Unlike traditional first come, first choose methods of placing puppies, where the prospective family shows up, meets the puppies and points out which one they want, here at Startop Labradors WE do the choosing.

It may seem different to you, but there is a reason we place our puppies in this way. Our method of placement entails watching and getting to know their personalities for eight weeks. This includes taking notes and paying attention to their behaviour during the early stimulation and socialization and noting how they react to things. We do temperament testing at 7 weeks. After this point, when we've had ample time to observe the puppies and get to know their temperaments, we make placement decisions. Decisions are based upon what we see in the puppies and what the puppy families and ourselves, are looking for. We learned many years ago that expecting puppy families to be able to select a puppy who has an appropriate temperament for their situation when they've only just met the babies is pretty ineffective and difficult. We are masters at matchmaking, and have been very successful at it. It is also nice because there is no such thing as 'first pick' or 'pick of the litter'. Everybody gets the best puppy for their particular lifestyle and family. Occasionally when we have two puppies who are very similar, we'll let the family choose between the two, but generally by the time they are ready to go home, we know just who is going where! Believe me, after eight weeks, we KNOW these babies!

We do everything in our power to ensure that every baby gets the very best start to life, and I want to do everything I can to help ensure they are happy for the rest of their lives. Placing puppies appropriately goes a long way towards this goal.

We always reserve the right to keep whichever puppies we feel may contribute to our showing/breeding program in the future, as this is why we bred the litter in the first place!