Things to Avoid when buying a dog:
* A breeder who has their dogs in outdoor kennels or a barn. This breed needs human contact every day. If the parents are secluded in an outdoor kennel or a barn they are not getting the attention they need. If puppies are born and raised in a barn, or are transfered to live out in a kennel as they get older, they are certainly not getting the socialization they require and you may end up with a puppy with major behaviour issues. Puppies will learn fearful behavior as well as pick it up genetically if the parents are fearful. Lack of socialization will result in a puppy that doesn't make the best pet possible for your family.
* A breeder who is not actively showing their dogs in conformation. The only way to know the quality of your dogs is to have other people evaluate them for you. This happens at conformation shows. Every judge will judge your dog against the breed standard. An outstanding dog will do very well at every show it goes to, and average dog will do well at some of the shows, and will do not so well at other shows, a poor quality dog will not do well at any of the shows against other dogs if his breed. You can not judge the quality of your own animals. You must have input from others who have nothing to gain or loose by the advice they give you.
* A breeder who is not expanding their knowledge and expertise.
Any breeder should be able to give you a list of other breeders of the same breed, other breeders of different breeds, who can vouch for them. A reputable breeder is always looking to gain knowledge about dogs in general and the specifics involved in their own breed. Any breeder who is not on good terms with the majority of other breeders of the same breed is probably a good breeder to run away from. Breeders are always looking to expand their resource pool and if there is a person breeding who is not actively trying to be a part of that crowd, then it raises great concerns about their motives.
* A breeder who does not do testing. Every dog used for breeding should have it's eyes cleared by an opthamologist, and they should have their hips x-rayed and rated by either OFA or PennHip. Do NOT take anyones word for it. Ask to see proof. If they can not provide proof run in the other direction. Also puppies should always have their eyes tested prior to 8 weeks. Again ask to see proof of the CERF exam. Your regular vet CAN NOT test hips and eyes. Any breeder who says their lines are clean is ignorant to the truth and you are gambling with the health of your puppy.
* A breeder who is not knowledgable on the health problems in their lines. Every pure bred dog in the world has some genetic or health problem to be tested for and to be bred away from. Any breeder telling you otherwise is not a breeder to be dealing with. Our breed has eyes, hips and epilepsy. Any breeder not up to date on these three medical conditions and the dogs in their pedigrees that are higher risk than others, should be avoided at all cost.
* A breeder offering anything less than a three year guarantee. A lot of breeders guarentee their dogs for one maybe even 2 years. However you can not do the testing on your dog until it has reached 2 years of age. Any contract that is less than three years is in the interest of the breeder and their pocket book and not you the buyer. Insist in a three year guarantee or walk away.
* A breeder who only guarantees your puppy if you give them back the " defective" puppy. This is your family pet, you should not have to give your dog back in order to get a guarantee. You should always have the choice of getting a dollar amount back to help cover the cost or a replacement puppy. Either way you should never have to give your dog back to the breeder unless that is what you want to do. Make sure the contract protects you the buyer.
* A breeder who lets you or even forces you to choose your puppy at any time prior to 6 weeks of age. Think about it. What do you know about that puppy at a few days old? Nothing. It may be shy, hyper, agressive, or unhealthy. It may be the worst match for your family in the entire litter. Will you be happy with it just because it has blue eyes if it bites your children in aggression? Will you be happy with it just because it's a blue merle female if it is shy and runs and hides under the furniture and will not come out and play with any of the family including the children? Will you be happy with him just because he has the perfect aussie markings if he is so hyper you can not stand to have him loose in the house because he is chewing on all your furniture and barking non stop? You can not know any of these characteristics prior to 6-8 weeks old. So if any breeder promises you a puppy younger than 6 weeks of age, you need to question their actions and possibly go to a different breeder.
* A breeder who is not placing their non-breeding dogs. In order for a breeder to guarantee your puppy they have to have plans to be around in several years. In order for a breeder to continue breeding on a regular basis they need to have new bloodlines and new breeding dogs. In order to bring in new bloodlines and breeding stock, they eventually have to place the older dogs who are not breeding any longer. Any breeder who says they are not placing any of their dogs, but is continuing to produce a few litters a year, is in this for the short term and only the glorification of having a few puppies. One of two things will happen. Either the breeder will stop keeping puppies for themselves and start just providing puppies for the public and become very unethical, or they will end up with 20-30 dogs and will either become a puppy mill or just get to the point that are not able to breed any longer. A good breeder will have three stages of dogs. Adults that are currently breeding and will be placed in a couple years, dogs that are tested and just about to be of age to breed, and puppies they are growing up to hopefully replace the older dogs.
* A breeder who has obtained their breeding dogs from puppy mills, back yard breeders or other questionable sources. Good breeders will only sell their show/breed puppies to quality homes. If all the good breeders have said NO to selling breeder "A" a dog, there must be a reason. If breeder "A" had to go and get all their dogs from puppy mills and back yard breeders in order to get started then that raises a lot of questions. A good breeder will have done what ever was necessary to obtain the best quality dogs from the best quality breeders right from day one. If you see a breeder who does not have several other breeders associated with them, or if you contact several breeders in one area and none of them are willing to sell to one specific breeder, it all points to something being not quite right with that one breeder.
* A breeder who breeds litter after litter and does not keep puppies themselves.
A reputable breeder plans each breeding with the intent to produce puppies of better quality than both of the parents. If you produce puppies that are better quality than their parents your goal is to keep the best puppies to improve on your next generation. A reputable breed plans each and every litter carefully. This doesn't necessarily mean they only have one or two litters per year, but that the litters are well planned out with knowledge of each dogs background. Litters are only repeted if they were exceptional quality. If a breeder is having multiple litters and selling everything as pets and not keeping the best puppies for themselves, then they are breeding for money and not for quality. If a litter is of poor quality, a reputable breeder learns from this and does not repeat the breeding ever. The goal is not to produce puppies for pet homes, but to produce puppies better than their parents to advance a breeding program and to find good homes for the puppies that are not quite up to our standard. If this isn't the case, then the breeder is in this for the wrong reasons and you should find a new breeder.
A breeder should be able to give you a list of the litters they have had over the past 5 years and tell you which puppy in each litter went where and why they did or did not keep something from each litter. Keep track of how many litters in a row a breeder has and how many pups they did or did not keep. A good breeder will provide this information in a public way on their website so you can see for yourself.
Keeping a dog doesn't mean they have to live with it, they may co-own the dog with another family but they still have use of it in their breeding program.
* A breeder who breeds to the same stud dog over and over.
A reputable breeder is producing puppies to better the breed. There is no stud dog in history that is so good that he should be bred to every girl in someones breeding program. Every breeding program requires diversity, and that means choosing the best stud dogs possible for each female. Each female should be bred to different males over her breeding career. To continue to breed her to "FRED" because he lives with you is not a good reason to breed a litter. If Dog A and dog B produced an amazing litter of pups, you may want to repete the litter once. But anything more than that is not in the best interest of this breed.
* MONEY***
Breeders are not in this for money. Every breed has a reason the price is set at what it is. Most reputable breeders are all priced around the same price in any given area depending on the cost of all the things required. For Mini Aussies in Ontario the price is around $1000 for pet quality and around $1500 for show quality. If you find a breeder charging less, then you have to ask why? What corners are they cutting to be able to charge less money. At $1000 a puppy we DO NOT make a profit. The cost of testing our dogs and our puppies, and raising our puppies properly and getting the best dogs possible for our breeding program and getting our dogs out to prove they are of good quality, all costs money. If we didn't do all the things we did, we would not be able to provide exceptional quality dogs.
Anyone, and I mean anyone who is selling a "pure bred" mini aussie for under $1000 is in this for the money and they are not doing the above required testing and showing. These people look at breeding in one way and one way only.
BANG, it's an easy buck!
If your looking for a financial deal and don't want to pay $1000 or more, keep in mind you get what you pay for.
A reputable breeder can almost always provide you with health clearances for several generations. While this isn't a guarantee nothing will happen to your puppy, it certainly increases your odds.
After all, look at it this way. If Fido has excellent hips but his parents, grandparents, siblings and other relatives all have hip dysplasia, then his excellent hips mean nothing because genetically he will still likely produce pups with bad hips. Likewise if Fido is only OFA Fair, but he has a long line of relatives that are all OFA Excellent, then he will likely produce pups with excellent hips. So a reputable breeder spends a lot of time trying to find out what health, temperament and quality is behind each and every dog they plan to breed. They look at the big picture to be able to provide you with the heathiest dog possible.
So you may save a few hundred dollars in the initial purchase, but the odds of you spending several thousand dollars later on when your dog develops a problem is greatly reduced.
These are all guidelines. There are so many things to consider when choosing a breeder we could not possibly have put it all on one page. If you find another breeder you are interested in dealing with but have questions or doubts, look through our site to find out all you can. If you still have questions contact us and we may be able to help. You should write down a list of questions and ask each of them. Make sure your questions are answered to your satisfaction. Remember, there are no dumb questions. You are spending the money and the breeder should be willing to spend as much time with you as you need. Always ask to see health clearances, certified CERF and OFA for hips and eyes. Anything less is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
It's always a good idea to ask for references from not only puppy buyers, but also veterinarians and especially fellow breeders of the same breed. Your peers hold you to the highest standard and if your peers do not recommend you, there's probably a reason.
Make sure you do your research and make the best decision for your family. A puppy is a 10-15 year commitment and a good $1000 investment. Don't throw your money away on a lesser quality dog, and don't take a puppy your not confident will meet your needs. Make sure your breeder is also a person you will be happy dealing with for the life of the dog. Don't think the breeder goes away after you hand them the money. A good breeder keeps in touch until the day the dog passes on and even afterwords ot offer support.
Good luck in your search, and if we at Stoverly can be of any help in finding you a puppy, we would be happy to do so. Our goal is to match all mini aussies up with their forever homes. We are happy to refer you on to other breeders in your area if you would like our help.
Happy puppy searching.
Sue and the Stovery Gang.
Midland, Ontario, Canada
705-549-0811
info@stoverlyaussies.com
