Here is some anecdotal evidence of the things to watch out for when talking to “breeders” online. You can look online for a puppy but if that initial contact does not progress through emails, texts, phone conversations, and meeting face to face, and back up everything they claim with knowledge and documents – look elsewhere. You’ll find a legitimate breeder with your and the dogs best interests in mind, so don’t settle. That cute puppy is everywhere, but that good breeder is not, so BUYER’S BEWARE!
This is a post from an individual wanting to stud her dog. She declares the dog is “registered with the CKC”. I ask her in the post which CKC and she messages me with “Continental” and admits that the sire was not registered.
Then when asked about vetting she says the tests are pending…
BUYERS BEWARE: The CANADIAN Kennel Club (CKC) is a reputable organization like the AMERICAN Kennel Club (AKC) and they both recognize each others registries. However, the CONTINENTAL Kennel Club (CKC, purposely tied to a foreign name where it can’t be challenged in a US court and is easily mistaken for a legitimate registry) was formed to circumvent limited registrations and oops litters. It has gained popularity making it seem legitimate, but look at the requirements to register a dog. If they don’t seem sketchy to you, well…
Any tests declared should be able to be proven and willingly shown to a buyer. If they cannot be provided you should not trust that breeder. What else are they hiding?
These two examples are me responding to posts for stud dogs. In the first post the person is claiming the male is being fully vetted “as we speak” and sounds pretty good at first hip/joint testing…breeding exam…fully vetted…but then…”I think the genetic health testing includes brucellosis”…
The second one same response for a stud dog post where I tell the poster I will look at him for a stud if they can provide evidence he is fully vetted and list my requirements. The response “he goes to the vet heartworm and flea and tick threatment WAS done with his shots”.
BUYER BEWARE: the first post uses a lot of the buzz words from good breeders, but if a breeder doesn’t know that brucellosis is a bacterial infection not a genetic disease – RUN! A good breeder knows what’s what with their breed and would know the ins and outs of disease and what takes place in breeding exams and why.
The second post shows another lack of knowledge that should make you run. They claimed the dog was fully vetted, because he goes to the vet? And that he HAD heartworm treatment when he got his shots. While there are treatments that can be done every 90 days for parasites, the total lack of knowledge about heartworm treatment being a monthly regime should tell you something. Unless they are really vaccinating their dogs every month along with heartworm…well, that should say something too because no one does that either!
How many litters does this breeder have at one time? I count three…how many puppies do they have? Three that are 9 MONTHS old…bred two females to the same dog at the same time while still had those three puppies, now has nine other puppies they want to get rid of before “they get too old”.
BUYER BEWARE: A responsible breeder will only breed a pair at a time, have at least half of a litter spoken for before that breeding takes place, won’t have another litter until all the puppies are homed, and don’t reduce the price of their puppies for quick sale. A lot of good breeders are backing off right now (2023) because the economy is hard and people aren’t buying. Please be aware of this and avoid these “cheaper” puppies because the mills and backyard breeders are flooding the market while the good breeders are taking a break.
This next series of discussion was in response to a post where the individual said they were looking for a girl friend . I messaged the poster and asked for pedigree and health records and provided my email address. The individual requested I wait until after work and then sent me a message answering questions I didn’t ask yet. Then I get a non-identifiable incomplete shot record and no pedigree. When I said no thank you I was asked what I expected so I told them. You can read their response in the last slide…
BUYER BEWARE: Good breeders don’t sit around waiting for buyers to show up and most of them have lives outside of having puppies for sale, so being asked to wait for certain requests shouldn’t send up a red flag. What SHOULD make your red flags go up are getting answers to questions you haven’t asked in lieu of answers to requests you did make. You should also be wary of limited information and insults when you do ask for things. A good breeder is going to answer your questions ALL THE TIME. They will not try to distract you with other information and when you ask something they should answer you. A good breeder will never insult you for asking questions. By the way, most of us know how to spell… and yes by then I was a little irritated and let it show.
Before finally finding Sirus I went through dozens of breeders and did find this one who seemed great – at first. The more questions I asked the more information I got! Not about the dogs, but about the type of person he is. He became preachy, insulting and down right rude. I’m still shaking my head over this one and when I shared his philosphies with my vet and other breeders they all said, “you dodged a bullet!”. We still shake our heads over this one. There were many more interactions, but I needed to shorten this some and only included the ones with the more severe red flags.
BUYER BEWARE: This “breeder” was found on AKC Marketplace and used the Bred with Heart designation on his ad, but to be Bred with Heart you have to use the breed clubs guidelines, which for GSD’s includes OFA or other type of certification on Hips and Elbows but not only doesn’t he have them done says that x-rays introduce radiation that can cause osteoporosis and that I can go waste my money on a dog that is OFA certified because the diet he feeds his dogs (raw, but not in a good way) prevents all of the issues dogs have today. I asked about having a heart worm test because by the time we were to go get the puppy he would have been five months old, the time frame for heartworms to breed in the bloodstream is 4-5 months and heartworm can pass through the mother’s blood to the puppies in utero. We were in the middle of heartworm treatments for Reyna and I was a little gun shy. It was “out of his way” to go get a test done on the puppy that I agreed to pay for if it was negative and it would be ridiculous because his dog’s immune system naturally fights heartworm and other parasites because they feed on grains that his dogs don’t ever eat. But he got treatments a couple times…but doesn’t believe in the vet/doctors…and therefore has no heartworm tests done on this dogs – how do you know your dog doesn’t have heart worm? Get a test to prove that your theory is working? When I pointed out that I was a biologist who studied wolves among other things and that the first thing a carnivore does is eat the intestines for the plant matter it contains he proceeded to tell me that I was indoctrinated and doctors and education could not be trusted. He mentions that he might keep one as a guard dog, but really needed to find one that isn’t related since he’s a breeder, but white ones are so hard to find…from reputable breeders maybe, but I certainly see white puppies for sale all the time. I’m sure you can draw your own conclusions from this one as to what to look out for!
I asked him why he needed to breed ASAP…
BUYER BEWARE: The answer, “I just want a puppy from him”. Oh good grief. First off, this dog looks to be about a year old and with that kind of attitude he clearly shows there’s no intent to do what’s best for the breed. I wanted to ask, “what’s the hurry”, but by then I was so disgusted with what I was finding through this research I couldn’t hardly stand it. My best advice is to ask a lot of questions and go with your gut, not what’s cheap. You can pay a little more or even a lot more for a puppy that comes with some health records and parents that are healthy (with evidence) and still end up with health issues, but you are for certain going to have issues with a puppy that comes cheap and with nothing. I can’t find our conversation, I think I ended up deleting it and blocking him for telling me you don’t need “all that to breed a dog” – yeah this was that one.
This person pretended to be us on line. A buyer reached out to me through the website and let me know what was going on, so I tracked the seller down and pretended to be a buyer. GOTCHA!
BUYER BEWARE. There is just so much wrong with this interaction I don’t even know where to start. These are not all of the screenshots I have either, but you can clearly see from the language of the seller that something isn’t right. “I can’t provide you with paperwork”??? As a buyer if you can’t get proof of what the seller is saying: “all of our puppies have been vet checked” PROOF: the actual record from the vet’s office – then don’t bother with the seller.
If the seller tries to divert attention away from your questions, see last frame, RUN.