Have you fallen in love with the Cobberdog? Ready to bring home a new furry family member?

Learn more about the process to adopt a puppy from us.

  1. Explore our website

Our website contains plenty of information about our philosophy and way of working. Make sure you are familiar with the breed and our approach, and that both are a good match for you and your family!

You can also check our plans for the next year, to see if there might be a puppy of a suitable size available at the right time for you.

2. Fill in the application form & subscribe to our newsletter

The application form is always the first step to get in contact with us! It is essential for us to learn more about you and your family. Eventually, we will use the information in your application form to select the most suitable puppy for you, so please be as detailed as possible. You can also subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates about the progress of our planned litters.

3. Come for a visit

Once you’ve applied for a puppy and told us more about your family, you are welcome to contact us to make an appointment to come visit us and meet our dogs!

If your puppy has already been born by the time you apply, you’ll have to wait until the puppies are old enough to come for a visit.

Visiting in person is a requirement to confirm your reservation of a puppy.

4. Pay a deposit

The big day has come - your puppy has been born! You are now part of a WhatsApp group with other families expecting a puppy from the same litter.

At this stage, to officially reserve your puppy we ask that you pay a deposit of €500. This is optional, and if you do not wish to pay a deposit you are welcome to remain part of the WhatsApp group and follow the progress of the litter. However, in this case your puppy will not be reserved and your place could be given to someone else.

5. Meet your puppy

You have been following the progress of the puppies through photos and videos shared to the WhatsApp group for several weeks now, and the puppies have reached 5 weeks old. They are finally old enough to visit!

We plan open visit days over a weekend when families expecting a puppy can come for a first meeting with them. Families should expect to look at the litter as a whole, since you won’t yet know which puppy will be your perfect match.

6. Find out which puppy is yours

When the puppies are between 6-7 weeks old, we take them to our dog behaviourist for a character test. The puppies are in a new environment with a new person. We expose them to new objects, sounds, and exercises to observe their reactions. This gives us valuable information about their characters.

Remember the application form you filled in? We will spend hours discussing each puppy and each family to ensure your success with your new four-legged friend!

About one week before pickup day, you’ll receive an email with a nice photo of your puppy, an explanation of why that puppy was chosen for you, and a copy of the contract and invoice. The total price for your puppy is €3000.

7. Take your puppy home!

The big day has arrived! You don’t need to bring anything for pickup day apart from a towel or blanket for your puppy to sit on in your lap in the car. Puppies must always be picked up by car (we do not allow train, public transport, or plane travel).

Plan to spend about an hour with us, as we will explain everything about the basic care of your puppy - from food to grooming. We also sign the contract together during pickup. If you are paying by bank transfer, this should be done ahead of pickup day.

We wish you the best of luck with your new family member, and remain available throughout your puppy’s life for support and guidance!

FAQs

  • Yes! Your puppy will go home with a selection of the foods he is already used to eating, a few toys, a small blanket that smells like his mother and siblings, a collar and a leash.

  • Your puppy will have a vet check at around 7 weeks old. At this time, he will receive his first round of puppy vaccines, his microchip, and his passport. We will tell you when he needs to go back to the vet for future vaccines, and it will also be noted in his passport.

  • Puppies’ characters only begin to really develop between the ages of 5-6 weeks. We wait until they are 7 weeks old to do the character test because this allows us to gather as much information as possible in order to make the best matches!

  • Yes and no. We work on building a solid foundation for our puppies, to make life as easy as possible for the new owners. Our puppies get introduced to many objects, sounds, and experiences including riding in the car and sleeping in a crate. We practice asking them to sit before they are given treats or meals, but this does not mean that they know how to sit on command. We also use grass pellets for our litter box, to encourage them to pee and poop only on grass, but this does not mean they are fully house-trained. Your puppy will be well-prepared for his new life, but there is much you will need to teach him! We consider our puppies to be “well-socialised” at 8 weeks old rather than “trained”.

  • Our philosophy is that ethical breeding means considering each puppy’s individual needs and providing him and his family with a lifetime of support. We are not selling you an item or an accessory, but a friend for life. This is a big responsibility that we take very seriously. Every puppy is not suitable for every family, so we spend a lot of time getting to know our puppies and their families and we invest a lot in extensive character testing to make the best matches. We’ve successfully matched close to 100 puppies now, and so far feedback on this approach has been overwhelmingly positive! Families tell us they feel that their dog was made for them.

    As for selection based on colour, Cobberdogs tend to change colours (often dramatically) as they get older. Red can turn to white (or vice versa), and chocolate can turn to grey. To avoid disappointment in the long run, we find character to be infinitely more important as a selection criteria.

    If there is a certain colour you absolutely don’t want, we will put you on the list for a litter in which we aren’t expecting puppies of that colour. This is to maximise the number of puppies we have to choose from when selecting your puppy.

  • We remain available for questions and advice for the rest of your dog’s life. You can ask questions and share experiences in the dedicated WhatsApp group together with the owners of your puppy’s siblings. This group will always remain open. You are also welcome to contact us directly.

    We also have a hidden section of our website only for owners of a Heart & Soul pup. This includes many articles answering the most common questions we get.

  • Yes! Your puppy is an Australian Cobberdog, registered with the Australian Cobberdog Society. Because puppies can only be registered once they have their microchips (around 7 weeks old), your pedigree will most likely not be ready yet on pickup day but you will receive it shortly after. You are always welcome to ask if you’d like copies of the pedigrees of your puppy’s parents.

  • The Australian Cobberdog is considered “in development”. For more information, we invite you to read our page on the Australian Cobberdog on our website.

    For the purposes of microchip registration and registration at the vet’s office, your pup will be considered a mixed breed. His pedigree and registration with the Australian Cobberdog Society (ACS) are the proof that he is an Australian Cobberdog.

    The members of the ACS (including us) are working tirelessly to get the Cobberdog recognised internationally, but this will take time. We are always happy to discuss this, and as a Cobberdog owner you will be welcome to join the ACS community to become a part of the process!