Uptown Farm's Puppy Owner Page
Thank you for purchasing a puppy from Uptown Farms! This page will serve as your resource for preparing to bring your puppy home as well as offering specific health and history information on your puppy.
Litter health records
Note: Your puppies health record will not be ready until litters are 8 weeks old
Preparing for your pup
Final Payments:
You will make your final payment of your pup at pickup or delivery, in cash or using Venmo or PayPal. If you'd prefer to make your final payment with a personal check, please provide that check no later than 7 business days before taking possession of the puppy. Transportation fees paid they day of delivery must be paid in cash.
Collars or other supplies:
We do not provide collars or leashes with pups. Please be prepared to bring a collar for the pup if you need one for travel home. Pyrenees puppies will have large variance in weights around 8 weeks of age but plan for a puppy between 15 - 20 pounds. We do not use any collars on our adult dogs as a safety precaution. Most working Pyrenees are around gates, fencing and other things that a collar can easily get hung up on. If you do need to use a collar, we encourage you to consider one that can slip over the dog's head or that can break easily if need be.
Feeding Puppies:
Uptown Farms puppies are started on Diamond Puppy Chow. We feed our puppies and adult dogs free choice, meaning they have access to feeders at all times and can eat on demand. We recommended our customers continue with free choice feeding. Sometime between 4-6 months of age we recommend switching your puppy from a puppy chow to a dog chow. This will slow the growth rate of your pup and allow them to grow at a more steady, healthy pace and minimize the chances of putting on excess weight. Make sure feed and water are located in a place where the livestock cannot access it. You do not want the puppy feeling like he has to protect his feed from the animals.
Housing Puppies:
It is extremely important that your puppy be housed in immediately at home base. Please review the steps for bringing a working pup home, here. Sometimes people get concerned that it will be too cold, too hot, or the puppy will be too lonely in the barn his first few nights at home. This is not at all the case. Your pup has been exposed to outside conditions since the day he was born and has been bred for centuries to be an outside dog. We assure you, as long as your pup can take shelter from the wind and rain, he will be just fine. Bringing a puppy inside will actually cause more stress for the dog because he is not use to the sights, sounds and smells of homes and garages. He is much more comfortable and secure in the barn.
We do suggest crating the puppy overnight for the first days home, up to the first month or so home. The crate should be located at home base, and should be left home with free access in and out during the day. Children (and adults) should leave the pup alone anytime he goes into his crate - the crate should be the puppy's safe space away from livestock and people. Eventually, you'll no longer need to lock the crate at night and eventually the dog is likely to stop using the area all together at night as he stays closer to his livestock or begins to walk his boundaries at night on guard.
Healthcare for your puppy:
Please refer to the top of this page for your puppy's health record. You'll want to share this information with your veterinarian. Your Uptown Farms puppy will come with his first set of vaccinations based on our veterinarian's guidelines. Your puppy may have had additional dosages as well, depending on when you pick him up. Your puppy will have been de-wormed one time.
We encourage you to take your puppy to your vet soon after getting settled in and share the puppy's health record. Your vet may have different guidelines for vaccinations, depending on your location.
We ask all of our customers to remember that Uptown Farms puppies are born in a barn with livestock and they have mothers who frequently hunt small (and sometimes large) game animals. Puppies have been fully exposed to livestock and many litters will have had the occasional meal of wild game, courtesy of Mom. This means puppies may need to be monitored for worms and will need to be de-wormed when necessary.
All adult dogs and all livestock at Uptown Farms are routinely treated for fleas, ticks and other parasites. Puppies are not treated until 8 weeks of age, and only in the known presence of parasites. Spring and summer litters are most at risk of ticks, so simply keep an eye on puppy. Once your pup is old enough, you'll want to start a strict schedule of treatment such as Frontline, as your dog will likely be regularly exposed to wild animals, livestock, tall grasses, and other places that he may come into contact with fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, etc.
Grooming:
Most Great Pyrenees are very good self groomers. The level and frequency of grooming you provide is up to each dog owner. We recommended checking under your dog's coat several times a year to make sure there are no issues you cannot see beneath their hair.
We do NOT recommended shearing or shaving your dog in the summer heat. Your dog's coat actually serves to protect them from summertime heat and their body temperature will have a notable increase in the absence of their hair. You will not be cooling them off by removing their haircoat.
Many working dog owners do shear their dogs once a year, or once every other year, to keep an eye on the dog's condition. If you do shear, we recommended doing this in the spring or fall.
You will not likely need to trim your dog's toe nails because most working Pyrenees keep them worn down on their own. You may need to watch their double dew claws. Occasionally these nails can grow over and cause some discomfort for the dog, but this isn't common. If you ever notice your dog soft on his feet, check their paws for clumped mud and then check the double dew claws.
You will make your final payment of your pup at pickup or delivery, in cash or using Venmo or PayPal. If you'd prefer to make your final payment with a personal check, please provide that check no later than 7 business days before taking possession of the puppy. Transportation fees paid they day of delivery must be paid in cash.
Collars or other supplies:
We do not provide collars or leashes with pups. Please be prepared to bring a collar for the pup if you need one for travel home. Pyrenees puppies will have large variance in weights around 8 weeks of age but plan for a puppy between 15 - 20 pounds. We do not use any collars on our adult dogs as a safety precaution. Most working Pyrenees are around gates, fencing and other things that a collar can easily get hung up on. If you do need to use a collar, we encourage you to consider one that can slip over the dog's head or that can break easily if need be.
Feeding Puppies:
Uptown Farms puppies are started on Diamond Puppy Chow. We feed our puppies and adult dogs free choice, meaning they have access to feeders at all times and can eat on demand. We recommended our customers continue with free choice feeding. Sometime between 4-6 months of age we recommend switching your puppy from a puppy chow to a dog chow. This will slow the growth rate of your pup and allow them to grow at a more steady, healthy pace and minimize the chances of putting on excess weight. Make sure feed and water are located in a place where the livestock cannot access it. You do not want the puppy feeling like he has to protect his feed from the animals.
Housing Puppies:
It is extremely important that your puppy be housed in immediately at home base. Please review the steps for bringing a working pup home, here. Sometimes people get concerned that it will be too cold, too hot, or the puppy will be too lonely in the barn his first few nights at home. This is not at all the case. Your pup has been exposed to outside conditions since the day he was born and has been bred for centuries to be an outside dog. We assure you, as long as your pup can take shelter from the wind and rain, he will be just fine. Bringing a puppy inside will actually cause more stress for the dog because he is not use to the sights, sounds and smells of homes and garages. He is much more comfortable and secure in the barn.
We do suggest crating the puppy overnight for the first days home, up to the first month or so home. The crate should be located at home base, and should be left home with free access in and out during the day. Children (and adults) should leave the pup alone anytime he goes into his crate - the crate should be the puppy's safe space away from livestock and people. Eventually, you'll no longer need to lock the crate at night and eventually the dog is likely to stop using the area all together at night as he stays closer to his livestock or begins to walk his boundaries at night on guard.
Healthcare for your puppy:
Please refer to the top of this page for your puppy's health record. You'll want to share this information with your veterinarian. Your Uptown Farms puppy will come with his first set of vaccinations based on our veterinarian's guidelines. Your puppy may have had additional dosages as well, depending on when you pick him up. Your puppy will have been de-wormed one time.
We encourage you to take your puppy to your vet soon after getting settled in and share the puppy's health record. Your vet may have different guidelines for vaccinations, depending on your location.
We ask all of our customers to remember that Uptown Farms puppies are born in a barn with livestock and they have mothers who frequently hunt small (and sometimes large) game animals. Puppies have been fully exposed to livestock and many litters will have had the occasional meal of wild game, courtesy of Mom. This means puppies may need to be monitored for worms and will need to be de-wormed when necessary.
All adult dogs and all livestock at Uptown Farms are routinely treated for fleas, ticks and other parasites. Puppies are not treated until 8 weeks of age, and only in the known presence of parasites. Spring and summer litters are most at risk of ticks, so simply keep an eye on puppy. Once your pup is old enough, you'll want to start a strict schedule of treatment such as Frontline, as your dog will likely be regularly exposed to wild animals, livestock, tall grasses, and other places that he may come into contact with fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, etc.
Grooming:
Most Great Pyrenees are very good self groomers. The level and frequency of grooming you provide is up to each dog owner. We recommended checking under your dog's coat several times a year to make sure there are no issues you cannot see beneath their hair.
We do NOT recommended shearing or shaving your dog in the summer heat. Your dog's coat actually serves to protect them from summertime heat and their body temperature will have a notable increase in the absence of their hair. You will not be cooling them off by removing their haircoat.
Many working dog owners do shear their dogs once a year, or once every other year, to keep an eye on the dog's condition. If you do shear, we recommended doing this in the spring or fall.
You will not likely need to trim your dog's toe nails because most working Pyrenees keep them worn down on their own. You may need to watch their double dew claws. Occasionally these nails can grow over and cause some discomfort for the dog, but this isn't common. If you ever notice your dog soft on his feet, check their paws for clumped mud and then check the double dew claws.