Ideas on how to find a puppy please

[Pisky]

We've been looking on the local rescue websites daily for several months now but had no luck so far with finding the right dog for us.

One puppy did come up and was offered to us, but she needed ongoing veterinary care and having spoken to my sister (a vet) we had to say no as the treatment would have been very expensive and we wouldn't be able to get insurance.

We have a large garden, lots of walks from the house, beaches 9 miles away & I'm at home most of the time (WAHM) so would have the time and space an energetic dog would need.

We'd love a cocker/springer spaniel or a cross breed with these ideally but am open to suggestions.

I'd ideally like a puppy so that we can train her from scratch, don't want to be lining the pockets of unscrupulous breeders but also can't afford pedigree prices (and don't need a pedigree puppy because we wouldn't breed from her or show her, she would be a companion and a family pet).

Where do we look?

Thanks!

The Dogs Trust seem to quite often have puppies. No guarantee they'd have the breed you want though - the one near us always seems to have collie crosses for some reason!

Personally I wouldn't get a pup (especially not from a breeder) as it's often the older dogs who are most in need of a loving home. We got ours at 5 years old, and the only downside is that sadly he won't be with us for as long as I'd like :( but the time we do have with him is wonderful and precious. And he needed us in a way that a cute little pup probably doesn't.

Pisky, see from the puppy thread that you have chosen a puppy - was this from the breeder you went to see ?

Hi Scuttlebutter - yes it was from the breeder we went to see.

I was so prepared to walk away but it all felt right when I got there. The dam had a real strong bond with the owner (who takes her shooting in the winter & fishing in the summer) and was as soft and gentle as anything. She wasn't in with the puppies when I was there but was obviously still in milk and when I was holding the puppy and she spotted her mum her whole body wagged!

The puppies have been brought up in the utility room, which adjoins the kitchen, so are used to all the household noises as well as their nieces, nephews and young neighbor visiting (all around the same age as our two). He's already started house training them using paper. They seem to have been well socialized so far.

This is his first litter ever, bred because he is keeping one of the other bitches (one a different colour to mum for ease of identification when shooting) so he has taken great care to choose a suitable stud dog and was telling me all about the breeding. The mum is 3 years so according to my sister an ideal age.

All the litter were wanting to be picked up and stroked, none were hiding in the background at all. The owner knew the personalities of all the puppies and helped me to choose which one would be suited to us.

Paperwork was all in order - I checked the name & address on the mums documents and the puppies all matched were they were living. They were off to be microchipped after I left.

It still seems an awful lot of money but should be worth it :)

You can look at specific breed rescue places too like: www.caessr.org.uk/