New Puppy - Questions?

Sezzagirl

Hi

We have decided to get a puppy and are going to look at some on saturday:j

We have been around dogs in the past but never bought a puppy like this so what I want to know is what questions should we be asking of the breeder?:cool:

The pups are Miniature Schnauzers.

Thanks

krlyr

Try to ask questions before you visit the breeder, a reputable one will be happy to answer them over the phone or email (infact, they will think it's great that you're asking). It is going to be far more difficult to say no to what you suspect is a dodgy breeder once you've actually seen their cute little puppy faces!
These articles may help
http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/good_breeder
http://www.dogsey.com/dog-breeders.htm
http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_breedersandpetshops.php (US-based but still relevant info)

As may these previous, recent threads
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3721533
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3718213
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3804327
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3567449
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3555223
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3551441

My initial concern here, as I mentioned in one of the above threads to someone else, is that the breeder has puppies available after birth rather than you having to go on a waiting list. It can happen, but reputable breeders usually have several people after pups from a litter and it can be usual to have to wait months until they breed their next litter, as they do not line up pups like stock on a shelf. It is definately worth the wait to get a healthy, good-temperament puppy rather than take a risk with a puppyfarm/BYB puppy though.
Is there an online ad for the pups you're going to visit? I'd be interested to have a look if you didn't mind (feel free to PM the link if you'd rather not post it on here), and happy to let you know of any 'red flags' it raises, if any.

con1888

The advice above is the best. I had considered going down the puppy route before going rescue.

I had intially found a few sellers but when I asked the questions none really were upto scratch, the main question was ' Why are the breeding the dogs? ' All the ones with pups ready soon seemed to be ' an accident' or 'friend has one and so do I.' I was also asking if the parents were hip scored and some didn't even know what that was ( which in relation to the breed, GSD, is pretty important).

Good luck in your puppy quest, hopefully you will find a good breeder.

MatyMoo

This may give you some specific questions for a Schnauzer:

http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6920

I was lucky and found a breeder with a litter, someone had dropped out of their waiting list just at the time I was looking for my pup. They wanted a girl and it was a litter of boys.

Sezzagirl

Thanks for the answers - very helpful

Another query, I would quite like a girl - no real reason, just a feeling, but I have been told you have to let a girl have a litter of pups before she is spayed or she will have problems.:(

Is that always the case or would we be better off with another boy in my very boyish household!:p

lisawood78

It is an old wives tale, absolutely no truth in it at all.

Fosterdog

Sezzagirl wrote: »

Another query, I would quite like a girl - no real reason, just a feeling, but I have been told you have to let a girl have a litter of pups before she is spayed or she will have problems.:(

Whoever told you that was lying, there are no health benefits to a dog to have a litter before being spayed, if anything the things that can go wrong with the pregnancy be be a lot worse (at worst mum and whole litter die).
I've had cats and dogs my whole life and foster rescue dogs and every single one has been spayed/neutered as early as possibly and I've never had a problem.

Some vets like to wait until after the first season but again I've never had issues at around 6 months.

Good luck with your new furry, make sure you put pics up for us all to see.

Sezzagirl

ps We have looked at a rescue dog but there really doesn't seem to be anything in our rescue places that would be the right match for our family in term of what we can give them and what we want from them :-)

Sezzagirl

Thanks for the very quick replies

And the reassurance! I had hoped to balance out the boyishness in the house - even if only a little

Off to work for a bit now so will be able to read not post for a while

Thanks again (now getting a bit excited! Don't tell the kids that!)

krlyr

Sorry I didn't reply last night. The ad doesn't raise any red flags immediately, but I would be wondering why the breeder chose that website to advertise on and why they don't have a waiting list or be able to find homes through the breed club/shows/word of mouth/etc.
Like you said, phone number isn't bringing up any alarming signs - seen the same ad on 2 other sites but not multiple ads for multiple breeds which is a good thing. It does bring up info on a baby accessories shop so sounds like perhaps one of them works from home, which is good as it means they're about to socialise pups in the vital stages. Also found the guy on Facebook (amazing how easy it is to track down people online!) - he looks pretty young, so perhaps they're just fairly new to the breeding "game" and are using these websites while they're still building a name for themselves.

Their name brings up their KC registration - I've heard that you can trace the lineage of registered litters and check that health tests have actually been done, you need the mum and dad's KC registered names but a decent breeder shouldn't hesitate to tell you these on request -
http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/services/public/mateselect/test/Default.aspx

"Eye tested" sounds good but I would ask exactly what this entails. Don't know much about Miniature Schnauzers myself but this website has a lot of blurb on the eye conditions they can be prone to - http://www.schnauzerclub.co.uk/health.shtml
Make sure it's the official "eye test", not just a vet looking at their eyes and deeming them tested (dodgy breeders often say "health checked", i.e. vet has looked them over for 2 minutes and saw nothing obvious)
Also see that the breed can be prone to hip dysplasia so I would ask if the parents/ancestors have been hip scored.
Their "available from" date works out exactly 8 weeks from the registered DOB which is good - another red flag is anyone willing to let the pups go before 8 weeks (6 week is a common one used by BYBs/puppy farms), the extra couple of weeks with mum is vital in their mental development.

Definately no need to breed from a !!!!! at all - infact, the longer she goes unspayed, the higher the chance of her developing mammary cancer. You do have to balance this out with the health risks of spaying too early though, hormones do play a part in both physical and mental development, spaying too early can increase the likelihood of some health conditions or worsen behavioural issues.
http://www.caninesports.com/SpayNeuter.html
Pros and cons to it, an unspayed !!!!! can be harder to deal with - some can be messier during their season than others (had one that you could barely tell was in season, and one that dripped all over the place!), you may have to keep her indoors with no walks during the fertile period (keeping her on-lead may stop her running off to find a dog, but once an off-lead dog gets a scent of her, you will struggle to fight him off if he runs over!) and no unsupervised garden access either - have heard several cases of neighbouring dogs hopping 6' fencing to get into a garden with an in-heat b!tch. Plus some dogs do suffer physically and behaviourally when in heat, they can go off their food, get sickness, suffer from phantom pregnancies, get very 'down', etc. and they're also more prone to pyometra in the few weeks after a season. Weigh it up, a decent breeder would be happy to discuss this with you, or may take the decisions out of your hands by insisting you have it done as a condition of buying the pup.

If you're new to puppies, or haven't one in a while, the Gwen Bailey book, "The Perfect Puppy" comes very well recommended - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Puppy-Gwen-Bailey/dp/0600585816

Fosterdog

Sezzagirl wrote: »

ps We have looked at a rescue dog but there really doesn't seem to be anything in our rescue places that would be the right match for our family in term of what we can give them and what we want from them :-)

Have you looked into a breed rescue instead of a general one?
there's a list of breed rescue contact details at the bottom of the page http://www.max-the-schnauzer.com/uk-schnauzer-rescue.html

As they are rescues linked to the breed clubs it's a good place to find out about good reputable breeders who have all the health test done rather that puppy farms and back yard breeders