Comments on: How do you recognize a good dog breeder?

By: Jean

Jean — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:33:50 +0000

On a related note could we have a post to “educate” USA Weekend. They pushed teacup pets this weekend as a “must have” gift this Christmas. Argh.

http://www.usaweekend.com/08_i.....gifts.html

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:28:43 +0000

Here’s a good post on how (or how not) to approach a breeder at a show:

http://bullmarketfrogs.com/blog/?p=924

By: Shannon Vanderburgt

Shannon Vanderburgt — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:41:29 +0000

I recently purchased a mini australian puppy from colorcountryaussies located in Cedar City Utah. The puppy arrived in on close inspection, just very skinny. Took her to my vet 2 days later only to find the pup was infested with lice, had a staph infection, and a parasite “Giardia”. The pup had a lot of blood in her feces and was plagued with diarrhea. The vet stated the pup was also under-nourished. You could feel all her ribs and the neck area. Had good contact with breeder, or I had thought so. Once she received all my money, she started to let little things out of the bag that would start with, Did I tell you…. many little things that would have been more prominent had I not already sent the money by paypal to her. Keisha Bowman from colorcountryaussies has said she would fax the pups papers, it’s been 2 weeks. She still has not faxed the pups pedigree and AKC papers either. She did however send me an email in which she typed out the dates and shots the pup was given.
To sum it up, a $1000 later I have indeed learned my lesson. I will never again buy from a breeder from another country, regardless how thorough their website is and how informative they sound on the phone.
Shannon

By: glock

glock — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:35:59 +0000

For Roberta-

Earlier in this blog, I joked that I had spent too much time around the dog park! Actually dog parks are another place to look for breeds and breeders. Many dog parks have websites and post information about their members, dog clubs and meetup groups, local animal rescues, etc.

If you talk to people at dog parks, they will usually tell you where they got their dogs, they will have (likely) researched their dogs breed(s), etc.

So dog parks are another source of information about breeds and breeders…

To see what I mean, here is the website for a dog park in the Sacramento area
http://www.fordog.org/

By: Eucritta

Eucritta — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:52:57 +0000

Years ago, when I was looking for a sphynx cat, the most useful thing I did was join a mail-list for fanciers and breeders. Not only was it an introduction to the Sphynx community, I got to chat about cats in general and learn about the breed in the process. It made the wait comparatively painless, and just to think, at the time I wasn’t even aware I was being vetted!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:11:57 +0000

ooh ooh, I have one! A good breeder will give you the name and email/contact number of someone who owns her dogs. A breeder can talk up and down about the dog’s health and breeding, but I like to hear it from someone who owns one of her dogs. This is what I did before I got a pup from the breeder this year.
For those wanting a purebred or cross, and not sure what breed, I recommend searching out the local agility, obedience, flyball, schutzhund, tracking, herding, lure-coursing, etc. dog clubs and ask them where they got their dog, were they happy with the breeder and the dog’s outcome? Of course this won’t work so well if you want a toy breed.

By: Cait

Cait — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:25:03 +0000

2 quick responses to other comments:

About price - Anne, I know a number of reputable breeders who DO put price (usually a “Our pet puppies are $x on a spay/neuter contract, regardless of color, coat, or sex” type announcement. I’ve seen this mostly on golden and lab breeder sites, and I think it’s probably jsut to weed out the people who don’t get that just because the labs in the paper are $400 and the classified ad says ‘hips tested, hunting labs” doesn’t equal a dog with a field championship or a pointed, MH dog with all the health certifications and that yes, that puppy IS really $1200 (seems to be about the going price for PQ goldens when I last helped one of my training clients find one after the death of their older dog.)

On the puppy picture thing? I’m planning a litter right now and I’m totally doing a puppycam. :P It means my friends who don’t live close can see the puppies in all their fluffy adorableness, and frankly? I spend a LOT of time when i’ve fostered litters in the past just sitting and watching them play in between cleaning. :P Of course I’m goign to take photos! There will be ZILLIONS of photos. There will not, however, be ‘available’ notes underneath them- can’t tell who is worth keeping until they’re almost ready to go anyway!

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:03:37 +0000

Since you are not really set on any breed, why not adopt a shelter dog? Something on the small side of medium, like a terrier mix, spaniel mix, Sheltie mix, cattle dog mix or something like that? Those should all be good running companions. Look on Petfinder!

By: Roberta

Roberta — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:51:17 +0000

Whoa! I started reading this blog to help me figure out where to get a puppy from. I have some basic requirements decided on but I’m not decided on the breed of dog yet. I know I want small, but tough enough to run with me; not a watch dog that barks alot (neighbors close by); etc etc. I’ve been researching on the internet and calling/emailing breeders on the East Coast trying to talk to them to help me decide on the breed best for my family. One of the rudest calls I ever had with a breeder, I see she’s putting a response on this blog! Since she hung up on me, I just want to say, excuuuuuusssseeeee meeeeeeeeee!

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:42:28 +0000

My bad. Hit “post” before done. All fixed now.