Price, terms and how it works
€1,800, the same for every puppy
Every puppy costs €1,800, whatever its colour, sex, tail or eyes. That covers what is on the 'goes home with' list: vaccination and vet check, microchip, worming, the litter eye screen, the puppy's own DNA results, IKC registration and pedigree, pet passport and the puppy pack. It doesn't cover our time, and we don't try to make it.
Deposit: €300, taken only after you have visited and we have both said yes. It is credited to the price. Balance: €1,500, by bank transfer cleared before go-home day, or by card when you collect. We never accept cash handed over away from our house, gift cards, money transfer services or payment to anyone else.
Refunds: your deposit is refunded in full if we cannot offer you a puppy that suits you, or if you change your mind before matching day. After matching it is refunded if we can place the puppy with another approved family.
What the price includes, for the current litter
Every puppy goes home with
- First vaccination (Nobivac DHPPi + L4) and a full vet health check at 8 weeks, signed off by our vet in Aughrim
- Microchip, registered to you on the Fido database on go-home day (chipped at 6 weeks)
- Wormed with fenbendazole at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks; dates and doses in the record
- EU pet passport
- IKC registration certificate and signed transfer, endorsements explained in writing
- Five-generation pedigree
- Litter eye screen certificate (BVA/RKC/ISDS, at 7 weeks)
- The puppy's own MDR1 and DM DNA results from Laboklin
- Copies of both parents' hip, elbow, eye and DNA certificates
- The Fernhill puppy contract, signed by both of us
- Diet sheet and 2 kg of the food they are on, a blanket that smells of the litter, a toy, a collar and lead
- An MDR1 drug card for your vet and a care folder from birth to two years
Price and payment
€1,800 for every puppy, whatever the colour, sex or tail. €300 deposit after your visit, credited to the price; €1,500 balance by bank transfer, cleared before go-home day, or by card when you collect.
Nine steps from first read to first night
1. Read
This page, the health page and 'Life with an Aussie'. Most of what goes wrong was predictable from those.
2. Questionnaire
About your household, home and garden, fencing, working hours, experience, past dogs and what you would like to do with an Aussie. Ten to fifteen minutes.
Start it3. A phone call
Within a week, usually an evening. Questions go both ways, and we will be honest if we don't think an Aussie, or ours, is right for you.
4. A visit
To the farm, to meet our adults, before there's a litter or from week 5 once there is. Video call first if you are far away; a visit before go-home is still required.
5. Approval and the list
If we both want to go ahead, you're on the list for a litter. We keep it to about one family per expected puppy.
6. Deposit
€300 after the visit, credited to the price, with a written receipt.
7. Matching at 7 weeks
We match puppies to families after the eye screen and temperament assessment. You tell us your preferences; we choose, and we explain why. No first pick.
8. Go-home day
At our house, from 8 weeks. About an hour: paperwork, contract, the microchip transfer, a feeding demo, and the folder.
9. For life
Updates when you like, a phone number that keeps working, the owners' group and a reunion walk every summer.
The Fernhill puppy contract
Every sale is under a written contract signed by both of us, based on the Irish Kennel Club Code of Ethics. You get a copy to read before you pay a deposit. The key clauses:
Registration: puppies are registered with the IKC and the signed transfer is handed over on go-home day. Puppies sold to companion and sport homes are registered with endorsements against breeding and export pedigree, explained in writing. We lift them, free, for a dog over two years old with BVA hips under 16, elbows 0, a clear eye certificate and a DNA panel we have seen.
Health guarantee: for 26 months from birth. If a vet diagnoses hip dysplasia (BVA total over 30), elbow dysplasia (grade 2 or 3), HSF4 cataract, CEA, PRA or MDR1-affected status, we refund half the price or offer a puppy from a later litter. You keep your dog either way. The guarantee doesn't cover injury, infection or problems caused by over-exercise or obesity.
Owner duties: keep the microchip details current, insure or be ready to pay for vet care, don't sell or give the dog away without telling us first, and hip- and elbow-score the dog after 12 months if you can (we contribute €100 towards it).
Take-back: if you can't keep your dog, at any age, for any reason, we will take it back or help rehome it ourselves. A Fernhill dog never goes to a pound or a sale site.
Visiting and the waiting list
Visits are by appointment, one family at a time. Before a litter is born you meet the adults; from week 5 you can meet the puppies, with shoes off and hands washed, and no visit to another kennel or rescue the same day.
Waiting list: four approved families for spring 2027, and we expect five to seven puppies. Families who join now are likely to be matched in 2027 or 2028. We would rather tell you that now than keep you waiting without a number.
Terms questions
Can we choose our puppy?
You can tell us what you want — sex, sport or stock, a quieter or busier dog — and we'll match with that in mind. We choose, because we've watched them for seven weeks and the assessor has seen them fresh. If you strongly disagree with a match we talk about it.
Do you ship or deliver?
No. Every puppy is collected from our house by the family who visited. Puppies cannot travel abroad until they are about 15 weeks old anyway.
What if we have to give the dog up?
Ring us. We take back any dog we bred, at any age, for any reason, or help you rehome it yourself with our approval of the new home.