Puppy Pick Day has always been planned to be a fun family experience where parents and their children can enjoy a unique "once-in-a-blue-moon" type of event together. But on a growing number of occasions, we have seen Pick Day turn into a disaster for some families. So we would like to provide some ideas on how to prepare in advance so that this joyful event is as stress-free as possible.
1. If possible, use the weeks three through six's pictures to have a family meeting the night before pick day where you choose your favorite puppies in order. When you come to pick day, if your first and second favorites are already chosen, then your third favorite will be "the one."
2. If you have two kids, consider giving one the final decision on choice, and the other one gets exclusive naming rights to the puppy.
3. Bring some PostIt notes to write down the microchip numbers of each puppy and pull the winning puppy's number out of a hat.
4. Take a close look at each available puppy's microchip number and compare to your own family's significant dates (birthdays, graduations, weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, etc.) or favorite sports stars numbers.
5. If you think your kids are just too high strung to be able to compromise, weigh the value of avoiding a traumatic experience versus selecting the puppy on your own and surprising the kids. This works! When kids don't have anything else to compare their puppy to, they will be over the moon when you bring the puppy home.
6. Another good idea we recently witnessed was the parents asking their kids to wait in the next room while they chose the puppy, then bring the kids in afterwards to meet and spend a few minutes with their newest playmate.
Some of these suggestions come straight from our customers, so if anyone else would like to add their suggestions, we would be happy to include them here. Just send your email to us at joerufo@charter.net
There should be no reason for kids to cry at a Puppy Pick Day. A little advance planning, conversation and rules could go a long way toward heading off this type of avoidable mishap.
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