How far did you drive to collect your new dog?

[garlicandsapphires]

Just that really, searching for a puppy that's ready to leave at a time that aligns with my big chunk of annual leave.
Is a three hour long journey too long? I'm thinking that it surely is!
Any other thoughts/ tips/ warnings for a first time puppy owner?

10 minutes there, 15 back (drove slowly with my son holding him). We chose a local breeder so that we could visit him.every week until he came home with us at 8 weeks

Nope! I'd say 3 hours isn't unreasonable. Depends if this is your perfect dog!

I say this as someone who went to Cornwall from the Midlands to collect our boy

3 hours.

it was fine. I stain the back seat with her and we had towels everywhere to deal with the inevitable sickness and wee. She slept most of the journey.

Should have been 4 hours, journey on the day took 6.5 hours or thereabouts. We visited the litter twice, staying locally overnight and also stayed locally the night before picking her up.

The journey was fine, after the first ten minutes she slept pretty much all the way. We had puppy pads in her crate (soft one), I was on the backseat next to here and we changed the pads at services. Also had a quick play in the boot of the car when we stopped.

2.5 hours each way. Found through Champdogs, thoroughly researched and the breeder has a Facebook group for owners so we got to see the pups with several updates/photos/videos posted daily ❤️

2.5 hours for our puppy. I think 3 hours is quite reasonable, especially if you're in London. London breeders seem to change silly prices, so by travelling a bit, not only did we get our dream dog, we also got one for a lot less than we'd pay and we stayed local.

We just went from Northumberland to Cardiff to get our puppy after losing our dog. It took long enough on the way down but far longer on the way back as we stopped every hour. Pup slept the whole way though apart from toilet breaks

I think 3 hours is fine, i did about the same. But only if you have someone with you to sit with them in the back. It's also handy in case you need to stop at the services as you can't really leave them in the car on their own!

I think 3 hours I fine a pretty standard, our first 3 were all from the same breeder who was about 3.5 hours away, the 4th time we got a pup he was just 45 minutes away but the breeder said one family had travelled 6 hours.

2 hours and also paid a pet taxi £200 to do another 2 hours of the drive up the country. That was to collect a rescue dog though. She'd had a very rough start in life and was worth every penny!

2.5 hours - I was worried about the journey but it was a breeze. Some of the pups from the litter went much further.

We did stay over the night before so we picked up first thing, and then we're home early afternoon.

We went well prepared for cleanup but had no wee, poo or sickness

Ten years ago I drove 5 hours to pick up my puppy, all with public transport in July. The breeder luckily drove us to the train so we avoided the first bus, but then it was train, bus, train and train back for another 5-6 hours due to train problems

He loved every moment of the journey, but then he turned out to be a dog who love nothing more than seeing new things and meeting new people. I, on the other hand, was exhausted when we finally made it home. Still got him, the most spoiled rough collie you would ever meet.

And of course he is the best dog ever. 🐕

About two hours and he slept until the last couple of miles. Previous dog it was
about three hours, but he was a bit older, had had his jabs and could have a wee at the motorway services. The two before were very local.

Ours was 4 hours each way ( rubbish roads after a while after motorway ) but a fabulous breeder who we have had dogs from before . Get a decent crate and blankets and am sure dog will be fine.
The dog will probably forget the journey sooner than you will 😀

I would travel from one end of the UK to the other for the right dog from the right breeder, no effort is too great. Whether such a journey is in the puppy's best interests however is another matter! I know people who have used pet transport to collect puppies when the journey is several hours, which I don't agree with.

Pretty much this - we were lucky in finding them at the right time.

Personally I wouldn't drive 3hrs, but then my breed of choice is a cocker spaniel, and they are everywhere.

Our previous one was about 40mins each way when we lived in a different location.

From London to South Wales. It should have taken 3 hours but was closer to 4 due to M4 closures. We stopped twice to let the pup go to the toilet (first time he didn’t, second time he did a wee on a puppy pad which we put on a blanket as he wasn’t allowed on the floor yet).

Three hours each way. And I went three times before we brought her home.

Worth every minute!

4 hours each way for us. DH and I went together and I sat with puppy in the back on the way home. He was fab (which I knew he would be as breeders were brilliant hence well worth the journey!).

No distance would be too far for the right puppy/dog. The only thing would be arranging the trip back in the best way for them.

last one was only 15 minutes away though. Just coincidentally!

Cornwall to Northamptonshire! I'm not sure about 5.5 hours maybe? She cried and yelped all the way back! It was a lonnnnnggggg journey.

Those of you who travelled a long way, did you do multiple trips to visit the dog before you committed?

It was about a 500 mile round trip for my youngest dood. We travelled up the day before, stayed in a hotel & travelled back the day we picked him up.

I stayed in the back with him; tiny harness, cardboard bed, regular wee stops (he’d been puppy pad trained by the breeder as all of his litter were travelling 100 miles away), 2 small feeds & plenty of love.

We had multiple pup dates & many videos, pics & phone calls before we picked him up. There was the option of visiting before his collection date but sheer distance precluded it.

Our dood was brilliant on the way home!

Think it was 2.5 hours each way. And yes, we visited 3 time before collecting him.