Going to look at puppies

Wellyboots6

Caroline_a wrote: »

If you want a dog that you can do some activities with - eg obedience, you might choose a German Shepherd

Sorry, had to laugh at this bit :rotfl:

I am a German Shepherd rescue addict and wouldn't have anything else.

BUT

I can understand why, for a first dog, you may get a pup from a breeder.

With a rescue you are taking a gamble with the issues the dog may present with, both health-wise and behavioural (although I do tend to go for the ones with 'issues'!). This could be a bit off-putting for your first dog to cope with living on your own.

If you fall in love with a rescue pup that is ideal for you then please take it, but I also see no harm in getting a first pup from a REPUTABLE breeder.

To take on a rescue and not be able to cope with it is probably worse than not taking on a rescue at all.

I guess the wanting a certain breed from a certain line is only the same as myself wanting a male German Shepherd with some behavioural work to be done. Luckily my specifications fit in with a lot of rescues, but other peoples preferences may only be found by buying from a breeder.

I'd rather someone get a dog from a reputable breeder and have that dog for life, than get a rescue and send it back if it isn't quite right

nonnatus

Lee, you sound lovely and sensible. You've obviously done some homework and I wish you lots of luck on your visit.

Be prepared to answer lots of quaetions and hopefully you'll be able to meet both parents of the puppies, to see how they react to averything going on. With a Springer, I would want temperament to be most important! Choose a confident puppy, but be prepared to walk away having chosen none of them (virtually impossible in real life but I've done it several times and have been very proud of myself on the journey home for one reason or another!)

Having a dog from puppy Vs adopting Rescue is an emotive topic and will raise as many opinions as the "Breast Vs Bottle" milk debate in Hooman babies!! I've gone down both routes in the past and both are rewarding. That first 6 months of puppyhood are wonderful but exhausting. A good rescue might have a whole heap of problems in it's unknow puppyhood that you'd be taking on. Risky whatever you choose.

I have BOUGHT and SOLD using Pets4homes and certainly wouldn't classify it as dangerous. My pure bred dogs weren't KC registered (can't stand all that pathetic paperwork just to be able to charge an extra £200) so I couldn't sell via Kennel Club.
P4H is just an opportunity to put buyers and sellers together! In all walks of life, there will be people who abuse the system, but I've seen breeding behaviour that shocked me to the core from a very high and mighty member of KC. This "lady" was selling puppies that were in a SHOCKING state despite her attending Crufts and being a re-curring winner.
What I saw was reported but the KC pulled rank and protected the "lady" giving her a minor knuckle slap but allowing the behaviour to continue. It's not WHAT you know, It's WHO....

Sorry to digress!

Use your common sense. If it's too good to be true.....

Kinski

gettingready wrote: »

OMG what terrible lot of stories...:(

Awful aren't they and these will be the tip of the iceberg, there's more out there but people are afraid to come forward. Until more pressure is put on the government to change the law governing puppy farms then these place will keep churning out pups with no thought to their welfare or to the welfare of the parents.

Frugalista

nonnatus wrote: »

I have BOUGHT and SOLD using Pets4homes and certainly wouldn't classify it as dangerous. My pure bred dogs weren't KC registered (can't stand all that pathetic paperwork just to be able to charge an extra £200) so I couldn't sell via Kennel Club.

This is exactly the sort of comment that would have me screaming to the prospective buyer "RUN, RUN - AND DON'T TOUCH WITH A BARGEPOLE"!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek:

The same kind of breeders would also say things like "Oh! We don't need to eye-test/hip-xray or do any other health checks as we've never had a problem", etc, etc :mad::mad:.

If a "breeder" cannot spare the 10 minutes it takes to do "all that pathetic paperwork" it makes me wonder what other corners they have cut or couldn't be bothered with when rearing their pups :(.

lee111s

Been and saw the pups today, as expected they were lovely. Didn't make my decision straight away, went to the pub for some lunch to mull it over with my girlfriend and decided that the breeders were genuine. They had all the paperwork I asked for including information about the stud. The mother came from a breed I've read about and they are friends with those I've bought mine from. It's their first time breeding (I guess you have to start somewhere) and 3 of the dogs had been sold before they were born due to them being friends of a good breeder who pointed people in their direction.

The dam had a lovely nature, was protective obviously with the pups only being 3 weeks old but was happy for us to handle them and seem very relaxed once we'd been there a few minutes.

Yes I guess it is a risk buying for a breeder who's not "recognised" but as I mentioned new breeders have to have a first litter sometime. By checking all the paperwork and the couple being genuine I think I've done all I can to minimise any possible risk. I'll post a picture soon.

Fosterdog

That's great and I agree everyone has to start somewhere however please consider contacting the more experienced breeder to check things out, they may just be saying that they know them and have been recommended by them, it doesn't make it true.

lee111s

Absolutely, I was pretty intense with the questioning, she had photo's of the dam with the breeder and her mother from when she was born. Of course it could be an elaborate scam however just the nature of the kids around the pups and the way they were answering my questions made me feel like I've made a good decision.

krlyr

Frugalista wrote: »

This is exactly the sort of comment that would have me screaming to the prospective buyer "RUN, RUN - AND DON'T TOUCH WITH A BARGEPOLE"!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek:

The same kind of breeders would also say things like "Oh! We don't need to eye-test/hip-xray or do any other health checks as we've never had a problem", etc, etc :mad::mad:.

If a "breeder" cannot spare the 10 minutes it takes to do "all that pathetic paperwork" it makes me wonder what other corners they have cut or couldn't be bothered with when rearing their pups :(.

I agree. With KC registration running at around £20 a pup IIRC, that's not the reason good breeders add £200 on to the puppy's price, it's the health checks and tests, the carefully sourced stud and related costs (stud fees, transport costs, etc), all the appropriate care, equipment and time needed to breed properly.

Yes, some iffy breeders do charge extortionate prices to KC register a pup. Like some car garages pretend your brakes need fixing, some restaurants pass microwave meals off as worth £15, and so on. But KC registration itself is not just a worthless piece of paper - I may not be into the show world at all myself (and know that it has its faults too), but the KC registration system does at least provide some kind of tracability in terms of lineage, health and so on.

lee111s

moggymutt

Treevo wrote: »

At the very least you're expected to make sense. Otherwise you'll just be thought of as a crazy fundamentalist who places no importance on facts or logic.

Most important fact to me is that loving dogs and puppies, so desperately in need of love and care, are being put down every day. If that means I'm a fundamentalist, so what, I'm simply getting back to the fundamental idea that dogs should not be killed daily.

Nothing wrong with rescuing a pedigree. When I chose my last dogs, I took everything that was due to be pts that day, and one was a GSD,