Puppy Applicant Questionnaire

We always accept applications for consideration from excellent homes, regardless of whether the home is looking for a family pet or a family pet that they can show and potentially breed down the road. Please note that we do not place puppies with commercial breeders under any circumstances. We follow the European model that puppy prices are the same whether the puppy goes to a show or companion home. We remain co owners of puppies placed with full registration but do not have any elaborate puppy or breed back schemes.

The price for a puppy from our planned TCI duel sire litter whelped by Celine will be $3,500. Placements will be determined after I have paternity determinations back from AKC, likely around ten weeks of age (early February 2025). The litter has five puppies: Two red full tailed females, two red stub tailed males, and one likely gray (he might be light red) full tailed male. I hope to have puppies independently evaluated for conformation and temperament at eight weeks of age. This can only happen if the weather cooperates, and it's winter in the Midwest.

Please email the completed questionnaire to hosmanek@gmail.com

Incomplete questionnaires will not be considered.

Copy and paste these questions into a text document, then complete each of the following questions to the best of your ability. We are looking for a broad overview of the family that wants one of our puppies to join theirs. Completion of this questionnaire does not guarantee that you will be approved for a puppy; it is a starting point to begin discussions. Our Vallhunds' lines are medium to high drive. None of our dogs are suitable for apartment life or as couch potatoes.

Elizabeth and Andy were involved with multiple species animal rescue and welfare organizations for many years before Vallhunds entered our lives. Some of the questions we include reflect that experience. After we review your completed application, we discuss the application together and then one of us will follow up with the applicant. Please allow up to one week for us to follow up after we receive your application. We won't get offended if you nudge us after a week. We have just one litter a year but when we do, those are very busy and hectic days!

We are ALWAYS available for dog related conversations and advice for our puppy families. We love to receive emails with pictures and updates from puppy families. Once a puppy from our family joins your family, then you join our extended family. We do not disclose the names of our puppy families without their express permission. All puppies from Lycklig Farm are sold on a contract basis that includes a clause that the new owners will send us an email once a year with current contact information including changes (if applicable) to home address, email address, and cell phone number. This information is not shared with anyone without your permission but it is important for us to have in case a puppy is lost and the microchip information of the owners is not current. In that event, the microchip company would call us, the breeders that first purchased the microchip.

All puppies are registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC). Puppies receive a full nose to tail individual exam by our veterinarian at 7 weeks, in addition to first core vaccines, microchip placement, and Bordetella intranasal vaccine. We gladly provide our veterinarian clinic for reference to puppy families. Puppies leave for their new families at 10 weeks old. Families must pick up their puppy in person; we will not ship a puppy. Each puppy will leave with a puppy care package that includes a month's supply of food, British style slip leash and collar, blanket, toys, and other items that we feel will help the puppy transition to a new environment. Puppy families are responsible to bring a safe crate for transport of their puppy, unless they are flying. For a puppy that will fly with their family to their new home, we will provide an airline approved in cabin Sherpa type bag, and your puppy will be acclimated to the bag before leaving. All puppies are started on housebreaking and crate training before they leave. They enjoy time outside in our fenced yard as often as possible, weather permitting, and are socialized with all of the dogs in our home.

Please list the full legal name, current address, email address, and phone number of the primary person who will be the owner and caretaker of the puppy. This person must be over 21 years of age.
Please list the full legal name and date of birth for all adults (persons over 18 years of age) that live in the household.
Please list the first names (or nicknames) of all minor persons that live in your household and year of birth.
Please describe which category best describes your home: Detached residence, condo, apartment, trailer house, other.
How large is your home? Please include approximate square feet if known, number of bedrooms, levels of the house, etc.
Would you be willing to allow a home visit by a representative of Lycklig Farm?
Are there areas of the house that are off limits to pets? Please describe, if applicable.
Does anyone in the house smoke cigarettes or vape, including smoking only outside of the house?
If your house has a yard, is the yard fenced? If yes, please describe fencing materials (wood, cyclone, etc.) and height.
Do you rent or own your home? If you rent, please provide the landlord's name, phone number and email address.
Have you read the breed description for a Swedish Vallhund on the SVCA website? If not, please take a moment now to do so: http://www.swedishvallhund.com/akc-bstandard
Please tell us about all other animals that live in your household. How long you have had them, species, personalities, breed (if known), etc. We do not need to know registered names or anything formal, just want general information.
Provide the individual name, clinic practice name, and phone number of two veterinarians that have treated your pets in recent years.
Why are you interested in adding a Swedish Vallhund puppy to your family? Would you consider an adult dog? We network with other breeders and breed enthusiasts, and occasionally know about adult dogs that need a new home.
Are you familiar with common behavioral characteristics and potential problems of a high drive herding dog breed, such as barking, licking (carpets, people, walls, furniture), nipping at heels (especially children), chewing (everything - from table legs to clothing to dog beds to electric cords), jumping (on people and surfaces, many Vallhunds can easily vertically jump three feet high from a standstill), and digging. How do you plan to manage these behaviors so that your puppy doesn’t drive everyone in your household to the brink of insanity?
Do you want a puppy as a companion and potentially dog sports (limited AKC registration), or for show and breeding purposes (full AKC registration). Please note that we may elect to remain co-owners of dogs sold with full registration until receiving proof of spay/neuter from a veterinarian. This is to protect the dog and prevent them from being sold without our consent to a breeding home that we do not support.
If you want to purchase a puppy with full registration, please broadly describe your experience with breeding and showing dogs. If you have an existing breeding program, please provide a link to your website and two references from individuals actively involved in your breed that you do not co-own a dog with or have an existing business relationship.
What kind of daily exercise would you be able to provide for your puppy?
Are you willing to enroll in puppy and basic obedience classes to establish a good partnership with your puppy? We recommend beginning classes once your puppy has received all their recommended vaccinations, including rabies, at around 4-5 months old. Swedish Vallhunds are extremely intelligent. When that intelligence is channeled properly, they excel at all kinds of tasks. When that intelligence is neglected, they will find their own sources of amusement.
In addition to basic obedience classes, are you interested in training your puppy for other performance sports? Agility, nosework, herding, and rally obedience are all popular venues Vallhunds excel in. None of this is necessary to be approved for a puppy, but it helps us to know what interests you may have to determine best puppy in a litter to place with your family.
On average, how many hours a day would the puppy be alone and confined to a dog crate or pen when unsupervised? If you never previously crate trained a dog, would you be willing to learn to do so with your Swedish Vallhund puppy? They are very mischievous and find all kinds of inappropriate activities to amuse themselves with when left unattended. We generally don't allow our dogs to enjoy unsupervised run of the house until two years old or later, though exact timing varies between individuals.
Have you housebroken a puppy or dog before? Swedish Vallhunds can be hard to housebreak, particularly with peeing. Some compare the breed to English Bulldogs in terms of difficulty to housebreak. All of ours have been nearly 100% housebroken by five months of age, with only rare accidents afterwards. However, this wasn’t the case for all owners of littermates of our dogs.
All of our dogs are insured through Trupanion for major unplanned medical expenses. Would you be willing to keep your puppy insured for their lifetime? This is a requirement in both our companion and show/breeding puppy sales contracts, with limited exceptions (waived for owners who themselves are veterinarians). The monthly premium as of January 2022 is about $40 for a male or spayed female and $55 for an intact female with a breeding rider (for emergency pregnancy related health expenses).
We crudely determined our current lifetime costs of owning a Swedish Vallhund at a minimum of $35,500 per dog, spread over an average of fifteen years. That equates to almost $3,000 per year, per dog, for what we consider the bare minimum necessities. That does not include the cost of the purchase of the dog itself and small regular extravagances that Vallhunds enjoy. That also does not include any boarding at a commercial facility for when you go on vacation, or a house sitter to stay at your house with your Vallhund while you travel. Are you prepared for this added yearly expense, and have you discussed this expense with all the adult members of your household?
What will happen to your Swedish Vallhund in the event of an unplanned emergency such as sudden illness, job loss, divorce, death, etc.? Would you be willing to make provisions to return the dog to Lycklig Farm? We will take back any dog that comes from our home at any time and for any reason.
We do not discriminate on the basis of any state or federally protected class such as race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, etc. We do perform a criminal background check on all applicants. A minor criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from being approved to purchase a puppy from Lycklig Farm, but please don't be offended if we ask for clarification or additional information. If there is any further information you wish us to know at this time, positive or negative, please include that information in this section.