So my husband is finally willing to entertain getting a puppy in the next year. Our two kids have reached the age (5 and 7) that we think we can devote enough time to puppy training and, more importantly, our kids are old enough to treat a dog right, rather than, well, torturing a dog with tight squeezing or harassing them.
I have found a couple of breeders who meet my criteria. I'm looking for a german showline. I don't need the drive of a working line dog. We want a family companion only. We want a male (husband's preference, I personally would take either), and a puppy (he really wants a puppy to enjoy that stage, I want a young dog who will be raised with my kids and quite frankly, I've gone through losing two dogs at a pretty old age and would like to enjoy the young dog side of things again. My absolute major requirement is a healthy puppy. I've dealt with DM and soundness issues. I want to go to a breeder that does DM clear breeding and hip/elbow certification. I would love to have a long coated dog again (both of mine were long haired and I happen to love it). I have no desire to ever breed a puppy so limited registration or no registration at all is needed. Again, I just want the assurance that a sound dog is being bred. The dilemma is price tag. I'll admit, I hate the idea of dropping $2000 for a puppy because he's bred from a line of a hundred champions in the show ring. My husband refuses to accept that sort of price tag at all and thinks I'm crazy to consider it. Oh and he also thinks it's nuts to go looking for a puppy to be shipped cross country, so NC or VA, or possibly into SC would be my range limit.
Any help out there?
I have found a couple of breeders who meet my criteria. I'm looking for a german showline. I don't need the drive of a working line dog. We want a family companion only. We want a male (husband's preference, I personally would take either), and a puppy (he really wants a puppy to enjoy that stage, I want a young dog who will be raised with my kids and quite frankly, I've gone through losing two dogs at a pretty old age and would like to enjoy the young dog side of things again. My absolute major requirement is a healthy puppy. I've dealt with DM and soundness issues. I want to go to a breeder that does DM clear breeding and hip/elbow certification. I would love to have a long coated dog again (both of mine were long haired and I happen to love it). I have no desire to ever breed a puppy so limited registration or no registration at all is needed. Again, I just want the assurance that a sound dog is being bred. The dilemma is price tag. I'll admit, I hate the idea of dropping $2000 for a puppy because he's bred from a line of a hundred champions in the show ring. My husband refuses to accept that sort of price tag at all and thinks I'm crazy to consider it. Oh and he also thinks it's nuts to go looking for a puppy to be shipped cross country, so NC or VA, or possibly into SC would be my range limit.
Any help out there?