUPPY BUYERS SAFELY DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS:
• Conduct as many visits as possible via virtual tech- nology tools, such as Skype or Facetime.
• Take care of paperwork online, including pay- ments. If you do paperwork with your customers, give them a pen which they can keep or ask them to bring their own pen.
• Explain to buyers that their health and safety are as important as the health and well-being of your family, dogs and puppies.
• Discuss what the customer should expect during the puppy pick-up.
• Ask the client if they or anyone in their family has had cold, flu or allergy symptoms or been exposed to, had or overcame COVID-19.
• Ask if anyone has recently traveled by air, gone out of the country, or works in the medical field.
• Ask that young, older and compromised persons not come to the puppy pick-up day and limit the number of people to two.
• Limit contact with the customers. Do not shake hands and disinfect all touch points.
• Wash hands often with warm water and soap; have and use plenty of hand sanitizer, if available, as well as keeping social distances (at least 6 feet).
• Consider doing all transactions outside. Do not restrict yourself to small confined spaces.
• Ask puppy visitors to remove shoes or do shoe bath, hand washing/sanitizer. Ask them to put on rubber gloves to reduce touch points.
• Do not hand the puppy to the customer. This will put you too close to the customer. Sit the puppy on the ground or floor or in an ex-pen and step away.
• Consider only presenting the puppy that the fam- ily is getting. If you do allow access to the litter, discourage face-to-face contact and limit petting of the puppies.
• Keep the time spent in-person with customers to an absolute minimum.
• If the customer does not take the puppy or returns a puppy, immediately bathe the puppy or clean with disinfecting wipes made for dogs.
48 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2020