Grass greener on other side

[BrianB]

One thing I have learned in my puppy search and my search for a reputable breeder is I would never buy a puppy from somewhere and have it shipped without visiting the breeder. I have had alot of people recommend breeders (not just on here, even trainers and vets in the area) and spoken to alot of breeders and you get there and it doesnt seem reputable. How can you verify a breeder is reputable without a visit? I am not going to name any names but the websites may be sharp and fancy and the breeder talks a good game but all I can say is go visit and see for yourself!!!!

It is the age old saying, the grass always appears greener on the other side!! You are better off with a local breeder you can check out, visit, meet the parents (or at least one) than going with some far away guy that comes highly recommended, has a nice website, and talks the talk!

Just my opinion!!

[doggiedad]

you can definitely find a reputable breeder
with nice dogs without going to visit the
breeder. i bought my pup months before he was born.
i only knew the breeder from her website, e-mails
and phone calls.

[cassadee7]

Oh, I dunno. I do agree it is important to visit breeders. Some places I visited are what convinced me to go in another direction in getting a pup. That said, I had my pup shipped, never met the breeder, and she did a great job. If you're going to go the shipping route, you basically have to confirm what kind of breeder they are by talking to a lot of other people who got dogs from them. Worked for me

[GSD07]

Well, I got one dog from a local breeder, visited, met the parents etc etc. and ended up with not a good dog. Another dog was chosen based on research and pedigree, I just went to pick the pup up at 8 weeks old, could have him shipped with the same result. The dog is a DREAM! Go figure, right?

[BrianB]

How can you verify a breeder is reputable through emails, or even talking to other people or over the phone? The thing is alot of these breeders probably do think they are reputable and would pass a lie detector test if you asked them if they are reputable. But everyone's idea of reputable is different.

[cassadee7]

Originally Posted by BrianB

How can you verify a breeder is reputable through emails, or even talking to other people or over the phone? .

Because one owner/purchaser of a pup from a breeder might lie, two might even lie, but if you talk to five or ten people who have dogs from one breeder you ARE going to get the truth about what they are producing. You can also look at titles of progeny to see what they are capable of, beyond just temperament.

[jocoyn]

I think when you are involved with a dog activity you also know people who have dealt with a particular breeder and have actually met some of their dogs etc. So there are many ways of checking out a particular breeder even if you can't go there.

If you are looking for a pet it may be no issue finding a local breeder but if you are looking for a certain type of breeding (for example I wanted genetic obedience, and high hunt drive) then you may have to go further afield.

[BrianB]

Originally Posted by GSD07

Well, I got one dog from a local breeder, visited, met the parents etc etc. and ended up with not a good dog. Another dog was chosen based on research and pedigree, I just went to pick the pup up at 8 weeks old, could have him shipped with the same result. The dog is a DREAM! Go figure, right?

Hey if it worked for you great but personally I dont see how you can realistically judge if a breeder is reputable and determine the temperament of the dogs they breed without visiting, cheking out the kennel and meeting the dogs.

Maybe I am just picky, but there have been a couple breeders that have come highly recommeded by multiple independent sources, they check out as active schutzhund helpers, GSD people on google, I talk to them and they are knowledgeable and appear honest, I get excited and am almost ready to put down a deposit without going there and I get there and I am thinking "You got to be kidding me right?"

[chelle]

I understand where you're coming from and have had mixed results myself.

My oldest dog I did this, sight unseen, 740 miles away. (No ship, drove to pick her up. The breeder refused to ship.) But the breeder and I exchanged a great many emails, she asked me a bazillion questions, required an application and various agreements... etc and so on. When you communicate with a breeder to THAT extent, for weeks and weeks beforehand, before the pups are even BORN! you do get an idea what you're dealing with. She wanted to know *everything* about my lifestyle, the home conditions, etc. I told her I wanted a female and she said she'd match my lifestyle to the female pups' personalities. We were literally in touch every week. She responded to all my questions. You could just "tell" she was the real thing. (Sure, part of that is some blind faith.)

I did end up with a wonderful dog.

THEN I guess I screwed up because I was too impatient, maybe too overconfident. I wanted a Shiba Inu. NOTHING in my area. I found one, 9 weeks or so old, about 300 miles away. I saw her pics, I wanted her. I acted too fast. The breeder was responsive, answered my questions, etc, but did NOT question MY lifestyle the way the other one did and that should've been a red flag. I just wanted that girl so much! I was impulsive and got in the car and drove to pick her up at ten weeks. She came home with parvo around day 5-6 after coming home. Almost died. Clearly she had it when I got her. She is purebred, she is beautiful, she is completely true to form for her breed standard. She's a very beautiful dog... but when I contacted the breeder about the parvo, I was told ok, you are welcome to have a dog from an upcoming litter if she dies. HUH? NO! I just wanted her to take care of the costs, to honor her health contract! She refused. She maintained that the dog must have gotten parvo AFTER coming to my home. Not possible.

Sorry to go on so long, but I really do not think it is necessarily a bad thing to buy from a distance IF you have honestly good communication with that breeder and they are as thorough as my oldest dog's breeder was. Ideally, yes, visiting that breeder is best case scenario. But in my case, I was looking for breeds that were not common in my area, so I had little choice but to expand my area. And bottom line, never jump the gun.

[Emoore]

I don't know. There are some breeders on this forum that I have "known" for 5-10 years and never met in person. I would feel comfortable buying a puppy from many of them.