Free Breeder Tool
Puppy buyer questionnaire
The questions experienced breeders actually ask, organized into five areas. Keep what fits your program, drop what doesn't, and send it to every serious inquiry.
Free to use, nothing to install, no account needed. Browse all free tools →
Untick anything that doesn't fit your program. The questionnaire below updates as you go: copy it into an email or document, or download it as a text file. Breeding cats? Swap "puppy" for "kitten" after you copy; every question still applies.
Household & Home
Experience
Lifestyle & Time
Plans for This Puppy
Expectations & Agreement
Your questionnaire (24 questions)
PUPPY BUYER QUESTIONNAIRE Name: ____________________ Email: ____________________ Phone: ____________________ HOUSEHOLD & HOME 1. Who lives in your home, including ages of any children? 2. Does anyone in the home have pet allergies? 3. Do you rent or own? If renting, does your lease allow dogs, and are there breed or size restrictions? 4. Do you have a fenced yard? If not, how will the dog get daily exercise and potty breaks? 5. Are there other pets in the home? What species, ages, and temperaments? EXPERIENCE 6. Have you owned a dog before? What breeds, and what happened to them? 7. Have you owned this breed before, and what do you know about its traits and needs? 8. Who was your previous veterinarian? (Name and clinic, as a reference.) 9. Have you ever surrendered or rehomed a pet? If so, what were the circumstances? LIFESTYLE & TIME 10. What does a typical weekday look like for this puppy? How many hours would it be alone? 11. Where will the puppy sleep, and where will it stay when you're away from home? 12. Who will be the puppy's primary caretaker? 13. What is your plan for exercise and mental stimulation as the dog matures? 14. Do you travel often? What is your plan for the dog when you do? PLANS FOR THIS PUPPY 15. Why this breed, and why now? 16. Are you hoping for a companion, a sport or working prospect, or something else? 17. Do you have a sex or color preference, and how flexible are you? 18. What are your plans for training and socialization in the first year? 19. Do you intend to breed this dog? (Note: our companion puppies are placed on spay/neuter contracts.) EXPECTATIONS & AGREEMENT 20. What behaviors or challenges would you consider a dealbreaker? 21. Are you financially prepared for routine and emergency veterinary care? 22. If at any point you could not keep the dog, would you agree to return it to us rather than rehome it? 23. Are you willing to sign a purchase contract that includes a health guarantee and return clause? 24. How did you hear about us, and is there anything else you'd like us to know? Generated with the free BreederBuddy questionnaire builder (breederbuddy.com/tools).
The Full Version Lives in BreederBuddy
Make it an application form that files itself
Emailing a questionnaire means retyping answers and losing threads. In BreederBuddy, the same questions become an online application that feeds your records directly.
Custom application forms
Build the form with your questions, put the link on your website and social pages, and take applications around the clock.
Buyer profiles, auto-created
Every submission creates or updates the buyer's profile with their answers attached. No retyping, no lost emails, full history on one record.
Straight into the waitlist
Approve an application and the family moves into your waitlist pipeline: deposit tracking, picking order, and automated status emails included.
Applications are the front door of BreederBuddy's buyer management. See buyer management →
More free breeder tools
Puppy Go-Home Date Calculator
Turn a whelp date into a go-home date and week-by-week litter milestones, or work backwards from a target pickup window.
Open tool →Dog Heat Cycle Calculator
Project a female's next three heat cycles from her last heat, with estimated breeding windows and due dates.
Open tool →Litter Profitability Calculator
See what a litter actually earns after stud fees, vet work, supplies, per-puppy costs, and your own hours.
Open tool →Puppy Pricing Calculator
Work out a puppy price that covers your real costs with room to spare, and stress-test it against a small litter.
Open tool →Breeding Contract Generator
Answer a few questions and get a draft puppy or kitten sales contract covering deposits, vet checks, health guarantees, and more.
Open tool →Puppy Vaccination Schedule
A week-by-week vaccine and deworming schedule for the whole litter, dated from your whelp date and ready to confirm with your vet.
Open tool →Puppy Waitlist Template
A free spreadsheet template for tracking waitlist families, deposits, preferences, and litter assignments.
Open tool →FAQs
Common questions about screening buyers
What should I ask potential puppy buyers?
Cover five areas: household (who lives there, allergies, rent vs. own, yard), experience (past dogs and what happened to them, vet reference), lifestyle (hours alone, exercise plan, travel), intentions (why this breed, training plans, breeding intentions), and expectations (finances for vet care, willingness to sign your contract and return clause). The pattern across answers matters more than any single response.
Why screen puppy buyers at all?
Because placement failures are expensive in every currency: a returned puppy, a dog in a shelter, a guarantee dispute. Ten minutes reading a thorough application catches most mismatches before they happen, and serious buyers respect a breeder who asks; the ones who bristle at questions are telling you something too.
What are red flags in a puppy application?
Urgency (need it this weekend), price-only questions, evasiveness about housing or landlord permission, a history of rehomed pets with vague explanations, no vet relationship after years of ownership, and refusal to accept a spay/neuter or return clause. None alone is disqualifying; together they form a picture.
Can I turn this questionnaire into an online application?
Yes, and it beats a paper form. In BreederBuddy you build a custom application form, put the link on your website or social pages, and every submission automatically creates or updates the buyer's profile with their answers attached, feeding straight into your waitlist pipeline. No retyping, no lost emails. See application forms →
Ready to simplify your breeding program?
Join our growing community of breeders using one system to manage dogs, buyers, and daily operations in one place.