Puppy-buyer information
The information below is for you, the puppy buyer.
There seems to be a great deal of confusion about the “proper” way to go about the puppy-buying process.
So, for puppy buyers and anyone else thinking about approaching a good breeder about a puppy, here you go:
There seems to be a great deal of confusion about the “proper” way to go about the puppy-buying process.
So, for puppy buyers and anyone else thinking about approaching a good breeder about a puppy, here you go:
- STOP LOOKING FOR A PUPPY. LOOK FOR A BREEDER! The classic mistake puppy buyers make is saying, “I need an xx-breed puppy at the beginning of the fall” (or whatever it may be). So they go out, for example, looking for litters due in August. This is not the way to find a puppy who will be a family member for a long time. Instead, look for a BREEDER. Make a personal connection with a breeder whom you trust and who you feel is in sync with your own philosophy and criteria. Then wait for a puppy from that breeder.
- INTRODUCE YOURSELF THOROUGHLY. Please don't begin with an e-mail asking: “Do you have puppies for sale?” Instead, introduce yourself with your name, your location (the state at least), your phone number, and when you’d like to be contacted. If you call me and my voicemail answers, leave the same information in your message. (And please, if price is your first consideration, look elsewhere.)
- PLEASE DO NOT GET ON MORE THAN ONE WAITING LIST unless you are VERY honest about it. A responsible breeder will be honest with you and won’t take your reservation unless there is a good chance you will be getting a puppy. And a reputable, responsible breeder will assist you if she does not have a puppy for you. Please remember that as soon as your name is on one of our lists, we are turning away other potential puppy buyers. If we’ve sent ten people elsewhere because our list is full, and then suddenly you say “Oh, yeah, I got a puppy from another breeder,” it is it unfair to us and the puppy we have reserved for you and your family. So please, BE HONEST.
- PLEASE FINISH YOUR TRANSACTION WITH ONE BREEDER BEFORE BEGINNING ONE WITH ANOTHER. If you end a conversation with me saying “Well, this just all sounds wonderful, and I’m going to talk it over with my spouse and we’ll call you about getting on your waiting list,” and then you hang up and call the next breeder on your list, that’s not OK. If you feel you don’t click with me, or you want to keep your options open, please feel free to ask for the names and numbers of other breeders I recommend. That way you are free to continue looking, and I won't be preventing other puppy buyers from reserving. If you are on my waiting list, and you decide that you don’t want to be on it anymore, call me AS SOON AS YOU KNOW. Just keep me in the loop and let me close off my commitment to you before you open it with another breeder. Which brings us to something that is extremely important, and that most prospective puppy buyers don't realize:
- EVERY BREEDER KNOWS EVERY OTHER BREEDER. The show breeding community is VERY small and VERY close-knit. If you err, err on the side of this being a relationship, not a transaction. Try to act the way you would with a good friend, not with an appliance salesman. And the ending will be as happy for you and your new four-legged addition as it is for your breeder.