Match
Day.

Pick of the Litter (POL) is a premium placement position that guarantees first or early selection from the litter — ahead of all standard waitlist families. POL families are scheduled for their appointment before anyone else and choose before the standard list opens.

POL does not guarantee a specific puppy. It guarantees first access to the available litter. The wider the choice you want, the earlier you need to secure your position.

If you're interested in POL for a future litter, contact us directly — availability is limited per litter.

No. We do not move families ahead of others for any reason, including additional payment. The selection order exists to protect every family on the waitlist equally — it's what makes the process fair.

If having first or early choice is important to you, the right path is securing a Pick of the Litter position on a future litter. Outside of that, everyone works within the same system.

Litter sizes vary, and we only take on as many waitlist families as puppies reasonably available. Families toward the end of the list have a narrower range of choice — not necessarily fewer puppies, but fewer options for specific coat, color, or gender preferences.

We're transparent about this throughout the process. If we believe your position won't yield a good match for your specific preferences, we'll tell you before Selection Day — not after — so you can decide whether to wait for the next litter or proceed with flexibility.

If no puppy in the litter feels like the right match, your deposit can remain on our active list for a future litter. This is a real option — we'd rather you wait for the right dog than take home one that doesn't fit.

However, passing on an offered puppy does not pause, extend, or refund your deposit terms. All deposits remain governed by the Reservation & Refund Policy in effect at the time your deposit was placed. If you're uncertain about your current deposit situation, contact us directly before Selection Day.

Order is based on the date and time the deposit was received and processed — not the date an application was submitted. Deposits arrive through different methods (card, check, transfer) and process at different speeds. If two applications arrived on the same day, timestamp is used as the tiebreaker.

Application date, inquiry date, or length of communication with our team have no bearing on position. The deposit date is the only record that matters.

Contact us as early as possible — ideally before the schedule is finalized. We do our best to accommodate genuine conflicts, and in most cases we can find a workable solution.

If a conflict arises after the schedule is set, reach out immediately. We cannot guarantee a reschedule, but we will do everything we can. What we cannot do is hold your selection position indefinitely or skip ahead without communicating. If we don't hear from you within 24 hours of a missed appointment, we will proceed to the next family.

We open by reviewing your preferences and confirming which puppies remain available in the areas you care about most. Then we walk through our observations for those puppies — temperament assessment insights, behavioral notes from the past several weeks, coat development, and what we're seeing in energy level and social confidence.

We'll share our recommendation — not just what's available, but what we believe is the best match for your specific household. You'll have space to ask questions, hear more about specific puppies, and arrive at a decision with real information behind it. Most appointments run 20–40 minutes depending on litter size and how many options we're working through together.

Technology issues do happen. If you're having trouble connecting, call or text us immediately at the contact number you'll have on file. We'll work with you to get connected — by phone if necessary.

The best prevention is testing Google Meet the day before your appointment. Make sure you can join a meeting, that your camera and audio are working, and that you're on a stable connection. A failed setup that eats into your appointment time can affect families scheduled after you.

In-person Selection Day visits are available — primarily for Pick of the Litter families. Please let us know well in advance if you'd like to come to Stokeshire in Medford, Wisconsin so we can prepare appropriately and build the visit into the day's schedule.

For families traveling significant distances, we recommend confirming your in-person request early, as Selection Day logistics are planned around the virtual-first format. Walk-in visits on Selection Day without prior arrangement are not possible.

The 72-hour window begins at the time of your appointment — not the time you tell us your decision, and not the time the checkout link arrives. You'll receive the checkout link promptly after your appointment, but the clock started when the meeting began.

72 hours is enough time for most families to complete checkout comfortably. If you anticipate a financial or timing complexity — a bank transfer that takes time, a conversation you need to have before committing — please tell us during or immediately after your appointment. We'd rather work with you than lose the match over a preventable delay.

It happens — and it's one of the most common points of anxiety in the weeks leading up to Selection Day. We understand. Watching puppies develop and feeling drawn to a specific one is a completely natural part of the process.

What we can tell you, with full honesty, is this: we have placed hundreds of puppies. The families who came in certain about a specific one and left with a different one almost universally describe that puppy as the right choice, in retrospect. Not because they settled — but because the match we made using actual temperament data and knowledge of their household turned out to be more accurate than the attachment formed through a camera lens.

Both. We will absolutely tell you what we recommend — and why. We won't be vague about it. If we believe a specific puppy is the strongest match for your family based on everything we know, we'll say so directly.

The final choice is always yours. What we ask is that you hear our reasoning before dismissing it. We've spent weeks with these puppies. We know things about their individual personalities that photos, videos, and names will never reveal.

Gender preference is one of the most common — and, in our experience, one of the most overweighted — factors families bring to Selection Day. For most households, individual temperament and training are far more predictive of how the dog will actually live with your family than sex alone.

That said, we respect genuine preferences and will work within them. If you have a strong gender preference and it limits your options in the litter, we'll tell you honestly whether we believe there's a good match within that preference — or whether we'd encourage you to consider a puppy you might otherwise overlook.

We'll never push you toward a dog you don't feel right about. But we may ask you to explain your preference so we can factor it into our guidance intelligently rather than just as a filter.

It's important to find the right match — and we won't push you toward a dog that doesn't feel right. If none of the available puppies in this litter genuinely fit your household, your deposit can remain on our active waitlist for a future litter.

This isn't a common outcome, but it's a real one — and we'd rather honor it than have you take home a dog that isn't right. Before Selection Day, our team will have a sense of whether the litter can realistically serve your preferences, and we'll tell you if we have concerns about availability that might affect your options.

Training enrollment is added at checkout and should be decided before or during your Selection Day appointment. Doodle School and Bootcamp slots are limited per litter — waiting to decide after checkout means risking availability.

If you're on the fence, our honest recommendation is to enroll. The families who invest in training in the first weeks consistently describe their experience — with the dog and with the transition home — in entirely different terms than those who don't. The investment pays for itself within the first year.

Yes. Afterpay and Klarna are available at checkout for eligible families who prefer to pay over time. These are third-party platforms and their approval decisions are outside our control — not every transaction or amount will qualify.

If you're planning to use a payment plan, let us know before Selection Day so we can factor it into the checkout process. Discovering eligibility issues inside the 72-hour window creates avoidable stress. A quick conversation in advance prevents it.

If checkout is not completed within 72 hours of your appointment, your selected puppy may be released to the next family in line. Deposit terms in this scenario are governed by the Reservation & Refund Policy you agreed to when your deposit was placed.

We don't want this outcome any more than you do. If you're running into an issue inside the checkout window, reach out to us immediately. A brief communication can often preserve the placement where silence cannot.

Post-checkout refunds are governed by our Reservation & Refund Policy. Once checkout is complete and a puppy is placed, the deposit and placement fee are generally non-refundable except in circumstances covered by the policy — such as a significant health event.

This is why we invest as much time as we do in the matching process before checkout. We want you to be certain before you complete payment — not just certain enough. If you have any doubt going into checkout, contact us. That conversation is always available and always better than buyer's remorse after the fact.

Full puppy pricing is published on our Puppy Pricing page. Your deposit is applied against the total, so the checkout amount will be the full price minus what you've already paid.

Training add-ons: 4-Week Doodle School is $5,600. Bootcamp is $200/day. Transport fees are calculated based on destination and method. All of these are optional and itemized clearly before you confirm payment.

Puppies go home at 8 weeks — the developmentally appropriate time for the transition. If your puppy is enrolled in Doodle School (which begins at 8 weeks and runs for 4 weeks), go-home takes place after program completion at approximately 12 weeks.

Exact go-home dates are published on your litter page and confirmed closer to the date. Please have your home prepared, your vet appointment scheduled, and your schedule clear for the first few days. The transition week is one of the most important in your puppy's life — your presence and attention during it matters.

Every Stokeshire puppy comes home with: current veterinary records and health documentation, a welcome packet (feeding guide, early training tips, socialization schedule, vet check recommendations), access to the Stokeshire App, and an invitation to our alumni family community.

Your puppy's health guarantee is in effect from go-home. The specific terms are detailed on our Health Guarantee page.

Every puppy goes through a transition period — typically called the "three-three-three" rule: three days to decompress, three weeks to learn the routine, three months to feel fully at home. Behavior in the first days is not representative of the dog you'll have at three months. Do not judge the match in the first week.

That said, if something genuinely concerns you beyond normal transition behavior, contact us. We stand behind every placement and we take it seriously when a family feels uncertain. We'll work through it with you — and in rare cases where a placement genuinely isn't working, our lifetime return policy means a Stokeshire dog never ends up in a shelter.

Our commitment to your dog doesn't end at the door. Stokeshire families have access to our team for questions, training support, and guidance throughout the dog's life. The Stokeshire App provides ongoing resources, and our alumni family community connects you with hundreds of other Stokeshire households navigating the same seasons of dog ownership.

For families who want structured ongoing support, we offer consulting and advanced training programs. For families who just have occasional questions, we're a call or email away. A Stokeshire dog is a lifelong placement, not a transaction. We take that seriously from day one through year fifteen.

If at any point in a Stokeshire dog's life circumstances change and the family can no longer provide appropriate care, we accept the dog back — no questions, no conditions, no surrender fee. A Stokeshire dog will never end up in a shelter or rescue.

This isn't a policy we hope to use — it's a commitment to the dogs we breed. We bring them into the world with intention, and we remain responsible for their wellbeing for the full length of their life, regardless of what changes for the families we place them with.