613-858-4250
Where Every Puppy is a Small Wonder
SMALL WONDERS KENNEL
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New Litter!
Visit The Puppies, Choose Your Best Friend
When Can We Come?
First, let me say thank you for visiting this website and looking at our wonderful puppies. I try to keep the puppies' pages updated on a daily basis so that it's easy to tell which puppies are still available and which ones have been reserved or adopted. Occasionally we just get so busy that I fall a day behind so please don't be shy to email, text, or call about the availability of a particular pup. Visits are by appointment only, scheduled between 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. most afternoons and evenings, including weekends. We will make every effort to accommodate the day and time that works best for you. Appointments are deliberately staggered to allow each person or family up to one full hour of our time and attention before the next person is scheduled to arrive. Needless to say, this works best if everyone respects their appointment time and tries not to arrive too early or too late.
When We Get There...
You may be asked to step into a disinfectant foot bath and to use a hand sanitizer that we provide to minimize viruses and bacteria that can be transported on your shoes/boots and hands. You will be welcomed into our home where the puppy or puppies you've expressed interest in will be ready to greet you. Puppies that are still too young to leave but old enough to be reserved may be in an exercise pen in the living room while puppies 8 weeks and up may be loose and playing in the kitchen, dining room, and hallway. You will be encouraged to ask all the questions you can think of. Challenge us! Pick our brains! You will also be encouraged to take your time with the puppies. This is an important decision and a commitment of up to 15 years and beyond. Of course, we will have questions for you as well and this is not intended to seem nosy or intrusive but to gather information that helps us determine if a puppy is the right match for you, your family, your home, and your lifestyle. We want the puppy you take home to become a treasured friend and member of the family for the duration of his/her life.
Can We Go In Your Kennel?
We run a bio-secure kennel, meaning that precautions are taken to protect against lethal or harmful organisms and diseases entering our kennel. Only a very limited few are permitted inside our kennel. Our dogs and puppies are very important and special to us so we take our responsibility to protect them very seriously. Everyone knows how viruses spread among people. On the bus hundreds of people over the course of a day will touch or hang onto the same rails, poles, and pull cords that someone who was sick also touched or held onto. How many railings, door handles, shopping carts, chairs, tables, etc. will you touch in a day that someone carrying a virus has also touched or sneezed or coughed on? One sick person can expose thousands of others to a virus over the course of week. Well... people inadvertently expose their own and other people's pets to an array of diseases and viruses too but unlike most viruses people encounter, many canine viruses are deadly. Most canine viruses are not zoonotic (cannot be transmitted to humans or vice versa) so you might be wondering how you could infect a dog or puppy with a virus. We live on a continent where people and pets share the same streets, the same sidewalks, parks, elevators, stores, stairs, bicycle paths, etc. Almost anywhere you walk someone's dog has also walked, piddled, pooped, snuffled, or licked. You can't imagine how many things you come into contact with every day that have been exposed to numerous dogs. At the end of the day you may be carrying any number of viruses on the bottoms of your shoes, on your hands, on your clothing. Imagine if you walked through our kennel and there was the tiniest bit of dog feces in the tread of your boots or your coat brushed up against a steel post or you forgot yourself for just one second and reached in to pet a cute little dog. We could end up with not one dog or puppy like you would have to deal with but entire litters of puppies sick or dying. This happened to us in the past when we used to let "outsiders" into the kennel. We let someone in who did not tell us that they had just lost a puppy they bought in Quebec to parvovirus. The result of that visit was that we lost 3 whole litters of puppies and 3 from another litter as well as a couple of our senior citizens. It was a horrible, merciless, heartbreaking way for our babies and long time friends to die. We've grown very protective and cautious over the years and experience has taught us that the only way to prevent disease from entering our kennel is to adhere strictly to bio-security procedures, which limit access to the actual facility to those people who work here. We have not had a sniffle, cough, sick stomach, or even a flea since we adopted this policy. When we were letting visitors into the kennel it seemed we were always battling something. In addition, it kept the dogs perpetually stirred up and barking which was very stressful for pregnant females and moms with puppies in the room next door.
You will notice some signs posted to inform you that certain areas are not open to the public. There are reasons for these areas being off limits. We have Bullmastiffs that are often outside in a fenced area at the back. They are all good dogs with great temperaments but behind a fence most dogs become protective of their boundaries. Strangers approaching the fence cause them to bark. Although it seems that we're in the boondocks, we do have neighbours who do not appreciate an afternoon of incessant barking. We make every effort to respect them and ask our guests to help us in that endeavor by not encouraging unnecessary barking. In addition to the barking, it simply is never safe to approach large, protective dogs that don't know you. Please stay to the front of the house and supervise children to make sure they don't wander to the back and stick little fingers through the fence. You will also find a door to the right of the main house door that is marked "employees only". This room is also off limits as there are mammas with new babies in there. The moms are hyper vigilant for the first week after their babies are born. The sweetest dog in the world becomes protective and easily stressed when she has babies. Stress will affect her milk production and may cause her to step on her babies if she becomes too worried and excited. This room is warm and quiet so moms and babies can relax and feel safe. The fenced area at the front of the house is also off limits. It is the exercise yard for our small dogs. There is usually a group of little dogs out playing and socializing throughout the day. Some are escape artists and will dart out the gate when it's opened by people who are not familiar with their tactics. In addition, we have rigid cleanliness guidelines for entering and leaving the exercise yard so that it will always be a safe place for our dogs to play.
Please respect the signs and help us to keep Small Wonders Kennel a safe and happy place for our canine friends and, ultimately, for the puppy who may become a new member of your family. We truly appreciate your understanding.
Where Are You Anyway?
We are located about 50 minutes south of Ottawa, Ontario, just past the Kemptville area. From Ottawa it's an easy trip via Hwy. 416 South. Once you have an appointment time and day scheduled I will email clear, easy-to-follow directions to you. I no longer post our address or directions on the website as that resulted in people dropping by, unexpectedly, at all times of the day and night. There is something just a little disconcerting about emerging from the shower to hear the doorbell ringing or, even worse, emerging from the kennel sweaty and dirty, wearing rubber boots and chore clothes, hair full of wood shavings to find people wandering about the yard or standing on the porch. Eeks!! Not a first impression we enjoy making. LOL Thanks for understanding.
Can I Reserve A Puppy?
You sure can! We usually announce the arrival of a new litter the same day it's born, often with newborn pictures. If you know you want a puppy from one of the litters we post, email or call to ask for an appointment to visit the puppies as soon as they're 4 weeks old. That is the soonest we let anyone come to see the puppies. You will be able to spend some time watching them interact with each other and their mother and you will also have the opportunity, during this visit, to choose the puppy you want and to reserve it. A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required to reserve a puppy. Some people bring a cash deposit, others send an email money transfer when they get home. Either one is fine. We Do Not, however, accept cheques. Sorry but we've had some very bad luck with personal cheques. Once you've reserved your puppy, it will be marked reserved on the website and, with your permission, a picture of you and the puppy will also be posted to the website. We will make an appointment for you to pick up your puppy or have it delivered when it is 8 weeks old and, in the meantime, we will keep you posted with picture updates as the puppy grows and changes. Some people even come back to visit with their puppy prior to it being ready to go home.
If you are unable to visit the puppies but would like to choose one from the pictures and reserve it, you can do this by talking to us first and then sending a deposit to hold it. Please take the time to fill out the Basic Information Form so we know a little bit about you and your family and where the puppy will be going.
We reserve the right to suggest a different puppy or even a different breed that we feel would be better suited to your family and lifestyle. We reserve the right to decline your offer of a home for one of our puppies. Please don't take this personally. Our priority is the puppies in our care and finding the best matches for them. We take this responsibility very seriously as we want every home to be a forever home.
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