Puppy Application

Instructions:

PLEASE COPY/PASTE into an email and send to sleddog@pobox.com – if you have trouble copy/pasting, contact Wayeh and we will send this in an email to you. Please do NOT attach a document to an email as we won’t be able to open it.

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WAYEH Puppy Application 30748 Rhea Co Hwy – Spring City TN 37381 – 423-365-6039 – sleddog@pobox.com

This is long, not to be onerous or intrusive, but so you will really consider if a puppy is right for you at this time. We will use these answers to help you MATCH you with a puppy. If you have a sedate calm home, you probably don’t want an energizer-bunny puppy. Conversely if you got to soccer matches every Saturday, drag puppy to the park, or have people in and out of your home at all hours, you probably don’t want the softer puppy who will hide under the couch either.

Your Information

  • Name(s):
  • Full mailing Address:
  • Phone number(s):
  • Email Address(s):
  • Website Address: http://
  • Facebook Account:
  • Emergency Contact:
  • How did you find us (specifically)?
  • Are you over 18-years-old?
  • Preferred airport (if puppy will be shipped)?
  • Do you understand that giving false information on the application is a contract violation?
  • Have you read Puppy Buyers PLEASE READ THIS FIRST (there will be a test – ha!)?

References

PLEASE call ahead.

  • Veterinarian name, phone, & location:
  • Personal Reference #1, name, phone, & email:
  • Personal Reference #2, name, phone, & email:
  • Personal Reference #3, name, phone, & email:

The Basics

Do you understand (yes or no):

  • Wayeh puppies are $1800, the non-refundable deposit is $500, with the balance due (including shipping) at 5 weeks?
  • PICKS are in order of deposits received?
  • AKC Registration is LIMITED (non-breeding)?
  • REGISTERED names have a THEME (for instance WAYEH SINGS) but the buyer chooses the second part of the name and callname?

EX.: WAYEH THEME (chosen by buyer) is called “(chosen by buyer)”
EX.: WAYEH SINGS Into the Mystic is called “Luna”

  • AKC papers will be provided to you AFTER you send spay/neuter certificate and OFA hip x-ray at 1 year? (See OFA below)
  • Owners will keep current collar ID tags on the dog in case of escape?
  • Puppies are microchipped to the breeder as a backup in case you or your emergency contact cannot be located?

 Household Information

  • How many adults reside in the home, part- or full-time?
  • Ages of children that reside in the home, part- or full-time?
  • Ages of children who regularly visit the home?
  • Do all adults in the household know about, and wish to purchase, this puppy?
  • To establish consistency in training, does every adult in the household understand that every adult in the household may have to attend obedience classes with this puppy?
  • Is this puppy a gift for someone who does not live with you full-time?
  • Is this puppy’s primary caregiver going away to school or planning on moving out within the next few years?
  • Do you understand the responsibilities for training, medical care, socialization, grooming, feeding, cleaning, and keeping gates/doors secure reside with the ADULTS in the household, no matter what they tell the KIDS about chores?

Have you or any member of your household ever:

  • Turned in, returned, or rehomed an animal?
  • Been charged with cruelty, neglect, or abuse towards an animal?

Your Home

  • Do you own, rent, or other?
  • Does your neighborhood covenant/rental agreement restrict the size or type of fences, size or breed of dogs, or number of pets?

Do you understand (yes or no):

  • Malamutes are on some homeowners/renters’ insurance companies dangerous dogs list?
  • Earning a Star Puppy, Canine Good Citizenship (CGC), or therapy dog certification after obedience class can get the Malamute exempted by some insurance companies?

Only so far as the puppy is concerned, describe:

  • Your home?
  • Your yard, landscaping, outdoor dog kennel, or fencing between your home and neighbors?
  • Neighbor’s animals?
  • Closest after-hours emergency vet?
  • Closest dog-friendly walking area?

Puppy

Are you interested in:

  • A male, female, or doesn’t matter?
  • Our current litter or a future litter?
  • A specific coat pattern, color or size?
  • Do you understand we will NOT accept deposits based on coat pattern, color, or size but will take into account your preferences as we, together, match a puppy with your life?

How many hours/day will the puppy spend:

  • Alone?
  • With you?

Where will the puppy spend his time during (details please):

  • Days?
  • Evenings?
  • Nights?
  • Weekends?
  • Holidays?
  • Vacations?
  • Your work or shopping?

Other Pets

  • Do you have other pets or plan on getting any more pets?
  • Describe by name, age, size, altered/intact, sex, breed, and hierarchy?

Ex.: Singer is 13yo 90# spayed female Malamute and boss of all she surveils.
Ex.: Maestro is a 9yo 75# intact male Malamute and just lets mama Singer think she is boss.

  • What experience do you have with dogs in general and northern breeds in particular?
  • What did you like LEAST about northern breeds?
  • How/when will you introduce the new puppy?

HINT: Be very specific.

  • What do you feed current or past dogs?
  • What training classes have current or past dogs attended?
  • Are you aware that adult Malamutes are known for killing livestock and small animals when unsupervised and/or not socialized with them from a very young age?

BONUS: Do you know the 3 rules of dog/cat interaction?

How are your current pets housed:

  • When you are home?
  • When you are away at work, the store, etc.?

Crates

  • Will you buy a crate for housetraining?
  • Where will the crate be located?
  • When will the puppy be crated?
  • How will the puppy get to his potty area while you are at work or asleep?
  • In a car accident/rollover, what keeps the dog inside the vehicle?

Medical

Do you understand you will have to (yes or no):

  • Take the puppy to your veterinarian for a wellness check within 3 days?
  • Finish the puppy vaccination series ~3-, 4- & 5-months, & 1-year?

BONUS: Research the differences among:
A-Giving every vaccine known to man no matter the particular risks to your area,
B-Limiting vaccinations, and
C-Withholding vaccinations completely?

  • Deworm the puppy for hooks, whips, rounds, and tapes (usually spring but sometimes fall)?

BONUS: Do you know why fecal test results are prone to false positives?
BONUS: Do you know the difference between treatment dose and prevention dose?

  • Keep the puppy on monthly heartworm/flea/tick prevention year round?
  • Insist to your regular vet that you will NOT de-sex until after 1 year?
  • Contact the www.OFFA.org for vets in your area who already do OFA x-rays?

HINT: The Importance of Good Hip Positioning — http://leerburg.com/hipart.htm

  • De-sex the puppy (when the long bones have finished growing) AND have an OFA hip x-ray (not Penn-hip) done preferably while the puppy is already under anesthesia after 1 year?
  • Test the puppy’s eyes/thyroid as a baseline for future health reference ~2 years?

Misc.

  • How often does shedding happen and why?
  • What is bloat?
  • What should you do if your puppy won’t sleep?
  • Why do Seal & White Malamutes require more essential fatty acids (EFAs) than Gray & Whites?
  • What are likely causes of dandruff after a bath?
  • What is snow nose?
  • Which of the following are likely to cause loose stools in puppies: change of location, change of schedule, change of food, too much food, food allergies, too much fiber, not enough fiber, too much fat, change of water, too much water, increase in ambient temperature, stress, viral disease, or intestinal parasites/protozoa?
  • How do you treat loose stools in puppies?
  • Have you considered pet insurance?

HINT: One emergency vet visit for surgically removing a washcloth cost a Wayeh puppy owner $2500 (Mishka in Florida, and it happened twice). One week of 24-hour emergency care for holes in the esophagus after stealing 3 Aleve capsules cost a Wayeh dog owner $10,000 (Lucy in Georgia). Neither dog was insured.

Warranty

Do you understand (yes or no):

  • Wayeh puppies have a replacement warranty for six (6) years against genetic disease?
  • This does not mean you have to put down the first puppy or return the first puppy to the breeder?
  • Proof of the genetic disease must be supplied by a qualified veterinarian when the illness is diagnosed?
  • The replacement puppy can be requested years later?
  • A six-year genetic warranty is possible because all Wayeh puppies are health tested for hips, eyes, and thyroid – whether they are used for breeding or not?
  • These hips, eyes, and thyroid results also help the owner establish baselines for later-in-life treatment/prevention of your dog?

Food

  • What will you feed the puppy (homemade, raw, prey-model, kibble, grain-free, what brand, etc.)?
  • How often will you feed the puppy?
  • Where will you feed the puppy?
  • Do you plan on using the guidelines on the back of the kibble bag to feed your puppy?
  • What dog foods have you fed in the past or to your current dog(s)?

From teaching obedience classes and my rescue work over the last 20 years, I learned that to keep dogs in the homes you put them in requires two things first:  Breeder support to help fix little problems before they become big problems, and Communication between owner and dog.  Breeder support you got. These next sections of the application are about communicating with your dog.

Training

Do you understand (yes or no):

  • Malamutes evolved in the most inhospitable place on earth?
  • Malamutes’ toughness and stubbornness make them impossible to train?

HINT: That was a trick question.

  • Malamutes will not work for love alone, they work because they are motivated to work?

HINT: Think of a dogsled, you can’t push a rope. Malamutes work for paychecks! The paycheck is the running.

  • Malamutes #1 favorite paycheck is food?
  • If your boss came up to you and said, “I’ve decided not to pay you anymore, but you still have to come to work on time, be enthusiastic and productive, and do the work, all for no pay” –would you feel motivated to roll out of bed the next morning?
  • If your boss came up to you, cuffed you on the back of the head, tossed you on the ground, held you down and screamed in your face, about the no-pay thing – would you be even more motivated than you were before?
  • Positive reinforcement uses tiny bits of food as rewards to motivate dogs?
  • Clicker training uses an immediate and unmistakable marker to tell the dog exactly what he did correctly so he can get his paycheck?
  • Corrections must be immediate, unmistakable, and unpleasant?
  • But marking the desired behavior (with a click or ‘yes’) must also be immediate and unmistakable and must lead to something pleasant?

Training Cautions

Do you understand (yes or no):

  • In the absence of clear leadership, Malamutes will assume the lead – and they suck at it?
  • Pop/jerk choke chains, pinch/prong collars, shock collars, and alpha rolls do not motivate a breed that evolved chasing Polar Bears across sea ice?
  • Encouraging rough play/wrestling or guard-dog/protection training in a Malamute can get the wrong person injured, the dog euthanized, and you in court explaining why you “made” this tragedy happen?

HINT: There are many protection breeds, this is not one of them.

  • If you visit dogparks, it is your responsibility to protect the puppy from other dogs and other dogs from your grown-up puppy?
  • Your puppy may require MORE training than these two (2) basic classes to become a trusted canine citizen who can go out in public, go to vets or groomers, and have company over to your home?
  • Putting a Malamute in a harness or a collar low on their neck encourages them to pull against it, even so-called no-pull harnesses?
  • What is cute at 10# can be lethal at 50-100#?

These are a few specific training issues that can lead to the early death of your dog:

An unreliable RECALL (not coming when called);
An unreliable LEAVE IT (not dropping something when told);
An unreliable SOFT MOUTH (i.e. putting teeth on another living being);
JUMPING UP (knocking down the wrong litigious person);
PULLING ON LEASH (and getting away);
Inappropriate CHEWING (power cords, etc.)

  • Do you see why motivating a Malamute to learn is so very important?
  • Do you understand that no matter how much training YOU have personally done in the past, you and the puppy will still have to attend two (2) ea., 8-week, public, group training classes, both Puppy Kindergarten and Beginner’s Obedience?
  • Do you understand that this does NOT mean sending the puppy off for training, bringing the trainer to your home for training, you training at home, or attending one night and giving it up?

Puppy Socialization

Do you understand (yes or no):

  • The puppy socialization window closes at 16 weeks?
  • Everything a puppy learns before 16 weeks, they know forever?
  • After 16 weeks, the work is much harder?
  • Socialization will never happen if you wait until after 16 weeks to start?
  • Why you must start/complete as much of Puppy Kindergarten as soon as you get the puppy home and NOT wait until the full vaccination series is complete?

The point of Puppy Kindergarten is two-fold:

  • First: socialization and should include puppy group play?

HINT: You should arrange additional puppy group play even if it does.

  • Second: learning to learn and should include positive reinforcement?

HINT: Anyone can yank or scare a puppy into sitting and downing, but that does not teach the puppy to love training.

  • Where will you be attending Puppy Socialization class (contact info)?

Beginner’s Obedience Do you understand (yes or no):

  • Sitting, downing and walking on a loose leash are not the point of obedience class?

HINT: I can teach a new dog to do any of that in 2 minutes.

  • The benefits to the dog are learning: to bond with their owners, to respond when distracted, and that good things happen after car rides?
  • The benefits to the owner are learning the owner can be taught: new methods with each new dog he trains, to pay attention to surroundings and the dog at the same time, and good things happen after training the dog?

HINT: Did you notice there’s nothing about sitting, downing, or walking on a loose leash under benefits?HINT: As a dog trainer, it is not my job to teach your dog these things. It’s my job to teach owners how to teach their dogs.

  • Where will you be attending Beginner’s Obedience class (contact info)?

OFF-LEASH

The puppy’s comfort zone will expand:

  • From 10 feet to a quarter acre sometime in the first 4 months?
  • From a quarter acre to infinity and beyond between 4 months and 12 months?

Do you understand that even after the two required basic training classes (yes or no):

  • Malamutes are dogs, not programmable robots?
  • Off-leash dogs in movies often have two full-time trainers per dog and each character on screen is actually several different dogs, each with his own full-time trainers?
  • Even so-called ‘reliable off-leash’ dogs can make mistakes or run into a particularly attractive squirrel, and they are GONE hunting the nearest polar bear?

HINT: Because they are dogs, not programmable robots.

  • Malamutes can compete off leash, but it takes training, training, training, and perhaps some more training and the off-leash Malamute is in a secure location while he is off leash?
  • This is NOT a training issue, this is a genetic heritage issue because sled breeds have been selected for 1000s of generations to run AWAY from the sled driver’s voice?
  • Are you sure you understand?

Other Training

  • Are there any specific areas you’d be interested in pursuing with your dog: competition obedience, rally obedience, agility, therapy, scootering/carting/sledding, weight-pull, back-packing/hiking/camping, nose work/barn hunt/tracking, or other?

Conclusion

  • Please explain anything else that would make you a good owner for a WAYEH Malamute puppy?

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Thanks for wading through this application. We will use all of the above plus phone conversations, to match a puppy with your lifestyle, circumstances, and experience levels. The MATCH is the best foot forward that helps you have a long, happy life with your Wayeh puppy.

–Wayeh Kennels, Sidney Helen Sachs

(Rewrite 6/2017)