New Dog Owner

[LadyRoughDiamond]

Hello All,
Newbie here hoping for some advice.We’ve just reserved a male WCS puppy that will be ready for collection mid-August. We’re visiting him this weekend and I was wondering whether there is anything that you would recommend we ask the breeder or look out for when we’re there?
We’re as comfortable as we can be that they’re reputable but want to make the transition as smooth as possible for the little chap.

Are you committed to this puppy?

If not questions I would ask are:-

Have they health tested as a minimum for the following:- (ask to see paperwork do not just take their word for it.

Acral Mutilation Syndrome (AMS).
Familial Nepropathy (FN).
Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA-PRCD).
Degenerative Myelopathy (DM)
Exercise-Induced Collapse (EIC)
Glycogen Storage Disease VII (PFK Deficiency)

How are they socialising the puppies before they are homed

Are they familiar with ENS (early neurological stimulation) and ask to see there plan on how they are using it with the puppies. They should have a written plan that is documented for each puppy.

If they do not have any of the above I would walk away and carry on with your research.

They should be able to help you with the transition if you do go ahead.

Make sure they do not let all the puppies go to their new homes on one day to alleviate stress to the bitch

Make sure they give you the identical food they have been using for you to use at home to begin with

Leave a small blanket with them that can come home with the puppy that will have the smell of their original home on to help them settle

Ask the breeder to take the puppies out together in the car so their first journey is not on their own to the new home

Ask the breeder to give them very short periods alone without littermates so again it is easier when they are taken from the litter

Check that they will have their first vaccinations and which ones their vet uses - check this is compatible with the vaccinations your vet will use or else you will have to start again

Check they will be microchipped before coming to you

There is more but this is a good starting point

I'd want to meet the dam, and see how she is with her pups, with the breeder and with you. I'd want to be sure that the surroundings are clean and that the puppies have the chance to explore a range of surfaces (carpet, tiles, grass, gravel, concrete path, bare soil etc) as well as having things to play with (toys, old cardboard boxes, etc)

I definitely agree with the advice above about leaving a piece of blanket, time without littermates and making sure the puppies have been out in the car, but I'd be less concerned about DNA tests for degenerative myelopathy than about hip scoring - cockers have a higher average hip score than some breeds that are more frequently scored before breeding.

Something I would look into is the co-efficient of inbreeding. If you go here you can enter the name of one parent. That will give you the COI of that dog on the next page. If you then enter the name of the other parent, you will be able to obtain the COI of the mating. The lower the better; the average cocker COI is pretty high at about 9% but despite this it's a fairly healthy breed. A really high COI of 15-20% or more would put me off TBH.

A lot of breeders don't vaccinate before the puppies leave, partly because of the problem that your own vet might not use the same vaccines. None of my last three puppies has had its first vaccines (and the one before that who did was kept by the breeder for us until she was 10 weeks, and she'd had the first lot at the local vet which was the same one that we used).