I shared some of my tips for finding a responsible breeder yesterday, but today is all about the bad breeders!

It’s your responsibility to educate yourself about the breed you’re interested in - it’s going to make finding your puppy so much easier.  You also need to find a good breeder, but how do you tell if the person you’re talking to isn’t a responsible breeder?

• They tell you they don’t do any health testing of their breeding stock “their breed doesn’t have any health problems”.
• Their dogs don’t look healthy, have poor coats or act lethargic.
• They don’t belong to the national breed club, national kennel club or local kennel clubs “oh, those clubs are all full of politics”.
• You can’t get a referral from previous owners of their puppies, their vet or from the national breed club.
• They don’t show their dogs or do any kind of competing.
• Their dogs don’t have any titles (we’ll get more into titles in a separate post).
• They sell to pet stores, in store parking lots or to wholesalers (who then sell to pet stores).
• Their female dogs are bred more than twice in a row.
• They breed more than a couple of breeds and always have lots of puppies.
• They advertise their puppies as “tea-cup” or poo-mixes - this is why educating yourself about your breed is so important.

There are no absolute rules, and there are responsible breeders who have large kennels, with lots of breeding stock or who don’t show - but pay attention to warning signs!

image: Stock.xchg

 Bringing home your new puppy is incredibly exciting!  You’re beginning a life-long relationship with a great companion.  But before all that, you need to find a responsible breeder.  Buying from a responsible breeder is the best way to find a puppy that’s healthy, well adjusted mentally and a good representative of it’s breed.

But how to tell if you’ve found a reputable breeder?

Well - you need to do your research first!  Buying a purebred puppy can be a slow process, taking months or even years if you’ve fallen in love with a rare breed.

You need to meet adult dogs, read books about the breed, attend a dog show or other competition and talk with owners of other dogs.  Do you know the care your breed takes?  What health problems are they prone too?  Are there genetic tests for the health problems?

The better educated you are, the easier it will be to pick a responsible breeder.  There’s no one right place to find a good breeder, but I personally recommend talking to the national breed club - most of them have breeder referrals.

Here are some basic tips - remember, there are no hard and fast rules!

• Does the breeder offer a health guarantee?
• Do they perform genetic tests on all their breeding dogs?
• Will they share the results of the tests with you (for the mother and father of your puppy)
• Are their dogs clean, healthy and happy?
• Do they show their dogs at dog shows or compete at performance events (obedience, agility, breed-specific events)?
• Is there a health guarantee on their puppies?
• Are they a member of their national kennel club?  Local kennel club?  National or regional breed organization?
• Do they have referrals available from people who have bought their puppies before?

As an example, I bought my show dog from a first time breeder, so she didn’t have any referrals available, but she has health tests done on the mother of my dog (and the owner of the father of my dog had done testing as well).  The breeder showed her dogs, was a member of the national kennel club and my dog was sweet-tempered and well adjusted.  That was enough to convince me that I would be happy buying a dog from her.
image: Stock.xchg