{"id":3116,"date":"2014-04-06T22:12:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T11:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=3116"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:47:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:17:01","slug":"how-to-find-a-good-dog-breeder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-breeding\/how-to-find-a-good-dog-breeder\/","title":{"rendered":"How to find a good dog breeder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Purchasing a Dog or Puppy: What to look for in a breeder<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So you have made a decision to add a dog or puppy to your family. Congratulations!<\/p>\n<p>But how do you make sure you&#8217;re getting a puppy from an ethical source?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not a &#8216;black or white&#8217; matter. There is no definitive issue that makes a breeder &#8216;good&#8217; or &#8216;bad&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, here&#8217;s a guide which talks about necessities, niceties, and red flags.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Necessities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your breeder doesn&#8217;t do this then walk away&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Breeder shows concern and regard to the health of dogs and puppies &#8211; either in health testing or in the studs used (e.g. choosing old studs that show they&#8217;re healthy, using DNA testing, using x-rays, and other relvant tests)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Breeder shows concern and regard to the psychological well being of their dogs and puppies &#8211; either in providing enrichment on site, by frequently taking their dogs &#8216;out and about&#8217;, by using Dunbar&#8217;s methods of raising puppies (with <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/long-term-confinement-area-for-puppies\/\">toilet area<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/praise-kongs\/\">kongs<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/puppy-socialisation-dunbar\/\">socialisation<\/a>), and preferably a combination of these methods.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder has a clear purpose in their breeding program that goes beyond &#8216;breeding pet puppies&#8217; &#8211; they may enter their dogs in dog shows, participate in agility or obedience with their dogs, or have dogs that compete in working dog trials<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder&#8217;s dogs approach you in a friendly and sociable way. You are able to interact with and handle all dogs on the property. The mother should be available and should show exceptionable sociable behaviour.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder is willing to provide life-long support to you as a puppy buyer &#8211; including taking back the dog at any point things &#8216;don&#8217;t work out&#8217;<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder happily shows you all the dogs in their care<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Niceties<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s\u00a0<em>nice<\/em> for the breeder to do any of these things, but don&#8217;t be concerned if it doesn&#8217;t happen.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The stud dog is on site<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder asks you lots of questions about your household and what you&#8217;re looking for<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>There is a sales contract that goes beyond simple money exchange<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder can show registration or affiliation to an organisation with a code of conduct\/ethics<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder can recite pedigrees and seems to be oozing with knowledge about the breed<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Red Flags<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If any of these items take place, you may want to reconsider purchasing an animal from this breeder.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The puppies are not vaccinated<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder seems overly concerned about the purchase price<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Not all adult dogs are sociable and friendly<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Part of the breeder&#8217;s sales pitch is &#8216;lots of colours available&#8217; or &#8216;will grow up big&#8217; or &#8216;will stay tiny&#8217; or &#8216;rare!&#8217;<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder asks for deposits before a bitch is mated<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder sells puppies together to the same pet family<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The puppies are crossbreeds which seem to have no real purpose (ask, how do they fit into the clear purpose of their breeding program?)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The puppies are crossbreeds and are given a fancy name like &#8216;labradoodle&#8217; or &#8216;spanador&#8217;.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder does seem to be putting the hard sell on you &#8211; they&#8217;re saying &#8220;if you put a deposit down today, I&#8217;ll take $100 off the asking price&#8221; or &#8220;If you don&#8217;t buy him now, I have someone coming at 2 o&#8217;clock who will buy him&#8221;.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder breeds more than 3 different breeds of dogs<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4179 alignright\" alt=\"stop sign\" src=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/photo_612_20051201.jpg\" width=\"363\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/photo_612_20051201.jpg 2400w, http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/photo_612_20051201-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/photo_612_20051201-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do Not Buys!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If a breeder performs any of the following points, then do not purchase a puppy and look elsewhere.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You cannot meet the mother or father in any circumstances (e.g. ethical breeders, even if the stud dog owner is interstate that should be able to say &#8216;you can meet them if you really want to go interstate&#8217;)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Puppies are not microchipped &#8211; in most states of Australia, this is a legal requirement<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The dogs or puppies seem unhealthy or in poor condition (dirty, matted, skinny, fat)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The adult dogs are not sociable and friendly, especially if many of the adult dogs are not friendly<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The breeder is unwilling to show you all the dogs at their home<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there anything you would add to this list?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Further reading:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nowisconsinpuppymills.com\/redflags.html\">Red Flags: Warning signs when dealing with a breeder<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.houndcrazy.com\/2013\/12\/how-to-tell-if-your-dog-breeder-is.html\">How to tell if your dog breeder is responsible<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-breeding\/a-puppy-with-papers-from-a-registered-breeder\/\">A puppy &#8216;with papers&#8217; from a &#8216;registered breeder&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/select-select-select\/\">Select, select, select<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/dog-breeders-dont-produce-lemon-puppies\/\">Dog Breeders: Don&#8217;t produce lemon puppies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So you&#8217;ve made the decision to add a dog to your household, but how do you go about finding an ethical breeder? This post hopes to give you some guidance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,358],"tags":[55,56,971,365,975,12,233,11,972,973,974,21,20],"class_list":["post-3116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-breeding","category-how-to-guides","tag-breeder","tag-breeders","tag-buying-a-dog","tag-buying-a-puppy","tag-choosing-a-breeder","tag-dog","tag-dog-breeding-2","tag-dogs","tag-finding-a-breeder","tag-finding-a-dog","tag-finding-a-puppy","tag-puppies-2","tag-puppy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3116"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4187,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116\/revisions\/4187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}