Searching for a Responsible Dog Breeder

Not all breeders are created equal. The saying "you get what you pay for" could never be truer then when searching for a puppy. This is not to say that you can't get a free puppy from a friend's litter of puppies or adopt a nice puppy from your local animal shelter, but that is not the best way to go about it. Keep in mind that the purchase price is the cheapest amount you will spend on your future family member. That $200 puppy you get from the newspaper at a bargain price may wind up costing you even more than that in un-expected medical bills. Your new family member will hopefully be with your family for the next ten years or longer which is why it is so important to do the proper research in advance. Do purchase your pup from a pet shop where they receive puppies from puppy mills, mainly in the Midwest, which are mass produced with little care for health, temperament, or well-being of the dogs. Responsible breeders want to know the people purchasing their puppies. You may feel like you are applying to adopt a child when you seek to purchase a pup from a responsible breeder.

Before you even begin searching for the breeder you need to know what breed of dog you are looking for. A good place to meet responsible breeders is to attend a local dog show. This will give you a good chance to meet adults of the breed you are considering in person and make sure it is the breed you are looking for. Keep in mind when people are showing things are hectic so they may not be able to chat with you right away, but responsible breeders will welcome your interest in their dogs when things calm down. Good breeders do not need to advertise much at all and most have a waiting list for their puppies. Your local breed club or the national breed club website are good resources for searching out responsible breeders also.

Qualities of a responsible breeder include someone that is knowledgeable about the breed and has years of experience. They should know the breed inside and out as well as their own lines specifically. You are going to want the breeder's input into which puppy is going to be the best match for your family. The breeder should be a member of their local or national breed club. The breed club usually has some type of code of ethics that are a guideline for breeders to follow in their breeding practices. You want to be leery of anyone that is breeding several breeds. A breeder would be unable to dedicate the amount of time needed to more than one or two breeds.

Be wary of anyone that has more than two to three litters a year as the norm. Litters take a lot of time and money. Someone that breeds more frequently may not be devoting the amount of time to properly raising each litter and screening prospective buyers. A responsible breeder will not breed a female or male before they are mature enough which should never be before they are old enough to have proper health testing completed. You should also be concerned if the breeder breeds their female every heat. Responsible breeders will wait a cycle in between breedings. This allows the female proper time to rest between litters. In addition look at the quality of females they breed their stud dogs to. A responsible breeder will look for the same criteria in outside females that come to their male as they do in their own females for planning a breeding.

The next thing you want to inquire about is any health problems in the breed you have chosen. Any responsible breeder should be screening their stock for any problems prevalent in their breed and refrain from breeding any dog that displays the problem or is a known carrier for it. The breeder should be willing to provide you with copies of health testing records. Other families members, such as grand-parents, siblings, and other relatives, should also be clear of known health problems.

Responsible breeders prove their breeding stock and should have the titles to show for it. Ideally they will have championships on their dogs to show they conform to the breed standard as well as some type of obedience, temperament test, or canine good citizen title to show the dog has a sound, stable temperament. Additionally, titles for specific functions such as field titles to prove sporting dogs can still do what they were bred for, lure coursing titles to show that sighthounds can still do what they were intended for, herding titles to show that the herding instinct is not lost, and earthdog titles which demonstrate terrier abilities. There are titles for obedience, agility, rally, and tracking that demonstrate that their dogs have the intelligence and proper rearing to succeed. Breeders that showcase their dogs in multiple venues have put a lot of time into making sure their dogs are sound genetically as well as temperamentally.

Another significant mark of a responsible breeder is who their dogs/pups are registered with. Generally, in the United States that will be the American Kennel Club (AKC). Other registries you may see are the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) or United Kennel Club (UKC.) Be skeptical of any other registries. People only register with them because their dogs are typically not able to be registered with a legitimate registry. If your breed is rare or from imported lines the registry will be either the national breed club and/or the foreign kennel club in the country they were imported from.

If possible you want to go to the breeder's house to meet the prospective parents and see where the pups will be raised. You should definitely expect to meet the mother of the pups. The father will often belong to another kennel so you may not be able to meet him. Hopefully, the breeder will have other relatives on hand you can meet or at least other dogs of the same breed. Do not be surprised if the breeder will not let you visit the pups right away. When they are young they are at risk to catching diseases visitors could un-knowingly bring into the home. Even though they get some immunity from their mother they are still very susceptible at a young age and they are not old enough for their first set of vaccinations yet.

You want to make sure to choose a breeder that will make sure the pups are socialized. Proper socialization can not be stressed enough. This includes exposure to different sights, sounds, smells, people, animals, places, etc from an early age as well as a variety of them. If you are buying a pup with a specific purpose in mind, such as a hunting companion or agility performer, the breeder will probably have additional situations they will expose the pups to.

Reputable breeders will not let their pups go home before a minimum of eight weeks of age and in fact most states that is the earliest, legally, that a pup can leave for its new home. The breeder will have spent hours with the pups observing them and even temperament testing them. They will be able to help match you up with the right pup for your family. If at all possible the breeder is going to want your whole family to come visit the pups. They will want to meet you and see how your family interacts with the chosen pup.

The breeder should send you home with a complete vaccination and worming record, pedigree, samples of food the pups have been eating, and other general information about the breed, crate training, etc Another essential document you should leave with is a contract from the breeder. Contracts vary from very basic to very complex. Be sure to discuss any questions/concerns you have about any provisions in the contract with the breeder. The contract is to protect the breeder, the new owner, and pup. Generally most contracts will allow a brief period for you to take the pup to a veterinarian to be examined and if any problems are found you can return the pup for another pup or full refund. From there the contracts can cover things such as requirements the pup be shown, health guarantees, how you must care for and feed the pup, and most importantly of all if for any reason you are unable to keep your pup that the breeder will take them back at anytime during their life. If you purchased your pup to be a family companion expect the breeder to sell you the pup on limited registration (which does not allow you to register any offspring if bred) and the requirement that you spay/neuter the pup by a specified age.

Do not let the initial purchase be the end of your relationship with your breeder. The breeder is an extremely valuable source of information. They can help with grooming and feeding information. They can re-assure you that certain behaviors are typical for the breed or puppies in general. Breeders want to hear how their pups are doing. (the good and the bad so do not be shy about keeping in touch) Please understand the breeders have a significant investment of themselves in the pups they breed and just want to make sure that everything is going smoothly. The breeder is there to help before minor irritants become a major problem. If your dog develops any type of health problem do let the breeder know so they are aware of the problem and can take proper steps to alert other puppy buyers with related pups.

The trademark of a great breeder is one that puppy buyers refer people to. The true compliment is people that come back to their breeder for another puppy down the road. Believe me this type of relationship is completely different than the one you receive from someone that just wants your $200 cash for that puppy from a newspaper ad and you are on your own after that.