Colleague wants a puppy now

[VelvetRed]

After some advice please!

My colleague wants to get a puppy but all the reputable breeders she has contacted have full wait lists.

She is planning on going on pets4homes and just finding what's available right now as she says it doesn't suit her circumstances to wait.

I dont want to be that person that bores on but I really feel strongly shes making a mistake not to wait for the right puppy, and will end up falling into the puppy mill or BYB trap. She lives alone as husband left and lockdown has been hard for her so I get why she wants company.

Has anyone got any advice on how to make her see sense please? Or if anyone knows anyone who has done something similar and it's gone badly so I can give her real examples.

I've given her all the usual advice like making sure she sees mum and where the pups are raised, asking for proof of health checks etc but I feel like she wants a dog so much it's all going in one ear and out the other.

@Ninkanink

No one should ever breed dogs? How would that actually work then?

By not breeding dogs. It's not impossible. But incredibly unlikely.

Obviously I meant how would it work in terms of anyone actually being able to have a dog.

We got our pup from pets4homes too. We were on waiting lists and happy to wait but checked it sporadically to see if there was anything suitable. We found a kc registered pup, mum's second litter, from a lovely family who clearly adored their family pet and the puppies. Had a chat via WhatsApp first, then went to meet them, then got videos and photos until we picked her up and they ask for updates every so often. We did have to wait another 6 weeks for her after initial contact but that was fine by us!

I should also add that we visited one from pets4homes with beautiful pups ready to go but we just felt that the vibe wasn't right and didn't take one, which was really difficult as they were gorgeous!

Posters are perhaps focusing too much on the Pets4Homes bit - it could be any website, word of mouth, whatever, and yes of course there are genuine breeders of healthy dogs on there. It's more about the way the colleague wants a puppy NOW, coupled with a huge increase in demand for puppies leading to an uptick in unscrupulous breeders, scammers and even just well-meaning but not very knowledgeable 'pet' breeders.

Depending on how desperate they are they may be willing to minimise or overlook red flags and be at greater risk of falling prey to puppy farms or scams, or of getting the wrong puppy for their situation.

You can only try flinging resources at them:

Petfished campaign

Puppy Contract

Dogs Trust Puppy Buying Advice

RSPCA Puppy Buying Advice

BVA - Why lockdown isn't the right time to get a pet

scaredycat I felt like that after I saw a breeder. The dog was a commodity for keeping the lines going. She was treated like a pup machine.

I felt after that I'd rather buy from a family pet having a litter. But accept I may be wrong.

@Ninkanink

Obviously I meant how would it work in terms of anyone actually being able to have a dog.

It's not like it's a human right or a necessity for most people to have a bloody dog, is it?

I always find it fascinating how many people look down their noses at anything that isn't from a KC registered breeder. If we are going to talk about irresponsible breeding, we could actually start with the Kennel Club. which, for its entire entitled class based history has bred and interbred dogs for little more than "the right looks" as defined by some idiot expert who things that is all there is to a dog. As a result, we have dogs that can't breath, dogs that can't see, and have limited genetic diversity that actually weakens the dogs rather than strengthens the breed. Despite years of criticism about this, the Kennel Club have made only mediocre attempts to adapt their breed standards and dogs are still condemned to lives of misery just to conform to some outlandish concept of canine "beauty" determined by an elite.

If you want a dog, get a dog. They will all love you. They can all be trained. And by avoiding the commercialisation and commodification that the Kennel Club promotes, you can also save yourself a packet. Sensible purchasing advice is one thing, but never think that KC standards or breeders produce anything better than a mongrel pup lovingly bred in a family home. In fact, the mongrel will probably be healthier and better balanced.

Moondust001 I couldn’t agree more! You have said what I wanted to.

I had a small window of when i could get a new dog! I'm a teacher so wanted puppy to come home in time for the start of 6 weeks holidays so I could do the socialising etc with the dog, whilst we were home.

I knew the breed I wanted, but it did mean, I was restricted on what puppy i could get and I didn't want to travel far.

I did end up with a family pet breeder, who's son was having one of the puppies and another family friend. Not a lie, as I've seen them around the local area.

I also did walk away from some other adverts on there, even though, the puppies had a good reputation and had a council licence, as it was more or less a puppy farm!

She needs to be careful when buying through sites such as that, but she may find what she is looking for from a reputable breeder. The usual advice applies when checking out the breeder and the puppies. And she needs to be careful if a breeder tries to use Covid as an excuse to avoid showing her the pups properly. There are ways of doing this without having strangers in and out of your home

@Moondust001

I always find it fascinating how many people look down their noses at anything that isn't from a KC registered breeder. If we are going to talk about irresponsible breeding, we could actually start with the Kennel Club. which, for its entire entitled class based history has bred and interbred dogs for little more than "the right looks" as defined by some idiot expert who things that is all there is to a dog. As a result, we have dogs that can't breath, dogs that can't see, and have limited genetic diversity that actually weakens the dogs rather than strengthens the breed. Despite years of criticism about this, the Kennel Club have made only mediocre attempts to adapt their breed standards and dogs are still condemned to lives of misery just to conform to some outlandish concept of canine "beauty" determined by an elite.

If you want a dog, get a dog. They will all love you. They can all be trained. And by avoiding the commercialisation and commodification that the Kennel Club promotes, you can also save yourself a packet. Sensible purchasing advice is one thing, but never think that KC standards or breeders produce anything better than a mongrel pup lovingly bred in a family home. In fact, the mongrel will probably be healthier and better balanced.

I totally agree with you about KC, but this - "In fact, the mongrel will probably be healthier and better balanced" - is simply not true. Unless there are health tests carried out on both parents before breeding, a mongrel could inherit health issues as much a Pedigree could.

Well said moondust
The dogs I know via KC breeders are all neurotic spaniels and their owners attach so much snob value in their breeding and seemingly much less on controlling their behaviour.

Completely accepting that the KC falls short in many, many areas and is not in any way blameless... excepting the Assured Breeder scheme, there's not really any such thing as a KC registered breeder.

Registering dogs and recording their pedigrees (and with them some measure of predictability of size, temperament, appearance and behaviour) can be important to people who want working, sports or even companion dogs.

Being a mongrel bred by people who love you doesn't magic away behavioural disorders and genetic disease. Buying a puppy in the current climate is a complete and utter shitshow all round, KC or otherwise, it's disingenuous to suggest that a family pet breeder is a complete solution.

It's worrying and indicative of the current shitshow that OP's colleague has done some research into how to buy a reputably bred puppy but is potentially going to disregard some of that learning because they want a puppy immediately, consequences be damned.

she says it doesn't suit her circumstances to wait.

That's a bit of a red flag for me - it sounds as though she's wfh now and thinks she has time for a puppy, then will eventually be going back to work and planning on leaving the poor dog home for extended periods.

I vetoed just as many breeders with waiting lists as I did breeders on petsforhomes when looking for my dog.

We ended up with a lovely boy whose parents were fully health checked and mum was, crucially, a well loved family pet who will live her life in the comfort of her family.

Being registered doesn't always mean ethical.

I bought our 2 wonderful girls through Pets4homes. We went 3 times. One when they were 4 weeks, we saw the puppies feeding from Mum. We had to answer several questions from the seller who said she would not sell the puppies to anyone where it would be home alone all day. She wanted the new owners to have a garden too. We were able to assure her I was a sahm and we had a large garden. She asked if we had children. We said a 14 year old who came with us. She said we could visit them again when they were 6-7 weeks. We went and one puppy was already selected. We wanted 2 puppies and picked the ones we wanted. We told her they would go to puppy training classes one at a time. We took her a photo of our garden. She saw ds hold puppies and showed him how to handle them. We had taken them a little chew toy each to play with. We paid deposit. We went back again to collect the puppies when 10 weeks and 3 days and they had been given their first vaccination and vet health check. The vet card stated full examination given along with name of first vaccination and sticker with batch number on, worming treatment. They had a vet card each. Their weight was recorded too. We also got document pack with family tree details for puppies and we saw father dog too. Each puppy was given a fleace blanket smelling of their mother. Each time we went we saw puppies interacting with their siblings and feeding from their mother. Seller told us we could ring if we had any problems, not just then but in future too and told us if ever we found we could not keep them to ring her before rehoming them. We signed contract to agree to this. Seller asked us to text her a photo of dogs in a few weeks so she could see how they were growing. We send her 1 photo each year on their birthday. She was a very nice lady and I would have no hesitation in buying a puppy or recommending her to my family and friends. The puppies mother had 1 previous litter and we were told she may have 1 more but might not.

It’s not people breeding KC registered dogs vs dodgy breeders...

It’s as basic as good breeders and not good ones, within not good there are various different levels of not good - but that’s all really whataboutery tbh.

Puppy farms often breed KC registered dogs, some people who breed to show are appalling, but that doesn’t make someone badly breeding their pet ok either.

The best odds of getting a healthy, physically and mentally dog starts with a good breeder, breeding ethically...

All you can do Op is offer her a few pointers and advice on how to spot a puppy farm, then Let her make her own decisions from there. It’s important I think that we all spread the warnings about puppy farms and help others who may not have that experience to understand about these risks.