Buying a small breed pup.. Questions?

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TurtleToo

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Any particular questions you would ask a breeder when going to view pups? pups in question are shih tzus, which have no recommended health tests from the kennel club, making picking a responsible breeder seem a little more difficult. any help much appreciated!
 
Look at the breeders history and ask which one they are keeping.
If they are not keeping one without a very good reason eg no bitches or teh only bitch is not show quality because ... (& a specific reason ...) ask yourself why the litter was bred.

Ask why they chose the dog they used. Ask about patella luxation as this, hernias, wry jaws and cryptocidism are prevelent in the pet bred ones.

You show see a show record for the sire and a stud book number. You need to see the KC papers for the parents. A simple question like what are the parents registered names when phoning can save you a lot of travelling as well as googleing the phone number.

It is a good idea to speak to a breed club for info on breeders -The KC assured breeder scheme does not go far enough and is open to abuse.
http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk/services/public/findaclub/breed/list.aspx?id=4102

Breed rescues can often give help as it is in their interest to encourage responsible breeding & placement of puppies.
 
For this breed check their teeth - often have overshot lower jaw. Check for umbilical hernias - not a breed trait as many rubbish breeders tell gullible new owners. Check for both testicles in boys. And check the shape of the face/nose. This breed is bred to have a short nose and this can lead to breathing problems - if you want a pet rather than a show dog then a slightly longer nose is better. The eyes can also be affected by this as the hair from the bridge of the nose sticks into the eyes.
Good Luck
 
Pup is for a family member who I talked out of buying a shihtzu/lhasa apso cross, but I will be viewing too and will be taking a list of questions as want pup to be as perfect as possible with a live animal. They are only a week old now but we will be viewing soon to pick a pup if all is well (will an overshot jaw/hernia be visible at approx 10 days?). It's a nice idea to have pup home and settled over the Christmas break (quiet household, no children) but we decided that weeding through the breeders who had purposely bred christmas pups would be too difficult. Any other reason why not to view at this time of the year is welcome though if i have missed something.
 
Small defects might be missed at 10 days. But most hernias get better/smaller as they grow and most jaws get worse. A small hernia is unlikely to be a concern unless you want to breed. And most dogs cope with bad jaws but generally need more dental care/scaling/extractions. Just remembered check the nostrils too. We see some with ridiculously tiny pinched nostrils - they have lots of problems breathing and more respiratory infections and often need surgery. Unfortunately a popular breed for bad breeders.
 
I would phone up the breed club with the name of the person and their KC affix for their opinion along with sire and dams name if possible. Thye will be able to tell you wether or not to aviod that breeder or not. Best get as much information about the breeder as you can before handing over any kind of money. Study the breed clubs code of breeding ethics and ask questions of the breeder pertaining to this.

http://www.theshihtzuclub.co.uk/breeders.htm
 
Lots of good advice above, its very important to do loads of research. I would not expect a breeder to let you handle a pup much to check for hernias etc at 10 days old, in fact I wouldn't let anyone visit pups that young but thats just me.
 
I asked breeder for parents names and she said their documents would be available to see when viewing pups but didnt tell me the names. any opinion on that? i wanted to do some research before going to view..
 
Find another breeder.

Anyone with an interest in the breed will be up front about the parent's names.
It is quite usual to lure you in to view puppies and then all common sense goes out of the window.
 
I think it's well dodge she won't tell you the names of the litter's parents! Why on earth would she want/need to delay/prevent you knowing? If she is all above board, a quality breeder with nothing to hide, she would be shouting from the rooftops (or, almost - at least be proud to tell!) as to the provenance and wonderfulness of her litter. I agree - find another breeder.
(I knew the parents of my pup's litter months before he existed - when he was but a sniff on the bottom of his mother ;))
 
Look elsewhere. I cannot think of any reason why a breeder wouldn't want to give the parents names, unless they don't want you to find out that they aren't registered or something. As venevidivic says a breeder should be proud of their bitch and the dog they have used, I sent loads of pictures/links to pedigrees of Evie and the dog I used to my prospective puppy owners.
 
This would be a red flag to me also, before we went to see our pup we were able to view her parents on line and her pedigree and it was all on the Lancashire Heeler Community site who only allow breeders to advertise who satisfy their criteria.

Walk away OP it will only lead to heartache, you can see how people get sucked in and they could all be bought in from god knows where. Find another breeder who as others have said is proud of their pups and is happy to answer all your questions.
 
Agree, walk away. I'm not a breeder, never have been, never will be unless I am lucky to ever own anything spectacular, and I can tell you the registered names of the parents of the dogs I have ever owned and some of their grandparents too.
 
Thought so, I'm glad I asked her for their names! I work in a pet shop and see cute puppies a lot, so hopefully I'll be the voice of reason when we do find a litter to go and view! We have now decided to get our names in with a few rescues and wait until after Christmas, just in case something young shows up having caused too much disruption in the house. Thanks all.
 
A wise move. If more people had your approach and did their research maybe some of these dodgy breeders would give up. I would contact the breed club linked above and ask them to tell you of breeders in your area who they recommend.
 
This from a rescue which did a sweep of council pounds on Friday to remove the most 'rehomeable' to make way for a backlog of dogs coming in (you know yourself, in order to make room, the council has to rely on the dogs being rehomed, reclaimed or taken by rescue, or they must put to sleep. They do not have unlimited resources or kennel space).

"The dogs that we took in yesterday are 2 Lab X pups, 2 Newfoundland X pups, 2 Terrier X pups, a white Staffie, 3 Collies, a lab X and a springer Spaniel pup"
 
CaveCanem said:
This from a rescue which did a sweep of council pounds on Friday to remove the most 'rehomeable' to make way for a backlog of dogs coming in (you know yourself, in order to make room, the council has to rely on the dogs being rehomed, reclaimed or taken by rescue, or they must put to sleep. They do not have unlimited resources or kennel space).

"The dogs that we took in yesterday are 2 Lab X pups, 2 Newfoundland X pups, 2 Terrier X pups, a white Staffie, 3 Collies, a lab X and a springer Spaniel pup"
Click to expand...

Wow it never fails to amaze me why would people get a pup to then give it up so quickly. I wish I had room/time for another! I hope you find them all homes quickly they sound so rehomable. Whats the Lab x, xed with?
 
I've no idea, it's a rescue up the road from me that I follow on Facebook.

I think it's a combination of chuck-outs and, I suspect, with the multiple pups of the same breed, backyard bred ones ready for the Christmas markets, which have failed to sell and are now getting to be a handful, or perhaps there is another litter on the way.
 
The problem is she's looking for a small fluffy dog type, which there aren't so many of in rescues, but as she can deal with behavioural issues and its a childfree house, hopefully we'll come across something as would much rather rescue.
 
Contact the breed rescues and get on their logs. Small fluffy types come up more often than you think but are usually quickly spoken for.
 
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