What do you put into a puppy pack?

At the moment iv got

Pedigree of puppy/ parents
Photo of Sire
Photo of Dam
photo of litter and particular puppy
Copy of Health tests/ certificates
Feeding and worming guide
Puppy Contract
List of breed book and training books
Grooming guide
Breed Standard and general info
Breed Club contacts/ info
4 weeks insurance
Food
blanket with mums smell
Maybe a toy

What have I missed out?

I always put a copy of Gwen Bailey's book, The perfect puppy in mine. They only cost about £7 if bought in bulk (10 or more) and I like to think the puppy owners will follow her great ways of training.
I also have a little essay I wrote covering the common breed health issues.
Aileen

info regarding insurents.

Iv put the common breed health problems in the breed info section and written a little guide for first time owners regarding upset tummies etc

youve changed your post :)

i put lots of pics of the pup and litter mates on cd from birth to 7weeks old.

You replied before I managed to edit it :) I'm slow at typing

The CD thing is a good idea, and really easy to do.

Cheerz for that

:) thats ok i though i was going mad LOL

because grooming is so essential in my breed we tend to add a comb and brush and a good guide to grooming from first day .

We video from birth to day they leave and put a pic of each puppy on the CD nice to look back on when things have settled down.

I also buy those plastic folders to put all the paperwork in so they can keep it all together .

But really all they want is the puppy!! so dont worry too much about it from your list looks like you have it all sorted.

Good luck...and dont forget your tissues. ;)

I enjoyed all the stuff I got before the puppy came home!  I'd been on the waiting list, waited for news of mating , had pregnancy pics etc and tried not to get too excited at every stage BUT I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Whilst you are a puppy in waiting person you have lots of time, and enthusiasm to dedicate to learning.  It's a great time to read the puppy books, revise showing rules, visit shows, find a training class, choose a bed/crate/fleece etc.  Once the puppy comes home it's all hands on deck and sleep deprivation!!

I'd urge all breeders to have a think about what their owners can do in advance and what bits of the puppy pack they could send to them beforehand.   I used to have daily email contact with my breeder in the early days, and even now (3 years later) we still communicate most weeks, BUT it was ages before I finally read the whole puppy pack from cover to cover - I was too engrossed in the hands-on part :)

perfect puppy is a super book.
would be good one to hand over when they pay deposit as the buyers will have time on their hands to read it and be excited and motivated to really study it. :)

Poo!!

Sorry that wasn't a statement, it was a suggestion :-D  Bag of fresh poo, put into garden encourages pup to go to toilet where you want it to go 'cause there's a familiar smell!  Worked for my crowd!

List of foods & plants that are poisonous.

There are quite a number of things I hope to hand out prior to puppy being collected, as someone's pointed out there's a lot to do when you've got a puppy ... cuddling, playing, teaching to wee in the right place, who wants to read a puppy pack!!

Edit: Oooh, what's also good is the Ian Dunbar 'Before you Get your Puppy' - can download it free of charge and print out (or put on CD) either with piccies or without. Useful for first timers.

The KC do some good information leaflets which I included, dog law, what to do if the dog is lost, training, can't remember the others but they are on the KC site.

I put in a map of places where dogs are welcomed (free from www.maps4pets.com)
The Dumb friends league have leaflets on dog toys and how to use them, crate training your dog,submissive and excitement urination, separation anxiety, why dogs bite, how to approach a dog (guide for children) All of which will probably frighten them to death!!!

I agree in drip feeding them the information because as soon as they have their puppy you don't have a hope of most people reading it!!!

what's also good is the Ian Dunbar 'Before you Get your Puppy' - can download it free of charge and print out (or put on CD)

Have you a link to it?  I've just searched and cannot find it to download.

> I'd urge all breeders to have a think about what their owners can do in advance

It's a long time ago now, but Carrington once mentioned this and I took her advice.  It is a great idea, and works well.

People that are given an information pack at the same time as puppy, aren't really going to be interested in reading!  So, when puppy is chosen, I hand over my full info pack (a big one), and ask them to read it while they are waiting to collect puppy. 

That way, when they come again, and ask a question that is already covered (like what food do I need), you can ask if they have actually read anything.  If they say they haven't got time, then my argument is - they certainly don't have time for a puppy.

Rest of pack, pedigree, KC papers, food, toy etc. go the same day as puppy, but I really find it useful for folk to read up in advance.  Very often, one of the articles will trigger a question that they didn't know they wanted to ask.  Yes, I will always be at the end of a phone if they want to ask anything, but most people like to have the pack, it makes the thought of puppy more 'real' and several have said how great Ian Dunbar's article has made them look at puppy biting differently.  Every little helps!

Ells-Bells, sorry should have put it up ... I was rushing!

Can download either version - text only is 566kb so will download quickly, the with pictures is 29MB, so slower, but if you're on broadband you should be ok. The latter would take my computer a week!!

http://www.siriuspup.com/beforebook.html

There's also a tab at the top entitled Behaviour Problems - there are some really useful downloads on there too. :-D

I put together what I thought was a really good puppy pack last year when I was expecting a litter, including many of the things mentioned here and some other bits and bobs. Sadly I didn't get to hand it out as we didn't get pups ... not even touching it this time to update and amend as don't want to tempt fate. However, it was based on a pack I gave to someone who took a pup I had as a stud fee.  Admittedly the owner of the pup was the man in the couple (sorry, not meant to be sexist ... my vet recently rang me to ask advice about particular DNA paperwork, I directed him to exactly the right spot on the website, his reply was "ah, I'm a man, I don't do instructions" - hence my comment!!), but he later told me that they looked at the CD of photos but didn't really look at what else was in it until the pup was about 6 months!!  All my hard work. It wasn't a case they didn't have time to read it, more they were enjoying the pup, and the pup was being trained to do a very valuable job (search & rescue dog), so that's where the time was spent.  A couple of comments on here have made me think this time (fingers crossed) I will give information, drip feeding, before the pups leave, but then am I planning to provide too much information? 

I'm wondering if the puppy pack is for my satisfaction 'cause I'm sad and love putting things like that together!!

Thanks Trialist - maybe another item to send to potential new owners when you've given them the ok for one of your pups.

I guess Im sad aswell then...coz i love putting these packs together....so far got.....

Book on breed and training
vet bed
toys
food
owner transfer form
pedigree
poo bags
pics from birth to leaving

must be loads more I can put in

contract
feeding/worming timetables

im doing them now lol and pups havnt even been born LOL well doing what i can :)

Well the pups are not here either she might have a test late next week to say yay or nay, im just excited and I wont do paper work when their here as I get a bit distracted :) so if I do a rough pack now I dont have to worry about it later on.

one thing Ive learned over the years that even the best typed information sheets (and mine run to 20 pages plus!) can easliy get lost or over looked. so I actually have a book ive written containing all the information they need on diet/worming/training/health....everything in fact, then for each pup I add in the pedigree and the parents and pups photos. They cost about £20 a book but they  are large enough not to get lost or accidentally thrown away like typed info sheets, plus they always like to look back on puppy pix or show their friends the puppy photos so the book is always on hand with all the info they need contained alongside their pups photos :)

Adding information about neutering, pros cons and why vets push for it at 6 months. I also chat to them about it and explain it's not good for a large breed to be done under 18 months and the reasons why. Chopping them off can only stop reproduction etc. Just incase they don't read my manuscript I give a talk on the points I feel most important in it.

I also give a list of local pup classes and I think I will add the gwen bailey book infuture.
Most pup owners have the breed book as there are only 2 choose from (unless they fork out for the annual) best source for research.
I think this list is limitless

I don't know where you are with regards the pups leaving you but i recall when i went to visit the breeder of my eldest she pulled out one of her contracts for me to read to make sure i was happy with that before i put my name down and also took a copy away with me to mull over as well, which i think is a great idea too for a future new homes.

this is what il be doing with new owners ,that way everyone is happy when the time comes for pups to leave!

MIRCO CHIP THE PUPPY BEFORE THEY GO

All of yours not forgetting

KC registration papers
worming card showing when and with what puppy was wormed
vaccination card and primary health check