5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Dog Breeders & How To Find Them

Posted by Gerald Njuguna on September 25th, 2007 at 03:40pm

Dog owners should ensure that their pups come from respectable dog breeders. In the long run this will ensure that you get a dog that is healthy and of good behavior. So what should you look out for when searching for a reputable dog breeder? What questions should you ask dog breeders? In your quest to find them, if any of them fail these questions, the breeder is probably NOT rearing healthy puppies according to the set standards and regulations.

1. Is the dog breeder willing to sell you the puppy with no questions asked whatsoever?

Respectable dog breeders will want to know what will happen to every puppy that they bred, so will ask you many questions. Typical questions they might ask you include your liffestyle, expreience with the particular dog breed that you are interested in, how it will be housed among other countless questions that will affect the future of the puppy.

If the dog breeder is not comfortable with your answers, he/she might not sell you the dog! Also, a responsible dog breeder will require that you sign a contract with them. In the contract, you may be obliged to:

• Have the puppy fixed if you will not breed it
• Contact the dog breeder should the dog get any diseases or medical conditions
• Contact the dog breeder if you find that you are not able to care for the puppy
• Do everything the dog breeder feels is critical for the health of the puppy.

Should the potential breeder look as if he is interested with your money only, look for another

2. Is the dog breeder uneasy in answering questions about the puppy’s pedigree?

A respectable breeder will have first hand information about the pedigrees of the animals he is selling. The breeder should know the parents of the puppy and can easily provide you with the lineage of the family, even going going back several generations.

You purebred puppy also needs to be registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC). The dog breeder will give you an AKC registration form with his section already filled out. Once the application is filled out and submitted, you will then receive a registration certificate from the ACK. If the potential breeder cannot give you ACK registration forms, be careful. I would suggest you move on and look for another dog breeder.

3. Is the breeder concerned with the welfare and health of the dog breeds he’s rearing?

A dog breeder should not have any problem in allowing you to see the facilities where the animals are bred. Examine the dogs. Do they look healthy? If this is not the case, its an indication that the breeder is having a problem maintaining proper facilities.

The dog breeder needs to also have proper record of the puppy’s health care, from the day it was born to the present, & should not have a problem giving you copies of the same.

4. The breeder is uncomfortable allowing you to see the breeding facility of the dogs.

A breeder worth his salt will be more than happy to give you a proper tour of his facility. Should the breeder be reluctant to show you where the potential dog comes from, he might be running a puppy mill.

The motivation behind a puppy mills is purely for profit purposes and they do not care about the animals they are breeding. In most cases, you will find that the dogs are crammed into one cage, with the living conditions of the animals deplorable. The dogs do not also recieve proper medical medical care and nutrition. Should you buy it will probably have major medical and behavioral issues related to its stay there.

5. Is the dog breeder engaging in funny business practices?

If the buying price for your puppy is lower than other prices you’ve seen being advertised for the same dog breed, then probably there is something wrong with the puppy and you should be wary. A probable cause could be that its being bred in a puppy mill or is sick.

If you find that the breeder is selling to pet stores, it a pretty high indication that he is running a puppy mill. Good dog breeder focus their efforts in breeding one or two breeds.

If the dog breeder says that he or she breeds different dogs, this is a cause of alarm because it shows that the breeder is breeding animals indiscriminately, with no concern for proper breed standards.

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