New puppy viewing

[breakingdownthewalls]

Posted a few times on here, from our dog being put to sleep a few months ago, to husband being adamant he never wanted another, to wanting to find a crossbreed pup but only finding back yard breeders selling them!
Anyway... we have finally found a little of purebred pups that we have all as a family decided on.
They’re coming micro chipped, and K.C. registered, but not vaccinated.
They come with a period of free insurance, food, bowls, toys, puppy pads etc.
We are viewing them tomorrow.
What else do I need to ask?
I’ve asked where they live now and it’s in the house, they’re used to kids, other dogs etc.
The breeder has 4 bitches and they each have a litter a year with 2 studs. All of them live with the breeder. All health checked and have been breeders for 15 years.
What else do I need to ask/look for when we visit.
Not asked about dew claws, should these have been removed? My old rescue dog fractured both dew claws as a puppy and had an op to remove them.

[breakingdownthewalls]

Also nothing’s been said about if they’re flead and wormed. Should this have been done prior to me taking it?

[breakingdownthewalls]

Whole new ball game for us, as old dog was a rescue dog who never actually made it to rescue kennels.
Due to my previous job I managed to acquire a puppy that was being taken to a dog charity after it was found in a house where the owner was being taken away.
So it was completely unexpected and I guess I was completely unprepared back then.

[Dementedswan]

A litter a year from each bitch?

[BiteyShark]

What breed are they?

That matters because certain breeds are susceptible to certain genetic conditions and therefore you might want to get a puppy from parents that had been dna tested.

[FairfaxAikman]

Health checked or health tested? Because there's a difference and you only want one that's health tested, and even the. Things like hip scores should be within a certain range

[Greyhorses]

What breed is it? This makes a fair bit of difference to what health tests should have been performed prior to mating.

Why do they breed 4 litters a year? Are they working dogs/show dogs/a rare breed?

[babysharkah]

A litter a year sounds like a lot.

[AlpacaLypse]

Walk away. Why is each bitch is being bred annually? Guidelines are no more than a litter every other year.

Puppy farmers are very very good at creating what looks like a family pet having her babies in the family home.

[BiteyShark]

Why aren't they having their first vaccination and yes ask about worming as mine had been wormed and had his first vaccination before we picked him up. I would also expect a contract (I could return my puppy if my vet found a health condition within the first week).

[Icklepup]

Why 4 litters a year??

[AlpacaLypse]

Even breeders of very rare/endangered breeds shouldn't be putting the mother's health at risk like this.

And having pups in the house is a sort of hell on wheels that no sane person would want to go through more than once every couple of years let alone every three months on average. Unless they were making a lot of money from it...

[DanielCraigsUnderpants]

I'd want to know about the vaccinations. If they aren't having them is the breeder recommending homeopathic nosodes?

[FairfaxAikman]

Bites some breeders either do what's called natural rearing, others do nosodes rather than vaccines and others just prefer not to do the first incase the new owners vets use a different brand and they have to have a second "first" vaccination.
Personally lack of vaccination isn't necessarily a red flag for me.

[BiteyShark]

FairfaxAikman if they have a sensible reason then that's fine but I would still want them to explain why because one 'family breeder' I spoke to and walked away from didn't really have one.

[breakingdownthewalls]

Right. To answer these questions. They have 3 bitches and never do more than 1 litter a year per bitch. I think that sometimes they go longer than a year, so perhaps every 18 months. Is that too many? They’re K.C. registered and come with papers.
They only breed one type of dog (I’ve come across breeders that offer 3 breeds of puppy which puts me off)
They’re cockers.

[breakingdownthewalls]

Sorry 4 bitches. Not 3.

[breakingdownthewalls]

And yes, they’re bred mainly as working cockers. But people obviously want them as pets too.

[SirVixofVixHall]

A litter a year is too many, even a litter evry 18 months. If they cared about the health of their bitches they wouldnt be breeding from them so constantly.

[breakingdownthewalls]

Also they cannot be K.C. registered if they’ve already had more than 4 litters if I understand correctly?
So bitches cannot have more than 4 litters each in a lifetime?
And puppies cannot be K.C. registered with a bitch over 8 years old.

[BiteyShark]

My dog is a cocker and his parents were DNA tested and clear from prcd-PRA and FN genetic conditions. I looked at all the genetic conditions and these were the two I was concerned about.

I know people that have bought cockers with no health tests of the parents but I just didn't want to risk it when I could get a puppy from parents that were clear.

[breakingdownthewalls]

All litters from all bitches have been free from health problems. That’s why they’ve not deviated from the bloodline much.

[SirVixofVixHall]

You only have their word for that though, surely ? As some health problems show up later, then the breeder might not even know.

[BiteyShark]

All litters from all bitches have been free from health problems.

What about the males? The only reason for asking is that the genetic conditions are recessive so that if both parents carry the disease then they can pass this onto the puppies. Carriers will not show any symptoms.

[breakingdownthewalls]

Oh god.
This is harder than I thought!
So many things I need to ask!

[breakingdownthewalls]

Ok, just asked about worms.
They have been wormed 3 x so far.
And flead.