COEUR d'ALENE - Ahhh, how adorable.

What's not to love about a puppy's fluffy face, pug nose and fuzzy paws? What could be better, after all, than to see that pop out of a box Christmas morning?

If that's not a Norman Rockwell holiday image, it's at least captured on YouTube: Plug in 'Puppy Christmas Gift' and dozens of children's reactions to their living, licking gifts are recorded.

While everyone isn't wild about the doggie-as-present idea - animal shelters, and breeding and animal care websites to name a few - puppies still make one popular Christmas gift.

And that's not lost on breeders.

"It's been the easiest sale I've had in a long time," said Katherine Nussberger, who has been breeding for 15 years and marketed her recent liter of teacup Chihuahuas in The Press as having come right in time for Christmas.

In fact, immediately after the five pups were born in early November, Nussberger placed ads saying they would be ready for pickup at 7-weeks-old - just days before Dec. 25. It has worked: She has one left, with an interested buyer for the last one.

"It seemed to work better this time," the Naples resident said. "I think I'll do it again next year."

But just because the timing might be easier for a sale, breeders said they still screen their clients to ensure the puppy is going to a caring home. They're aware of the stigma of impulse puppy purchases at Christmas time - that's to say: Once the wrapping paper is put away and the novelty has worn off, the pup won't get the attention it deserves.

"That's definitely a concern," said Jennifer Watson, who has been selling a litter of rottweiler puppies this month. "I would hesitate if I felt (an impulse buy was) what somebody was doing."

Watson, like other breeders reached by The Press Friday, said she has lots of dialogue with prospective buyers, and they keep contact info to correspond even after the sale. Just because it's Christmas, doesn't mean they'll sell a pup to a home they think might not take proper care of it.

Of the 10 pups she marketed, only two remain. While she didn't plan the mother's pregnancy around a Christmas birth, the timing hasn't hurt, she said.

Still, pet-caring organizations, like Dog Breed Info Center, and petrescue.com, say puppies shouldn't be an impulse splurge. Surprising someone with a dog without talking about it first is a dangerous recipe. Be sure the family is prepared to care for the dog for years.

"Everyone wants to take a little bow on a puppy and put it under the tree," said Pete Chichester, marketing director for Kootenai Humane Society. "It's a beautiful picture, but it's a commitment."

KHS didn't have numbers Friday on how many of its animals originated as gifts, but Chichester assumed there had to be some.

"It's not just this time of the year, it's all year," he said.

But it can be a gift that can work.

Like for Toni Kitchen, who bought one of Watson's rottweiler pups for her husband Percy's Christmas gift. The family has had rottweilers for 10 years, and one of the two they had died this year from cancer. So they were ready to buy another one, it just so happened the timing came around right in time for Christmas. So Toni threw the pup, named Bryer, in a box, gave Percy an early Christmas gift, and out popped the doggie's head.

"And he's been with him ever since," Toni said.