My husband and myself have wanted a dog for a long time,but have waited for the right time. I am finishing work shortly and would be able to be at home for a new puppy all the time. As we have several big things happening this year (family weddings to travel to) we don't feel it would be right until November onwards. Someone has advised me it's not a good time to get a puppy in the winter - opinions please! Thank you Stephanie

House training can be harder in the winter, or perhaps it's just me and my wussy toy breeds that don't like the cold wet weather! :-D But if you are going to be away a fair bit in the summer I agree it makes sense to wait.

When the breeder you have carefully chosen has reared the litter. 

Bitches rarely come in season for the breeders or potential new owners convenience and as most bitches only come in season every 6 - 10 months it often means breeding when it is not as convenient as one might like.

Also for example many breeders like myself if there is a choice prefer not to have puppies in then height of the show season, or at Christmas.

As I live in a suburban house I find it less stressful to have puppies running around in the winter as neighbours are less likely to be outdoors and have windows and doors open, so not as likely to be disturbed by pups being noisy when playing, pretty stressful worrying about neighbours for the last two or three weeks before pups all go to new homes.

Despite the above my next litter will hopefully born and being reared during my peak showing time!!! 

Unfortunately my chosen stud is already 9 1/2 years old, and with males in my breed being used rarel6y, probably won't be reliably fertile much longer.

Someone is going to have to do a lot of grovelling on show days for puppy sitters.

I've had puppies come home in the summer and winter, and personally, I prefer them coming home in winter. It's not as pleasant during the toilet training phase, but I find they tend not to be as precious to the cold when they've been exposed to it earlier on. Whereas with summer puppies, the toilet training phase is lovely, but I always feel we take a step back once the cold sets in and they're not used to it at all. Of course, I'm not talking about getting an 8 week old puppy to stand in the freezing snow or pouring rain, I guess it also depends on the breed too. I have a small breed.

Thank you for your replies - we will be getting a Golden Retriever puppy. It does n't sound too bad an idea to have a Winter puppy, I'll see how it goes! We've waited so many years for this, nit the end of the world if we decide to wait a bit longer.

I have stopped having litters in the winter as I found it impossible to find homes for them as nobody would take a puppy in winter. I found it really difficult myself as well, as you have to get out and about so much with a puppy and when it starts getting dark already at 3 pm, there's just not enough time to do everything you need to do in the early days -visiting town centres, markets, train stations, bus stations etc etc. Much easier to house train in summer as well, and you don't get half as much mud dragged in.

Welcome to the forum stephaniehatley I can't say that I have ever considered the season when introducing a new puppy. Having said that, I have just checked back and all bar one of every dog I have had has been born in June or July! The exception was one born in February. Obviously, buying a puppy in the summer months has some benefits (weather, lighter days, warmer etc) but I would not let the season influence me too much if it was the right puppy. However, I do think you are wise to get your puppy after you have got all the big things you have planned for this year, out of the way. That way you can spend as much time as you need to getting your puppy house trained, socialised etc without having to worry what will happen whilst you are away. One thing to remember though - most breeders will not let a puppy go at Christmas. Christmas is a very disruptive time of year which tends to put undue stress and pressure on households all of which can be very upsetting for a new puppy. Each household is different though as are peoples individual Christmases! Your home may be calm and not much different from the rest of the year but if you have 'mad' Christmases, it might be best for everyone to wait until after the festive period is over with and you can enjoy your puppy

I have created a chart at the top of this thread which shows the distribution of due dates for litters added to Champdogs. So the litters would be ready to start going to their homes 2 months later.
There is a slight bias towards the warmer months, but perhaps not as marked as I would have thought.

> There is a slight bias towards the warmer months, but perhaps not as marked as I would have though

That would be because unlike us or animals that have regular monthly or more often fertile periods, which means to a large extent you can choose in those species when they will be bred from, bitches only have 1 or more often two seasons a year, so a breeder has to go with what nature dictates or wait an extended amount of time.

Except fro wild canid and some very primitive breeds like the Basenji, bitches season timing is totally random, and some bitches will be in season every month of the year.

LOL, I think house training in winter is only harder on the human component.  Oban came to us Dec. 8 of a very cold and snowy winter.  I think being out in -30C at night prompted him to get the job done quickly, he didn't want to be out there any longer than he had to be or we wanted to be.  It would have been nice if the puppy who needed out twice a night at first had been the May puppy instead of the Dec puppy but we just kept boots, coat and mittens by the back door and made sure not to lock ourselves out.

Just to clarify:

A proportion of bitches will be in season every month of the year, obviously no bitches are individually in season every month.

I did wonder about that, thanks for further explaining!

Thank you for the chart, interesting how it's really quite evened out with a bit of a spike in May. Nearer the time we will look what litters are available, our really busy year will settle down in the middle of October, so with I think 9 weeks gestation and waiting until puppy is 8 weeks old, we would need to start planning end of August.

I agree, we are quite hardy and like you would just leave boots and coats by the back door for a few months!

> Nearer the time we will look what litters are available, our really busy year will settle down in the middle of October, so with I think 9 weeks gestation and waiting until puppy is 8 weeks old, we would need to start planning end of August.

I would consider that far to late to look for the best breeders will already have their litters planned and with no puppies on the ground it is much easier to choose a breeder who you like, who does things properly and be able to meet the relatives of the hoped or puppies without the distraction of puppies.

I certainly don't think it is to early to contact breeders up to a year ahead, and certainly 6 months before the bitch is mated.

As for a breeder list from the breed clubs of the breed your interested as well as contact breeders you find yourself listed on sites like this one.

You can then assess the type of breeder they are, with information to had like which health tests should have been done.

You can find health test results and previous litters that the proposed parents have produced using the kennel Club health results finder.

My first pup i got was May 5th and house training was good but we did have a setback when winter came. My second pup I brought home was beginning of November and she was better house training than my first. It was me that got cold and wet lol.

Seems it's not desperately important what time of year to get a new pup, seems the breeder is the mist important thing. Thanks for all your replies.

> seems the breeder is the mist important thing.

Yup :D

Can I add a funny story?  You probably all have heard of puppies going crazy, wild in their first snow.  But our winter puppy knew nothing but snow till late March.  He did his crazy, wild performance with his first patch of bare ground instead.  Mostly sand but some dead brown grass, over by the snowmobile groomer shed.  He did all the same things.  Approached it suspiciously, sniffed it with body posture ready to leap backwards, barked at it, ran around and through it in wild zoomies, bit at it.  :)  So cute.

We also worried a bit about his toilet training.  As snow melted from our yard he sought out the remaining patches for his business.  After all, he learned on snow so it was natural for him to want to stay on snow.  Finally one day we took him to a large beach area where the only snow left was old drifts, now much shrunk down and few and far between.   Poor little guy, he was much relieved, double meaning, when we finally reached an old drift.  Another dog walking lady was watching his antics and correctly guessed his dilemna.  He figured it all out, not trying to dissuade you from a winter puppy.

Love your story! Every animal will have it's own personality - we have three cats, had seven if we include our Rainbow Bridge girls, and it's so charming how each one has had a totally unique personality. I imagine a puppy will be the same, I'm sure we can work round the toilet training whatever the weather, and end up with a delightful pet! Some friends are trying to put us off with "think of the hair shedding and dirt" - my answer is a Dyson pet vacuum and bit  more housework! Lol