Ok I think we are ready for a pup

[Bedsheets4knickers]

After a year of thinking it over we are ready to take the plunge and welcome a dog into our family . Does anyone know any cavapoo breeders ? We are a family of 4 . Kids ages 11 & 9 . We live in a semi rural area in essex with a good size back garden . Dh wfh so always someone on hand .

I’d usually recommend Kennel Club assured breeders lists/Find a Puppy service or Champdogs, but you’re looking for a crossbreed which makes things trickier.

Unfortunately many crossbreed breeders aren’t ethical and don’t do the necessary health testing - cavs are a notoriously unhealthy breed so I would be really cautious.

Have you considered choosing a breed instead? If you’re looking for a small cavapoo type dog, toy/miniature poodles are lovely and oh so smart.

@hollyfrost

I’d usually recommend Kennel Club assured breeders lists/Find a Puppy service or Champdogs, but you’re looking for a crossbreed which makes things trickier.

Unfortunately many crossbreed breeders aren’t ethical and don’t do the necessary health testing - cavs are a notoriously unhealthy breed so I would be really cautious.

Have you considered choosing a breed instead? If you’re looking for a small cavapoo type dog, toy/miniature poodles are lovely and oh so smart.

Thank you I will look into it x

Why a cavapoo? They're a puppy farmers wet dream unfortunately

And bear in mind that your DH won't be able to get much (if any) work done in the first few weeks - can you both arrange to take some annual leave or unpaid leave to settle the puppy in?

Must admit I was thinking this.I'm going half days,my sons at home,my mother in laws in and out.My wifes going two days WFH and she doesn't even take a lunch break .

Have you considered Yorkies or Shitzu I found these much easier.Just a thought.

If you are looking for a Cavapoo or similar, please ensure you familiarise yourself with the PDSA's list of how to look out for puppy farms (although even that isn't exhaustive).

My friend has a Cavapoo and he's delightful. I've registered with pets4homes sight . I will certainly do my research before I go any further .

Unfortunately pets4homes is really just a place for puppy farmers to advertise.

Honestly you'll find a pup on there no problem but it will be badly bred.

Pets4homes is full of backyard breeders. Don’t be part of the problem.

Fwiw I wouldn't buy a puppy now. There are so many lockdown pups gone wrong.

Retired racing greyhounds are my breed of choice. But if I were going to buy a puppy I would ask local people where they got their dog from. I'd talk to vets and rescue centres. Puppies do get dumped unfortunately.

@TurningUpMyStereotype

Pets4homes is full of backyard breeders. Don’t be part of the problem.

Is it really ? Ok il start again.

Op I did a similar thread on here a few months ago albeit looking for a larger dog

Was told that you can pay a fortune for a proper registered breeder or take a chance with a rescue- there is no legit way of getting a cross breed puppy other than a rescue.

I have a cockapoo. There is a FB group for cockapoo owners in my area, none is allowed to advertise puppies bit it can be a way of find someone with a pet who has had puppies, that's how we got ours, the lady that bred her still visits and my pup regularly sees her mum and siblings at meet ups. Getting scammed by a puppy farm is so easy though, has happened to a lot of people in our group.
Our girl is amazing, best tempered dog in the world, so much fun, bit the poodle in her makes her barky, and the spaniel in her makes her very very needy. I do wish at times I'd got a more chilled dog, but we absolutely adore her in every way

Buying a puppy is a bit of a minefield basically, there are far more bad breeders than anything else - poodle crosses are an easy way to make a lot of money so it attracts them.

Cavapoos are the most likely to be badly bred, because cavaliers are not in a great state for health and as well as the expensive health tests for them, they’re also recommended to be bred later than usual (which means less litters are possible) and you’re supposed to keep track of the health going back to at least grandparents to make sure they didn’t develop health issues after they were bred. So if you’ve put all that time effort and money into making sure you’ve got a rare healthy cavalier to breed from - how likely is it you’d then decide to cross it with a poodle? And a lot of the health issues plaguing cavaliers aren’t straightforward it has the gene or it doesn’t ones, so crossing with another breed doesn’t lessen the risks.

“Was told that you can pay a fortune for a proper registered breeder or take a chance with a rescue- there is no legit way of getting a cross breed puppy other than a rescue.”

The weird thing is that actually it’s usually a lot more expensive to buy a badly bred poodle cross than it is to get a well bred pedigree puppy.

It would definitely be easier to either cross-paws and hope for a rescue (who do get litters of puppies BUT they won't be advertised online) or go for a purebred.

What you're expecting from a Cavapoo, you will most likely get from a much better bred puppy, like a purebred Poodle, - but you may be in for a wait for more popular breeds. Always be wary when someone just has litters of puppies available immediately - when most good KC breeders have waiting lists.

There are good cavapoo breeders. There’s a Facebook group where the breeders are vetted and all seem decent and do all health checks. There’s also a few others. I’ve heard good things about pound lane cavapoos. Expensive though.

@Scaredypup

There are good cavapoo breeders. There’s a Facebook group where the breeders are vetted and all seem decent and do all health checks. There’s also a few others. I’ve heard good things about pound lane cavapoos. Expensive though.

Poundlane say they’re trying to breed healthier cavs though and have now added Brittany in there, which makes much more sense than poodles.

For me it would very much depend on how many litters they’re producing tbh, as although it looks like they are health testing, I’d be worried it might just be a “nicer” puppy farm.

But I’ve seen cavapoos on reselling sites for a lot more tbh, so they might be worth getting in touch with and asking a load of question if you really do want a cross.

Sorry guys you don't need to comment any further . We have decided that we clearly do not know what we are doing so would rather not be Part of it .

@Bedsheets4knickers

Sorry guys you don't need to comment any further . We have decided that we clearly do not know what we are doing so would rather not be Part of it .

What do you like about your friends’ cavapoo? It’s very likely that an actual breed could work for you and with a breed it’s easier to start weeding out bad breeders.

Pets4Homes is where puppy farmers sell. Gosh, worrying how little research you’ve done into this

@Sponge19

Pets4Homes is where puppy farmers sell. Gosh, worrying how little research you’ve done into this

I think that’s a bit unfair seeing as they clearly just started looking into it.

If you’ve never had a dog before and you’re just starting to work out how you get one, websites would seem like an obvious place to start.

@Sponge19 that's a bit of a spiteful comment, op is clearly new to this and is trying to get information, they have clearly taken on board what posters have said.

Op we got out first dog in sept 2020 and were shocked at what a minefield it was. We initially looked on pets4homes (not knowing any better) and almost bought a puppy but when we tried to do all the checks, the breeder backed out on the day we were supposed to collect her, turns out they were puppy farmers (who without all our digging looked totally legitimate)

We ended up having an 8 week old puppy born at rspca. Total mongrel, not what we ever though we would have... but fate was looking down because I'm now absolutely sure he is the most amazing dog in the world ever!!

We thought we were totally prepared, did all the research about training a new puppy, the other big shock was exactly how much time attention and constant training an 8 week old puppy needs. What I'm saying is, although your DH is wfh, he won't get much work done for the first month or 2! And those needle teeth!! Basically it's like having an over tired toddler hyped up on sugar who has teeth like needles and like to put everything (including you!) in its mouth! once past that stage, after about 6 months it gets much better... but it can be a shock.. especially with children who may become nervous of the dog , as the puppy has to learn not to bite.. for the first few weeks while they learn about using the pressure of their mouth.

Don't let this out you off though, they are absolutely worth the effort, mine is now almost 2years old and is wonderful! Best thing we ever did!

@Sponge19

Pets4Homes is where puppy farmers sell. Gosh, worrying how little research you’ve done into this

This was part of the research

@Sponge19

Pets4Homes is where puppy farmers sell. Gosh, worrying how little research you’ve done into this

Well, presumably that's why OP is asking on here?

If you've never had a dog and know nothing about them, it's not necessarily obvious that certain websites/breeders should be avoided.