Understanding the difference
Thanks for stopping in. I am glad you are taking the time to research
before you buy. This page is designed to help the novice puppy buyer
avoid costly and tragic mistakes. I advise you to all so read our buyer
beware page.

There are several things buyers should be made aware of and
informed about before spending money on a very serious commitment.
I know that I will upset some people out there trying to earn a living off
breeding dogs but to me I prefer not to have them as friends anyways.

First off, why are you buying a pure bred dog from a breeder? It is a
perfectly good choice, but if you have already considered a shelter or
rescue pet.

There are so many breeders out there. How can you get a healthy,
happy puppy at a fair price? Research, questions and gut.

First lets start with backyard breeders and puppy mills. You can run
searches on the Internet for more lengthy discussions on these topics.
For this page I am using my definition in brief. A puppy mill produces
large amounts of puppies in usually more than two breeds. They offer
puppies from several different litters at one time year round. The
conditions that these dogs live in are horrific and would make you sick
if you actually saw them. Backyard breeders are inexperienced and in
some case experienced or selfish breeders who breed dogs to make
money or to let their families see the miracle of life. My focus here is
mostly on backyard breeders, puppy mills are usually easier to spot.

Several things you will not notice with a backyard breeder. Usually
they are unemployed or low income families. They more often than not
need the money to pay their bills or support their children. Don't get me
wrong as there are backyard breeders who don't need the money
either but that's less common.

Backyard breeders do not breed to better the breed. Often you will find
them raving about how wonderful a home they raise them in. How the
puppies are raised indoors around all these wonderful sights and
sounds. When actually they may whelp (deliver) them inside and then
when the Mommy stops cleaning up for them or the puppies start
becoming a smelly time consuming mess they put them outside. What
makes us different is we really do keep them in our home. Yup you can
ask anyone who has bought a puppy from us at our home. Our
puppies are kept in one of our bedrooms until 6 weeks of age. They
are then moved into our living room. Yup, right in the middle of the
room.

There are a new breed of backyard breeders out there. They are
getting harder to spot. We are now seeing them with great looking
pedigrees! How you might ask? Money. They have a couple of cheap
litters, hold back some dough and buy a dog with a nice looking
pedigree. Now thanks to all those people who bought and supported a
backyard breeder they now have more dogs to breed.

A nice pedigree = a nice dog????? NO. I had owned a dog with a
great looking pedigree, actually I have owned more than one. One
became so highly aggressive that while attacking another dog it turned
and attacked an adult and had to eventually be euthanized. Talk about
heartbreaking. Another dog we owned, a Dane, who had a very nice
pedigree turned out to be 99 pounds at a year old and 30 inches, this
was a male, still at over a year the size of a 5-7 month old pup....The
dog had a weak rear, narrow chest and much more. Both these
previous dogs were, as per contract, offered back to the breeder once
we had them spayed or neutered before taking any other action. The
breeder insisted they did not want the dogs spayed and neutered
before their return. This was not an option to us as why would
someone want them to breed with such issues. That is a classic
example of a backyard breeder. Another time we bought a nice
pedigreed dog who we never even got papers on. These all came from
backyard breeders. We learned a very expensive and heartbreaking
lesson. In our searches for a new family member we only go to true
Dane or Lhasa show breeders now.

How do you spot one? Wow this is getting harder.

First I would ask for more than one reference. I would all so make sure
that you get references from people who bought pet puppies and show
puppies. Then actually contact these people and ask for current
pictures of their dog. Anyone can give you their friends info and their
friend can lie to you.

Second, Ask them about their show experience. Not how many of their
puppies go to show homes. Most likely these so called show homes
are actually more backyard breeders. They should be showing their
dogs. If they have great dogs who meet the breed standard then they
should be showing them. AKC shows!!! People do not be fooled. A
National or International champion does not count. If you are willing to
accept those titles, which AKC does not, then ask for the score cards
to look at. International dog shows provide the owners with a written
critique of the dog. To obtain a title they must have at least 3 cards.
You should be allowed to read this if they expect you to pay a
ridiculous price for a puppy. If they refuse they must be hiding
something. (These types of shows can be fun and a great learning
experience for the handler and the dog but it is still not an AKC
Champion.)
AKC shows require your dog to compete against many others of the
same breed. They pick the best of the dogs to get the win. The
previously mentioned dog shows have many winners of the same
breed per dog show. Those shows are a great tool for real breeders or
for people who just want to go out and have fun. They offer them more
information on the dogs they own but should not be confused with
AKC. AKC has a strict written description of what each breed should
look and be like. There is no such thing as a perfect dog. Although we
would all like to think so. As a breeder we should be taking two
excellent dogs and pairing them up to improve the breed. We should
know our dogs breed faults and be looking to better them in a litter. We
should be honest with buyers and tell them what the dogs faults are
and why we picked two dogs to pair up. Pedigree is not number one
on the list either.
Faults, a quick lesson on these. When I say faults they should be very
minor. Examples: Danes, serious faults - poor bite (teeth), missing
teeth, cow-hocked, poor temperament, weak frame, negative health
testing results, etc. Minor faults could be color and markings, lacking
size in head or height, etc. Lhasas, serious faults - crooked legs, bad
eyes, heart, hips, coat, etc. Minor faults could be thickness of coat,
slightly high in the rear, etc.

Does your breeder call you back? This one amazes me and got me at
first. Why do they not call you back? Can they not afford long distance
service? Really we have heard this one. I can not believe that
someone who charges $2000 for a puppy can not even call a buyer
back. We have heard even that they must buy clothes for their kids
and then turned around and ended up buying another dog to breed. I
will make two attempts by phone to call you, then you must call me.
That's my policy.

Why are they breeding? Wow ask this one and see what you get. If
they tell you to get a show puppy then ask them how if they are not
showing already, do they know what a show puppy should look like
then. Why are they not showing the parents? Unless they are VERY
experienced show breeders they should not be breeding two dogs that
would not be able to compete in an AKC dog show. Do they tell you as
a hobby? Ask them the last time they visited a shelter or rescue.

There is so much information out there now about puppy mills and
backyard breeders. I will try to include some web links soon to other
site with information. I know there are some really upset people out
there with me and everyone else trying to expose these types of
problems. But we feel we are trying to help the dogs and the puppy
buyers. If you do not want or like our information you are free to look
elsewhere. I am not trying to get you to buy a puppy from us, there are
thousands of other puppies out there available.

After I wrote this page I sent it off to a few breeders to look at. I was
asked to include a few more things so here you go;

Not all breeders let you visit them right away. Often they will require
you to wait until the litter is older and their immunity is stronger. This is
perfectly reasonable. However they should, before getting your puppy,
allow you to see their facility/home if you wish. Not every dog bred by
a show breeder is always shown. They are called brood bitches. They
usually will have a very acceptable reason the dog is not shown such
as a failed ear crop or a broken front tooth, things like that, that do not
make them a poor example of the breed. Sometimes you will find a
breeder who will breed back to back. What is this? It means that they
may breed a female two heats in a row but will then not breed the dog
for at least another year. This is sometimes due to an accidental
breeding, or availability of a stud dog, etc. Third, a good breeder would
understand that it is nearly impossible to return a full grown Great
Dane. For this reason they offer assistance in placement. They would
all so require spay and neuter of any dog they sell that turns out not to
be a great example of the breed standard. No good breeder would
want it any other way. Why would they want back or to re-sell a dog
with breeding rights that is an unacceptable representation of the
breed? Money


I have so much more information that I will slowly ad to this page.
Thanks again for taking the time to read this page and trying to
educate yourself before your purchase. If we are not what you are
looking for that's OK with us, we just enjoyed having you look.