Health Policy

A healthy puppy is the only thing we are actually selling. Everything else, the paperwork, the photographs, the drive to your door, is in service of that. This page sets out exactly what we do before a puppy goes home, what we stand behind afterwards, and what we need from you in return.

Before a puppy leaves us

No puppy goes home before eight weeks of age. In the weeks before that, every puppy is:

• Examined by a vet, with the findings written down
• Wormed at two, four, six and eight weeks, with each treatment and date recorded
• Started on its vaccination course, with the first combination vaccination given at six weeks and the second at nine weeks where the puppy is still with us
• Microchipped before collection, with the number written into your agreement
• Raised indoors with the litter, handled daily, and used to household noise before it ever meets a car

Both parents are examined by our vet before any mating, and we do not breed from a dog showing signs of hereditary disease. A written health record goes home with the puppy, along with the food it already knows and a note on how to change it over gradually. If anything at all showed up on the vet check, you will hear it from us before you pay a balance, not after.

Your first 72 hours

Take the puppy to your own vet within 72 hours of collection. This matters for two reasons. It gives you an independent opinion from someone who has no stake in the sale, and it establishes the puppy’s condition on the day it reached you, which is what any later claim rests on.

If your vet finds a serious problem at that first visit, call us the same day. Do not wait to see whether it settles.

The one year guarantee

For one year from the date of collection, we guarantee the puppy against life threatening hereditary and congenital conditions. These are conditions the puppy was born with or genetically predisposed to, rather than anything it picks up later.

If a licensed vet diagnoses such a condition within that year and confirms it in writing, and a second vet of our choosing agrees with the diagnosis, we will either replace the puppy from an available or future litter, or refund the purchase price. Which of the two happens is your choice, not ours.

In almost every case, families choose to keep the dog they have already fallen for. If you do, we will still honour the guarantee as a refund and you keep the puppy. We are not going to ask anyone to give a dog back.

What the guarantee does not cover

Being straight about the limits is fairer than a promise that quietly falls apart at the moment you need it.

• Conditions caused by injury, accident, neglect, poor diet or being allowed to get overweight
• Parasites, kennel cough, giardia, coccidia and other common conditions a young puppy can pick up from any new environment
• Anything arising after vaccinations or worming were allowed to lapse
• Minor faults that do not affect the dog’s health or quality of life, including bite, coat, colour, ear set and adult size
• Hypoglycaemia, dehydration or stress in the days after homecoming, which are usually about the transition and are avoidable with the feeding guidance we send
• Veterinary bills, which stay the owner’s responsibility throughout

How to make a claim

Contact us as soon as your vet raises a concern, by phone if you can. Then send us the written diagnosis, the supporting test results, and the puppy’s clinical record from your vet. We will arrange the second opinion at our own cost and come back to you with an answer rather than leaving you chasing.

Claims need to reach us within the guarantee year. Keep every receipt and every record from the first visit onward, and the process is straightforward.

Vaccinations and worming

The puppy arrives partway through its vaccination course. Your vet will finish it, and the record we send you shows exactly what has been given and when, so nothing is guessed at.

Until the course is complete, keep the puppy away from dog parks, pavements used by other dogs, and anywhere unvaccinated dogs gather. Your own garden and the homes of vaccinated dogs you know are fine, and that early socialisation is worth protecting.

The part that is down to you

Bassets are built unlike most dogs, and four things affect their health more than anything else. None of them is difficult once it is part of the routine.

Ears. Those long ears trap moisture and warmth, which is exactly what infection wants. Check and clean them weekly, and dry them properly after a bath or a wet walk.

Weight. A long back on short legs punishes every extra pound. Feed to the dog in front of you rather than to the number on the bag, and ask your vet to score the body condition at each visit.

Joints and back. While the puppy is growing, keep jumping off furniture and repeated stair climbing to a minimum. A ramp onto the sofa is not indulgence, it is joint care.

Skin folds and eyes. Wipe the facial folds and the area under the eyes regularly. Bassets have loose lower lids that collect debris, and a minute of care beats a course of treatment.

If your puppy is unwell

Call your vet first. Then call us, whatever the hour and whatever the reason. We would rather hear about a worry that turns out to be nothing than find out months later that something went wrong and nobody told us. That offer does not expire with the guarantee.