Nagging Questions:
The Stuff You HAVE to Know
About What This Breeder Finds

Appealing About Their Breed

Why do you have this breed?

Virtually all dogs today are primarily companions even if also utilized in performance areas like herding or hunting. However, if a breeder answers this question with something like 'we love to have puppies', 'this breed has such cute puppies', 'we support ourselves by selling the puppies.' etc. you've got a bad egg. Unfortunately, most are far too clever to be that honest so they will likely answer as companions. This is still not an acceptable answer. With millions of dogs euthanized every year at shelters (and plenty of them are purebreds) NO reason exists to breed a dog that has not been demonstrated as of suitable quality. Currently the only way to do that is by the objective assessment of third parties, namely showing the dog. If the immediate parents of the puppy you are considering are not Champions, ask why. If they have been shown but aren't finished, why were they bred? Was someone in a rush? If the breeder uses useless terms like the puppies come from "Champion bloodlines" that means nothing. EVERY dog regardless of their individual quality will produce puppies of lesser quality... so why would it matter then? Because quality dogs will produce more quality dogs and if you are paying a fair price for a puppy, you require a quality dog.

Additionally, and of far greater importance to many is the fact that a dog that is a champion has a very high likelihood of having a stable temperament. Show venues require a dog that has been properly socialized and can cope with many stresses from waiting calmly in the presence of other dogs to allowing strangers to handle them all over. This difference alone is critical since the breeder with a litter mothered by a female that never gets out and lacks proper socialization will be far more shy than the litter with a confident mom.

Recently a breeder changed to another breed, when asked why they replied "the market for this breed is better". After reading all this, DigitalDog hopes you realize how bad an answer that is.

Also to be avoided is someone who breeds multiple breeds. It's VERY difficult to breed one breed responsibly. Two would be even more challenging. Three or more is IMPOSSIBLE to do properly. There are just too many shows, too many health issues and too many details in each breed to stay on top of to be able to do it well with only 24 hours in a day.

If you have more questions, or a specific answer you'd like to review with DigitalDog, come to the DigitalDog Forum and share.

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