Three Red Flags to Watch for in your Breeder.
When it comes to something as precious as a puppy, you need to trust your breeder. You may not need them to be an expert with unparalleled knowledge, but you still rely on their experience to provide the best puppies possible.
What happens when that experience isn’t good enough? How can you tell? What should you be looking for?
Here are three of the easiest ways to determine if the breeder is legitimate.
You’re accepted too quickly
As a breeder who is just starting out, we want to give the best experience to our prospective puppy buyers. That said, we still need to know who we are speaking to. That’s why we’ve created a questionnaire filled with behavioural questions. How much time do you have for exercise? Have you owned a German Shorthaired Pointer before? Whether we get the questions answered directly on our questionnaire or we ask them throughout our conversation, it’s important that we vet you and know that our GSP puppy is going to the right home.
Nothing is written down
Do you want to see our puppy contract? It’s available for anyone to read. Why? Because you should know not only our expectations, but also our guarantees. A contract shows that the breeder has a vested interest in making you feel valued and in ensuring the continued health of the puppy you’re getting. This will include deadlines for spay/neutering; not too early to ensure the health of the animal and not too late to ensure the buyer isn’t a backyard breeder themselves.
No Registration
If your puppy isn’t registered with a national governing body like the CKC or AKC then no one can call them purebred. The certification alone gives that verification and not the word of a breeder. Certification needs to be done in a timely fashion and you cannot be charged extra for it.
Whether a breeder is considered a puppy-mill or a backyard breeder, there are a lot of things that must be done to remain reputable.
Remember when you’re looking to give a puppy a fur-ever home that you should be made to feel welcome.
Our goal is to extend our family, not just send a puppy out like they are a transaction. We want to know who you are and how best to support you with your new GSP puppy.
