Buying a Puppy From Another State: What Actually Happens, Week by Week
Most of our families never visit before collection day. Here's the real sequence from first enquiry to the puppy in your arms, covering video calls, paperwork, deposits, delivery by road or flight nanny, and the checks that keep you safe.
Buying a puppy you've only seen on a screen feels like a leap. Most of the families who buy from us live too far from North Carolina to visit, so we've thought hard about how to make that leap feel like a series of small, checkable steps instead. This is the sequence we follow. It's also a fair yardstick for judging any breeder, wherever they are.
Week 1: Looking, and asking hard questions
Start with the breed, not the puppy. Our side-by-side comparison helps if you're undecided. Once you've found a puppy you like, request its information pack. Ours includes both parents' health results, the contract and the delivery options, so you can read everything before talking money.
This is the moment to ask the questions in our questions to ask a breeder guide. A good breeder answers them easily. A breeder who goes vague on health testing or won't name the parents is telling you something.
Week 1–2: The video call
Never pay anything before you've seen the puppy and its mother on a live video call. Not a pre-recorded video and not photos: a live call where you can ask us to pick the puppy up, show its belly and point the camera at its mother. That one step defeats the great majority of puppy scams, because scammers don't have the dog.
We also use the call for things photos can't show: how the puppy moves, how it reacts to a noise, how the mother behaves with people.
Week 2: Reserving
If you're happy, you reserve with a deposit. Two rules protect you here, with us or anyone else:
- Get the refund terms in writing first. Ours are on the FAQ.
- Confirm the payment details by phone before you send money, and never pay by gift card, cryptocurrency or a money-transfer app to someone you haven't verified.
Our scam guide explains why the payment step is where most fraud happens.
Weeks 2–6: Waiting, and getting ready
Puppies go home at 8 weeks at the earliest. In the meantime, ask for photo and video updates. You'll see the puppy grow, and it's another check that the puppy is real and is the one you reserved. Use the time to set up the house with our new puppy checklist, book a vet appointment for the first week, and arrange pet insurance to start on collection day.
Go-home week: How the puppy reaches you
There are three ways a puppy gets from us to you:
- You collect in person at our home in Waxhaw, by appointment. Some families make a road trip of it, and it's free.
- Ground delivery. For homes within a long day's drive, a staff member drives the puppy to your door, stopping every two to three hours.
- Flight nanny. Farther away, a person flies with the puppy in the cabin, in a carrier under the seat in front, and hands the puppy to you at your nearest major airport.
We never ship puppies as air cargo. Cargo is the riskiest way for a young animal to travel, and short-nosed breeds like French Bulldogs are banned from it by most airlines. Our flight nanny guide explains how a nanny trip works and what it costs.
Handover day
At handover you should receive the contract, the vet health certificate, the vaccination and deworming record, microchip registration details and the parents' health results. Have your own vet examine the puppy within the first few days. That's sensible with any puppy, and a good breeder will encourage it.
The checks, in one list
- Live video call with the puppy and its mother before paying anything
- Health results for both parents, issued by the testing body (OFA, Embark), not the seller
- Refund terms in writing
- Payment details confirmed by phone
- No cargo shipping
- Paperwork list agreed before handover
If you're in one of the states we deliver to most, our state pages cover the details. Florida, Texas, Georgia, Virginia and every other state each have a page.