Advice on getting the right puppy and The Kennel Club. please

shegirl

How did it go today BM?

Just got sent a pic of my pup with his brothers and sisters eating rice pudding so cute!

ali-t

Hey Clare, good luck in your search. The general train of thought is that if the breeder owns both the parents it is likely to be a mating of convenience but the flip side of this may be that they bought the dog and bought a complementary !!!!! later. You won't know unless you ask.

With regards to health testing many of the tests can't be done on pups so are done on the parents e.g. hip scores can't be done until 1 year old so prospective buyers have to go on the hip scores of the parents. Probably a poor example as no requirement for staffies to be hip scored.

The other thing with health tests is that they are not mandatory under any scheme and surprisingly when the accredited breeder scheme was set up you didn't have to breed a litter to be part of it. Bizarre!

For me, the point in having a pedigree is to be able to research health and temprament over a number of generations rather than just taking the breeders word for it. If there are any dog shows coming up near you it would be worth going along and speaking to some of the staffy breeders to get some recommendations for reputable breeders.

One of my dogs is a staffy and she is adorable. They really are little compact bundles of love aaaaaw.

JemJam

shegirl wrote: »

How did it go today BM?

Just got sent a pic of my pup with his brothers and sisters eating rice pudding so cute!

Ooooooo I have a Beagle pup too!!!! She love love loved rice pudding!! I felt really guilty when she had to stop having it cos she had to go on "proper" food lol!

My pup is KC registered and I visited 3 "breeders" before i chose her; some i doubt were proper breeders and it was gutting having to leave some of the pups, cos I saw a few adorable runts too. The couple I got her from were on a farm but we had a goood look around the place cos they had so many different animals up there and it was fascinating. We saw her mother, pics of her dad, and played with her bro's n sisters, they were all in very good nick. On our first visit we spent just over an hour there and Josie definately chose us cos she would always try to clamber all over me so she was instantly my fave .
2nd visit we were there just under an hour, and when we went to collect her we were there an hour again, just chatting and looking at the papers and free insurance we had from them and the buckets of food & puppy supplies, advice sheets, contact sheets, just loads of info which i still have. They had photos of all the pups that have left them as the new owners all seem to keep in touch and send pics on emails / post, which I also do now! They even helped us sort out the car for the long ride home (only long cos I was too afraid to drive fast in case i scared her lol).

We recieved her birth certificate thing and turns out her great great grandmother (think it was that relation i've not got the certs to check it now) was sister to our last Beagle from back in 1992, which we got from Hereford and was a bit bizarre but nice to know cos our last Beagle was brilliant.

I started looking for a pup in February and finally got one in July, so it does take time, but you have to feel confident and comfortable with the pup, environment, breeder, etc, and getting a pup randomly from a paper/advert (which I know the OP is clearly not doing) is never the best idea.

shegirl

JemJam wrote: »

Ooooooo I have a Beagle pup too!!!! She love love loved rice pudding!! I felt really guilty when she had to stop having it cos she had to go on "proper" food lol!

My pup is KC registered and I visited 3 "breeders" before i chose her; some i doubt were proper breeders and it was gutting having to leave some of the pups, cos I saw a few adorable runts too. The couple I got her from were on a farm but we had a goood look around the place cos they had so many different animals up there and it was fascinating. We saw her mother, pics of her dad, and played with her bro's n sisters, they were all in very good nick. On our first visit we spent just over an hour there and Josie definately chose us cos she would always try to clamber all over me so she was instantly my fave .
2nd visit we were there just under an hour, and when we went to collect her we were there an hour again, just chatting and looking at the papers and free insurance we had from them and the buckets of food & puppy supplies, advice sheets, contact sheets, just loads of info which i still have. They had photos of all the pups that have left them as the new owners all seem to keep in touch and send pics on emails / post, which I also do now! They even helped us sort out the car for the long ride home (only long cos I was too afraid to drive fast in case i scared her lol).

We recieved her birth certificate thing and turns out her great great grandmother (think it was that relation i've not got the certs to check it now) was sister to our last Beagle from back in 1992, which we got from Hereford and was a bit bizarre but nice to know cos our last Beagle was brilliant.

I started looking for a pup in February and finally got one in July, so it does take time, but you have to feel confident and comfortable with the pup, environment, breeder, etc, and getting a pup randomly from a paper/advert (which I know the OP is clearly not doing) is never the best idea.

Ours is on a farm too Brought up with bunnies aswell!!!!

How is yours doing?Was she really noisy when she first came home etc? I'm so excited but wondering about the noise lol They're amazing dogs aren't they Some people seem so down on them though Ok,so they can be stubborn and follow their noses but they're gorgeous,fun,friendly,love attention and can be very well trained...surely that outweighs the possible noise,the occasional stubborness and the nose following:D

blue_monkey_2

I went for another visit yesterday and was there for about 3/4 of an hour just chatting, going back again twice next week to see her before we go and yes, I am more than confident with these bereeders now. Mum and dad have been checked and are regsitered. Dad is sired out and yes, they got mum lateron. She has only had one litter, KC confirmed this to me. They have 2 other dogs and these have had a litter each too.

We saw where pups slept and was chatting the the guy for an hour, it was more than obvious that these dogs are kept in the house, just little things like there being claw marks around the edge of the kitchen table where the dogs put their paws up.

They asked every question I needed to know and told me more about things I had not thought of. Said I can go back whenever I wanted to see her and let me take pictures. I am going on holiday next weekend for 3 weeks and he is going to send me pictures of the puppy while we are away and he told me to come back next week before we go. He explained how all the registering works what food they are putting them on. He is also going to take her for her first injection at 8 weeks as we will be on holiday when they are due, we are collecting her at 9 weeks and we will give her the follow up one and I'll have her checked again then.

To be honest we are getting our own insurance with the Ins Co we have with our other pets as we our other puppy sniffed up a grass seed and I had a MAJOR headache with Petplan over it so I'll never use them again. She will be insured before she comes to us so even if she does come with insurance we will not be using it.

I am not sure what else to say really. I took a friend with me yesterday and I came out knowing that I did not need to look elsewhere as I am more than confident that this breeder is reputable and honest - these pups are also bought up around children, cats and other dogs so they are going to be having these in our enviroment too. The mum was gorgeous, I think my friend would have taken her, LOL. I am going to see if I can put a picture up for you to see.

blue_monkey_2

Here we go, pic as promised (sorry for size, not sure how to make it smaller):

jackieglasgow

Oh she is adorable. I have a staffie, she was a rescue, and I have to be honest and say breeding them, and buying from a breeder makes me a bit uneasy when I see how many of them are in rescues unwanted, but at least you've thought it through properly, and aren't one of those meanderthal idiots who use these fantastic wee dogs as a status symbol. Are you getting her speyed? I hope she brings you lots of joy, as mine does - she is lying on my lap sleeping at the moment. This from me who wasn't even going to let her on the sofa!