Our Visiting Policy

Rose n’ Thistle Farm is dedicated to raising the healthiest puppies for our new puppy owners. For this reason, we have necessary policies regarding the visiting our puppies:


If you want to make sure you are getting your puppy from a reputable breeder, please feel free to check out our Instagram, call our Veterinarian and, also, read our health guarantee. This should give you the confidence to know you’re working with a good breeder. Talk to your vet about vaccination schedules and when it will be safe for your pup to be out in public where other dogs have been. We sometimes get asked why we don’t allow families with deposits to visit our pups. This is not surprising given the number of ‘what to do when buying a dog’ websites that advocate for visiting the breeder and meeting the pup’s parents first. The problem with these sites is their priority is the buyer, not the pups’ or breeders’ health and safety. Please remember that our pups are home raised – in rooms in our house. This means you can’t come visit the adult dogs or me, without also ‘visiting’ my pups and their Momma.


Safety of the Pups:


1. Pups immune systems are very immature. Many unsuspecting visitors have brought disease (parvovirus, distemper, etc) with them when visiting pups, the result of which is the death of the entire litter. I personally know several breeders that have lost entire litters to parvovirus brought in by visitors.


2. Stressed out Moms create stressed out pups. A new mother is emotionally charged and in hyper protective mode. When a stranger comes to visit, Mom becomes stressed causing her body create cortisol, which goes into the milk. The puppies consume this cortisol rich milk and become stressed themselves.


3. Panicked Moms unintentionally hurt pups. When a stranger comes to visit Mom’s state of mind changes rapidly. She feels threatened and moves quickly to assess the threat. Many Moms have unintentionally stepped on or crushed a pup in their urgency to get out of the whelping box to assess the threat.


4. I don’t ‘own’ the pups. Normally All the pups are sold to families. I am simply the guardian. However, I have been entrusted with the care of these pups for the first critical weeks of their lives. As guardian of other peoples’ dogs, I must do everything I can to protect them. If one of the pups was yours, I’m certain you would expect me to do that for your pup.