How will breeder keep track of which puppy is mine?

Hi,

I'm going to be getting a bichon frisé puppy from a breeder soon. I will have second pick of the litter (after someone else who contacted the breeder before me, obviously).

I'm curious how a breeder keeps track of which puppy I pick. I think we're allowed to pick out our puppy a few weeks after they're born. How do I know I'll get the same puppy when we pick him up several weeks later?

Bichon's don't really have distinguishing color markings... am I just underestimating the ability of the breeder to tell them all apart by their faces? Do I need to be concerned about picking one and not getting the same one? Or are small pups collared and tagged with a name?

The breeders told me they don't like to microchip puppies before 12 weeks so the pups will not be microchipped.

Maybe this is a dumb question but this is the first time we've got a puppy from a breeder so I'm very curious and want to make sure everything goes perfectly.

Thanks!

Hi John welcome. All puppies look slightly different to a breeder , they see small variations someone with a less experienced eye would not be able to notice.

I think some breeders do use tiny collars or threads....or some cut a snippet of hair off in a certain place or a certain shape.

If you are concerned you could always aske them to snip a bit if fur off I suppose.

When Lona had a very large litter last year some of them looked pretty much the same, you can buy litter collars from ebay which are great and all mine were colour coded, even those I could tell at a glance who they were. I named them all at 4 weeks and had a chart written out with each puppy name, colour of collar, and then made a tick box for worming etc. so I could tick the box when that particular puppy had been wormed.
I had them all chipped at 6 weeks so their chip number was on my list as well. When I took them all for their eye tests they went in 2 by 2 and the eye vet had a master list, he scanned each puppy, eye tested and then wrote the result down against each name that he had listed on the eye test certificate. Took absolutely ages to get everything done, when I had them vax and vet checked I took them in 4's over 3 days!!! Everyone got the puppy of their choice and there were no mix ups, apart from once when I took all 4 girls for their vax and vet check, one of them had got their litter collar off, but I thought I knew which one it was, so didn't check the sex, WRONG - one of the boys had also got HIS collar off, so the vet went er....this is a boy....I said it can't be....she said well he's got 2 things here a girl doesn't have chipping them helped a lot with ID at the vets as they also scanned them as they vet checked and vax them and then I put the bar code sticker on their certificate as they did them.

I've seen them with soft plaited braids attached.

I think as long as your breeder is reputable they will keep the same puppy for you by whatever means they use.

Welcome to Dogsey.

Enjoy your new puppy.

I know for a fact that I don't have the dog I picked out as a 4 week old pup. Lucan was one of 11 identical black labs, we had pick of the litter and chose a nice chunky little boy who had a shorter tail than all the others, in fact it came well above his hock joint, breeder marked him with tipex on his ear.
Went back to pick him up at 8 weeks, most had already gone, I think there were only 4 left, she picked up a pup with a freshly marked ear, but I could see the tail was longer. I did comment on the fact and she did admit it had been a nightmare keeping them all marked, she'd tried the tipex, then little collars that had been chewed off.
Anyway he came home with us, be it fate or whatever but he's turned out to be the perfect dog for us, I wouldn't swap him for anything and certainly don't regret bringing the wrong pup home.

TBH I think the only way you can be 100% sure with identical looking pups is to shave off a little hair or for the pup to be microchipped.

coloured collars or different coloured nail varnish on nails

Even when we had more than one litter, I never had a problem telling on puppy from another. Perhaps it is because I spent so much time watching them

Thanks everyone. I'll inquire with my breeder how they plan to do it. If they don't have a good answer would that be a warning sign?