Looking for a puppy? Consider these breeder guidelines.

Kelly

Kelly

Administrator
As a prerequisite, breeders should adhere to the following general standards. If a breeder cannot answer all these questions, you should keep looking!
  • All your litters are AKC registered.
  • You breed to “better the breed” and your actions back that up.
  • You breed for Sheltie “type” and as close to the written Standard (that applies in your country).
  • You understand the heritable diseases to which Shelties are prone, such as epilepsy, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Collie Eye Anomaly, thyroid disease, hip dysplasia, MDR1 Mutation and von Willebrand's disease. You have tested your dogs where possible for these conditions, and openly share the results of these tests with prospective puppy buyers.
  • You vaccinate & deworm puppies per veterinary recommendations.
  • You do not release puppies to their new homes sooner than 8 weeks of age.
  • You provide a written health guarantee for all your puppies.
  • You exhibit or show, compete in trials of any sort or are active in a breed club.
  • You can provide at least one reference to people who have purchased pups from you.
  • You can provide at least one veterinary reference to your buyers.
  • You are open to constructive criticism and critique of your dogs and program. You recognize that opportunities for objective evaluation of your stock (eg., conformation shows, performance events) are critical to a sound and responsible breeding program.
 
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Kelly said:
[*]All your litters are AKC registered. Not 100% on this but she had all the papers ready and in order and was very good at explaining the procedures
[/LIST]
  • You breed to “better the breed” and your actions back that up. She had multiple show dogs including his mom.
  • You breed for Sheltie “type” and as close to the written Standard (that applies in your country). Beauty pagent mom :biggrin2:
  • You understand the heritable diseases to which Shelties are prone, such as epilepsy, PRA, CEA, thyroid disease, hip dysplasia, and von Willebrand's disease. You have tested your dogs where possible for these conditions, and openly share the results of these tests with prospective puppy buyers. Some discussion but this was more my ignorance than here lack of telling
  • You vaccinate & deworm puppies per veterinary recommendations. She had a list and dates of everything done and my vet even commented on how nice and thorough she was
  • You do not release puppies to their new homes sooner than 8 weeks of age. Sca was 10 weeks and there was only two pups with the other gone already so I am not sure
  • You provide a written health guarantee for all your puppies. Got it
  • You exhibit or show, compete in trials of any sort or are active in a breed club. Beauty shows
  • You can provide at least one reference to people who have purchased pups from you. I did not ask
  • You can provide at least one veterinary reference to your buyers. I did not ask but she did provide recommendations on how soon to get him to the vet and what would need to be done further on his shots. We were two hours south so I was more concerned with Sca's vet
  • You are open to constructive criticism and critique of your dogs and program. You recognize that opportunities for objective evaluation of your stock (eg., conformation shows, performance events) are critical to a sound and responsible breeding program. I was FAR more ignorant than her so really had no ideas, however she did take time and show me some things
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Great list and while I am 1000% happy with Sca I will confess to more luck than skill :o I think anyone looking for a healthy pup would benefit from using your list. I would only add what was done for socialization? Sca still has habits from then including his going parrot when scared and getting my earlobes if given a chance (only me so it is OK). I think the answers to that could also help in predicting temperament some also.
 
I don't show anymore, and haven't in over 4 years. I probably will NEVER show in an AKC show again, so I'm out in that one.
 
This is a leftover from the litter announcements forum & I thought it might be helpful as a quick checklist to prospective puppy buyers.

They are just guidelines, and as always, folks will do what they think is best. At the very least, I'd hope the questions can open up discussions between breeders & buyers. :wink2:
 
Great guidelines Kelly!! Like you said its a starting point for people to look at and educate themselves. I personally love when potential buyers ask half those questions in their initial contact with me. It tells me they have done their research and are educated on the breed :) I like that better than the You got puppies? and how much you charging....note the grammer :rolleyes2:
 
Brilliant list - very helpful for me about to face the challenge of finding a good breeding.

I'll be using that list when I start making contacts.
 
Narmowen said:
I don't show anymore, and haven't in over 4 years. I probably will NEVER show in an AKC show again, so I'm out in that one.
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But you said 'again' so if asked you could discuss it and comment. You can see my Sca list was not 100% either yet I would send someone to the breeder for a pup in a heartbeat. I think the list is VERY useful though as most things should not be a this or zero
 
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