First and second puppies have gone home!

Jay and I woke up early yesterday to complete the last minute tasks before our guests arrived.

The first puppy from Mr. Rogers Litter has now found himself resting peacefully in the arms of his new family. I bet their new puppy slept better than they did on their first night as new puppy parents. *wink, wink

The amazing thing is this family drove all the way up from San Diego to visit us, see their puppy’s parents, and collect their sweet furry bundle of joy.

We were truly honored they spent three days driving up, a full day with us, and another three days driving home. That is dedication!

Today, Jay woke at 4am to ready the next puppy for a six and a half hour drive to the Canadian border.

Yesterday, I prepared the Puppy Go Home Bag with all the goodies!

This morning, Jay gathered up the Go Home Bag, the quart of puppy food, the puppy, a crate/pad combo, and water for the long trip.

He will drive there and back all in one day because TOMORROW is the big DireWolf Express trip around the country. We have 17 puppies and 2 adults to deliver right to their new owner’s front door! No other breeding facility that I know of has that kind of commitment to their puppies and new families. We go above and beyond because transitioning our puppies smoothly to their new homes is a priority for us.  

During the trip, you can experience your DireWolf Dog’s journey on the DireWolf Express in real time all along the track to your home. The DireWolf Express uses the free app below to post pictures, videos, and stories about your DireWolf Dog as it travels across our great country. It’s available in both Android and iOS versions for mobile, although you can also log in via their website. It’s free to download and use.

PolarSteps

Download the PolarSteps app from Google Play or the App Store and follow Jennifer Stoeckl for your upcoming trip.

This Thursday’s trip is called the “Friendly Neighbor Trip”.

You can also view past rides and how each driver did with the DireWolf Dogs in their care.

With a 4.7 star our of 5 rating and over 42, 672 reviews, PolarSteps is our choice for a free option to share the journey in real time with you!

If you have NOT completed the DireWolf Express paperwork for your new puppy/dog…

click the link below and read up on the instructions:

https://direwolfproject.com/direwolf-dogs/direwolf-express/

PS: The “Friendly Neighbor Trip” on the DireWolf Express is now booked up. Any future puppy purchases will not be able to travel on this particular trip. Where there is a will, there is a way, though. So, we will work with you on finding a way to get your new puppy home to your family.

One of our new families had an important question that some of you may also have, so I want to share it here to help anyone struggles out there.

“I'm afraid I don't quite get the list. Some folks have been on since 2012?

Some dogs appear to be available:

‘1. Maggie

For Sale - $3200.00

Please contact us directly by email if you are interested in learning more about 1. Maggie.’

If I were to contact you regarding her or one of the others would I be able to purchase these dogs?

Or, do I have to already have a deposit in place before purchasing one of the pups

We spoke last summer & I do follow you on Facebook & have done all the suggested reading I am just not clear on these few points if you wouldn't mind.

please keep me in the circle here, not sure why I was archived as I do wish to proceed Thank you”

Here was my response:

”The waiting list is indeed mysterious. I know that can be difficult to understand initially, but once you see how it works, it isn't as daunting.

The important thing to know is that there is a huge advantage to being on the waiting list.

Families on the waiting list are the only ones able to "go active" for any officially confirmed litters we have available. Basically, it is like being preregistered for an exclusive opportunity during puppy picking after the puppies turn 4 weeks old.

Note: Litters are officially confirmed when the female is confirmed pregnant.

When a family is "active" on the waiting list, they will have a star behind their deposit date indicating to me that they have contacted me directly stating their interest in any or all officially confirmed litters.

It is the waiting family's responsibility to contact me when they want to go active.

Many families remain "inactive" on the waiting list for years. Even though inactive waiting families have placed a deposit in hopes of getting one of our puppies someday, they will be skipped over during puppy picking unless they specifically ask to become active for a particular officially confirmed litter before the litter is 4 weeks old.

These rules are put in place to make sure every family has an equal and fair experience choosing a puppy. It also eliminates price wars or fights between different families over certain puppies. It is a much less stressful and manageable puppy picking experience when rules like the above are put into place and strictly followed.

Now, from time to time, we have puppies for sale "off the waiting list". This means that we have gone down our "active waiting families list" and some puppies have not been chosen. Puppies in this category will be placed on our "puppies for sale" page. These puppies are sold on a first come, first served basis (pending approval).

So, you are correct, Maggie is available for sale right now to the first approved family who matches with her needs.

Yes, once your puppy adoption questionnaire application has been approved, you are able to purchase a puppy for sale off the waiting list... as long as the puppy matches with your family. We work hard to make sure our puppies only go to families that match with their personality.

Maggie, for example, is a very bright, busy-minded female. She must go to a family who has experience successfully raising several puppies in their lifetime. In other words, a family with little to no puppy raising experience would not qualify to choose her.

Thank you for letting us know you wish to remain active on our email newsletter. I was able to unarchive your email address, so you should be receiving our daily weekday emails. If you aren't getting those, look in your spam or promotion folder. We send out a new email each weekday at 6am Pacific.

It is definitely important to remain on our Inner Circle email newsletter if you are interested in getting a puppy from us. This is where we post the most vital updates to our members. It will be hard to understand what's going on without being on the Inner Circle email newsletter.

It is generally a good idea to read a fair amount of those, especially at the time we have puppies available for sale. We do share a good amount of important information relevant to puppy sales, travel, and training. Very important for new puppy owners.

So, just to recap. Because we have puppies for sale off the waiting list right now, you do not need to place a $600 nonrefundable deposit to get on our waiting list in order to purchase a puppy. The puppies available off the waiting list are posted on our puppies for sale page at direwolfdogs.com

Maggie, Lady Elaine, and Syrenka are available for sale right now to anyone who qualifies.

Since you have already sent in your puppy adoption questionnaire and been approved, all you need to do is have a conversation with me about the puppies and which ones you are interested in. You know what your family wants in your new puppy, and I know what my puppies need in a new family. When we both agree, then a happy union can occur! It's always exciting when that happens.”

PS: I took Chisel off the “puppies for sale” page and marked him as “keeping”. I just can’t let him go.

He is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

Too bad you didn’t pick this puppy up at that great price.

Man, I would have been kicking myself right about now.

So, just in case anyone got a wild notion to take the pick male from the Miners Litter, I just raised his price to $5000 and took him off the puppies for sale page. I just can’t sell him. He will be very valuable to the Opal line moving forward.

That being said, I will probably only breed him one time, so look for him to be in need of a great home when he is just under a year old. Great dog here!

Tomorrow, I am going to be traveling with all the precious cargo heading east. I usually drive for four hours before we stop and stretch our legs. Then, it’s right back on the road. We usually go at least 12 hours of driving, sometimes more, in a day.

This means that I won’t be as easily available over email.

In fact, our NEW Editor-in-Chief will be writing our daily emails for a time. And, while his office remains in the basement broom closet until he proves himself worthy of a 3’x3’ cubicle in the tech department, he still has access to the Internet, so there will be no excuses!

Emails will be appropriately entertaining and delivered promptly on time… right, Jay Stoeckl?!

That’s it for today.

I look forward to sharing all about my adventures with the puppies and adults on the DireWolf Express on PolarSteps. See you there!

Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.