"Proper" place to purchse a puppy from...

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xloopylozzax

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How on earth do you escape the puppy farms, accidental mongrel litters and get a decent puppy that isn't full of health defects?! (or a staff x)

I realise it sounds like we've never had a dog, we did at home, I've just never actually been involved in the choosing!
Would prefer not to go to the dogs home... and we are edging towards a Labrador/pointer type breed. Not interested in showing them, or indeed breeding in the future, but I do want a decent health dog obviously.

any tips please, I end up looking at freeads/gumtree etc which isn't the best place :s
TIA
 
Contact the kennel club and look at their find a puppy section, contact the breed clubs as most know of reputable breeders having litters. If you see a dog you like whilst out and about ask the owner where they got it from . Then go and look at litter more than once. If the breeder has numerous litters or raising the pips in a way you don't like don't b afraid to walk away.
Good luck in your puppy hunt and b prepared to wait for the right pup
 
Look at the top sticky at the top of this forum.

Don't be conned by references to assured breeder or licenced as one is just a cheap way of advertising in some breeds and many puppy farms are licensed.
Breed clubs & breed rescues are often good sources of where to look.
 
I got my gsp from www.champdogs.co.uk. Look for the well known/successful lines like barley arch, kilnrae etc. you may not want to show the pup but by looking for good showing/working lines you will hopefully get a good breeder. Also look for health tests.
 
1) Decide whether you want a pedigree, registered dog, a purebred unregistered dog or a pointer or lab crossbreed. 2) If pedigree, find a KC reg breeder, visit their premises, see parents and relatives, and book a puppy. Make sure you see the pedigree and KC reg of parents, and check for inbreeding/line breeding. 3) for both a purebred unregisterd, or crossbreed, all you can do is look at adverts of available litters. But use your common sense- check the puppy over- clear eyes, no hernias, breathing normally, no discharges anywhere. See the mother, where the pup was born, and tho it probably wont be possible to see the father, ask if you can see a photo . Ask what its been fed on, make sure its 8 weeks old, how old was it when weaned, check baby teeth well through, if they aren't puppy is too young. And if purebred unregistered, make sure all the pups in the litter look the same, like minatures of the parents. Good Luck :)
 
stormox said:
1) Decide whether you want a pedigree, registered dog, a purebred unregistered dog or a pointer or lab crossbreed. 2) If pedigree, find a KC reg breeder, visit their premises, see parents and relatives, and book a puppy. Make sure you see the pedigree and KC reg of parents, and check for inbreeding/line breeding. 3) for both a purebred unregisterd, or crossbreed, all you can do is look at adverts of available litters. But use your common sense- check the puppy over- clear eyes, no hernias, breathing normally, no discharges anywhere. See the mother, where the pup was born, and tho it probably wont be possible to see the father, ask if you can see a photo . Ask what its been fed on, make sure its 8 weeks old, how old was it when weaned, check baby teeth well through, if they aren't puppy is too young. And if purebred unregistered, make sure all the pups in the litter look the same, like minatures of the parents. Good Luck :)
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Please no!

If you want a pedigree you need to find a reputable breeder and get information on health testing and type &/or ability before you go and see a puppy. Inbreeding is a bit of a buzz work and the COI is a tool not a rule and is being used to con less experienced puppy buyers. Ask to meet Mum before you see the puppies - if you don't like her walk away.
Please don't comtemplate buying an unregistered pedigree puppy - it is a guarantee of something dodgy -often used to hide mismatings or lies and never for good reason. A common dealer comment is "we only want them to be pets so we haven't registered them" = can't be registered. Avoid scam registries like Dog lovers - set up by a pet supermarket for puppy farm puppies or Kennel reg - jumped on the bandwagon with no documentation needed to register or the newer designer registries that aare to up the price of iffy cross breed puppies.
If you are not bothered about age try breed rescues and they sometimes get in an in whelp bitch so have cross bred puppies.

Please don't hand over money for puppies bred for a quick buck.
 
In my case:
1. Decided on breed of dog based on one border terrier and a litter of border cross puppies.
2. Go and ‘have a look’ at an unregistered litter of the above breed you see on preloved.
3. Buy puppy because his parents are lovely, both family pets with small children in the house, neither dog is ever walked on the lead and, because your partner at the time is not overly keen on dogs, you pick the 3 week old dog that makes the least noise when you pick it up, assuming this will make it a quieter dog when it is older.
4. 5 weeks later bring small ball of terrier fur home
5. 2 years later realise you couldn’t live without your best friend, the top dog in the county, the cutest, friendliest, cleverest dog ever invented, who will forever be classed as ‘not that bad for a terrier’!
 
Oh I see what you mean, S4sugar- my post reads wrong now I read it back!! when I said 'check for inbreeding/line breeding I meant check that they ARE'NT inbre/linebred. At least that they are no common ancestors in the parents/grand-parents/great-grand-parents generations. And yes, make sure the parents have Kennel Club registration., which can be verified by one quick phone call to the Kennel Club.
 
Please try breed rescue first. At the very least you are freeing up a space for another dog that would be destroyed. Estimates are that around 65 healthy dogs are PTS daily.

And please be a little kinder about Staffie x's. This poor breed gets so vilified and abused and don't deserve it. They are terriers, first and foremost and proper country dogs. Mine are all proper yard dogs and brilliant.
 
stormox said:
Oh I see what you mean, S4sugar- my post reads wrong now I read it back!! when I said 'check for inbreeding/line breeding I meant check that they ARE'NT inbre/linebred. At least that they are no common ancestors in the parents/grand-parents/great-grand-parents generations. And yes, make sure the parents have Kennel Club registration., which can be verified by one quick phone call to the Kennel Club.
Click to expand...
Again, line breeding is not a problem- doubling up on defective genes is. Crossing a labrador with a poodle which both have the same duff gene for PRA can give puppies that will go blind. A pure specimen from properly tested stock will not have that risk. I would not expect any closer breeding than a shared grandparent/great grandparent if the other sides are unrelated but you can have a zero inbreeding coefficient & numerous health problems.
 
Luci07 said:
Please try breed rescue first. At the very least you are freeing up a space for another dog that would be destroyed. Estimates are that around 65 healthy dogs are PTS daily.

And please be a little kinder about Staffie x's. This poor breed gets so vilified and abused and don't deserve it. They are terriers, first and foremost and proper country dogs. Mine are all proper yard dogs and brilliant.
Click to expand...

I would prefer a puppy because then atleast it is a clean slate. I have friends/family with rescue dogs which have unknown and abusive pasts- not something I want, because I aren't experienced enough to "retrain" something like that.

As for not wanting a staffy, I have met nice ones, but it's not a breed I want to live with- I'm not a massive terrier fan full stop.

Thanks for all the information so far :)
 
Dogs from or via breed rescue often have full histories -not always but as an example one I took back, as his breeder, was eight years old and came in due to the sudden death of his owner. Not something you can plan for and luckily the owners sister knew of the "back to breeder" clause in the puppy contract. I had seen the dog several times a year - often with his owners young nieces & nephews. He was rehomed to a family on our puppy list as we won't put unknowns in homes with young children and he ticked every box ecept age. Eight years later this family came back for a puppy.
Talk to the breed rescues - they won't try the hard sell and should be honest about the pros & cons of their breed. I kennel & rehab for several breed rescues and we have had puppies as young as 12 weeks handed in. (all from puppy farms that don't take back)
 
If you want a lab, pm me, I can put you in touch with two breeders who can send you in the right direction. Not their pups, they have nothing planned currently, but they know others and carry out full health tests and are super ethical.
 
s4sugar said:
Talk to the breed rescues - they won't try the hard sell and should be honest about the pros & cons of their breed. I kennel & rehab for several breed rescues and we have had puppies as young as 12 weeks handed in. (all from puppy farms that don't take back)
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But surely if you get a 12 week puppy from a breed rescue, which has come from a puppy farm, you are in danger of all the untested-for, inherited diseases that don't show up until the pup is older same as you would get had you bought the pup yourself from a puppy farm a month earlier? Also the poor early nutrition and lack of proper socialisation when young associated with puppy farms?
 
stormox said:
But surely if you get a 12 week puppy from a breed rescue, which has come from a puppy farm, you are in danger of all the untested-for, inherited diseases that don't show up until the pup is older same as you would get had you bought the pup yourself from a puppy farm a month earlier? Also the poor early nutrition and lack of proper socialisation when young associated with puppy farms?
Click to expand...
True but at least you are not putting money in the puppy farmers' pockets and the original purchaser has hopefully learned their lesson & will tell others not to repeat their mistake. You only have to look at some of the tesimonials on some puppy shop site to see how stupid some buyers can be.

At least breed rescues wil try to match puppies to families. We had one basset pup handed in because it needed more than the ten minutes exercise a day that they were told when they chose it.
 
s4sugar said:
Please no!

If you want a pedigree you need to find a reputable breeder and get information on health testing and type &/or ability before you go and see a puppy. Inbreeding is a bit of a buzz work and the COI is a tool not a rule and is being used to con less experienced puppy buyers. Ask to meet Mum before you see the puppies - if you don't like her walk away.
Please don't comtemplate buying an unregistered pedigree puppy - it is a guarantee of something dodgy -often used to hide mismatings or lies and never for good reason. A common dealer comment is "we only want them to be pets so we haven't registered them" = can't be registered. Avoid scam registries like Dog lovers - set up by a pet supermarket for puppy farm puppies or Kennel reg - jumped on the bandwagon with no documentation needed to register or the newer designer registries that aare to up the price of iffy cross breed puppies.
If you are not bothered about age try breed rescues and they sometimes get in an in whelp bitch so have cross bred puppies.

Please don't hand over money for puppies bred for a quick buck.
Click to expand...

This, absolutely!

A properly reared, cherished puppy, from properly health tested parents, proven in their field (work, showing etc.).

Look on the KC website for details of what health tests your chosen breed requires. That is NOT the same as a health check once over from a BYB's vet!
 
As others have said look at the KC website and/or contact the Breed Clubs.. we got both of our two that way. I have a Labrador and I contacted the Labrador Club who put me touch with some breeders, I had my name down for my girl before she was born, they are showing people and they bred to keep puppies for themselves rather than to make money.

The breeder should be tripping over themselves to show you the mother, the pedigree and all the health tests.
 
With my own breed, where there is a lot of variety, as well as all the health tests, I would always
say, go to a show or a working trial or an obedience competition or a training club and see what type you like and take it from there. Ideally that way you should see the best examples of all the different types. For example in my own breed the English showlines are vastly different to the German showlines and the working lines are different again.

Would totally avoid people using colour, so-called rare traits and being 'cute' as selling points. All puppies are cute. Or 'real' this or 'old-fashioned' that. A good litter won't need such a sales pitch.

Would also avoid people breeding the same pair back every year or people with a shedload of females and only one or two males and never use outside studs.

Also avoid people who use stupid excuses for not health testing 'straight backed dogs don't get hip dysplasia/I don't use GA on my dogs'. To run the full gamut of health tests on both parents is not much more than the price of one or maybe two pups. Those who don't usually just can't be bothered spending the money.
 
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