How To Choose A Puppy and Breeder

[Grace Erick]

There are some ways that you can choose a puppy and breeder. To choose a breeder, you can try to contact an association in your state for the kind of dog you want if it's a purebred dog and they can usually refer you to reputable people. Call a few breeders and ask breeders what they think about other breeders and you will find they love to tell you all about someone else and their downfalls with their puppies or the enviornment they are raised in. I contacted my state's chihuahua club and attended chihuahua shows to meet the breeders in person which you can do for whatever breed you are looking for. If you have to, travel to find the right pup, but do not buy one through the internet unless you can see the pups in their home. Do not have the pup sent on a plane to you.

The better breeders only have a few puppies at a time since they require a lot of care. The breeder can hide other puppies from you to show they only have a few, but that is where a referel helps.

Don't meet a breeder half way to their house because they live far away. Go to the home to see the enviornment the puppies were raised in and to see the parents. The parents can potentially show you the temperment the dog will have and the size and you can check out their general health. The breeder giving you papers to register the dog means nothing. Look at the parents!!! They may meet you with a puppy that is not even a purebred and you can't tell at that young age. Believe me, it happened to my friend and it's a trick some bad breeders use to keep you from coming to their house. Ask to see where the puppies are kept. You may find it's filthy or they have more puppies than they are admitting to or they are just brokers that get puppies from people and sell them, so they don't even have the parents.

Pick a puppy that is friendly, which did not help me since my dog was so attention deprived, she was glad to have me pick her up, but ended up not being socialized which she seemed to be at the time, but that tends to be more of a chihuahua related issue.

You should have some health guarantee where you have a certain amount of time to bring your new puppy to a vet to be examined. Bring the puppy to the vet within the required time to verify the pup is in good health.

Get some of the food the dog was eating from the breeder (if the pup was fed hard food) even if it's not great food, because you can use it to mix with the new food you choose since not all breeders feed their dogs the best food. Do your own research and find what food is good for your dog.

Vaccinate your dog for what's in your area. If you don't have the corona virus or lepto problems, don't get those shots, especially lepto which has numerous side reactions. Lepto is if you have a rat problem. Bordetella is for kennel cough, but if your dog will not be in play groups or will not be shown or put in a kennel if you go on vacation, I don't think you need that either. Each vet has their own vaccination combinations for 5-1 shots or 3-1 etc. Choose the vet that gives the vaccinations your dog needs. Find out what shots the puppy has recieved and when you need to vaccinate your puppy again.

Do not get your puppy from a pet store. You will never know the puppies real origin or be able to see the parents. These pups tend to come from puppymills where they are not properly cared for and are not bred to be healthy which can eliminate a whole list of potential costly and deadly health problems down the road. I've met people who have bought pet store pups with parvo. You won't have that problem with a good breeder. Also, your pup may not meet he standards of what the dog should look like when it's grown if you are buying a purebred dog and want that certain look of the breed.

Bye, Grace

[Amber]

Grace--

Just wondering, are you pro-adoption? You didn't write anything about adopting a puppy from a shelter. At the no-kill shelter I volunteer at, we give as much information as we possibly can about each dog and we keep our puppies/dogs as healthy as we can, as we have a vet that works with us to keep our vet bills down so that we may do so. We also guarantee all our animals...if it doesn't work out, they can bring back the animal and we give back their adoption fee.

I realize adopting a puppy from a shelter is kind of like buying a puppy from a pet store, but some shelters actually do their jobs in telling the public all they can about what they are adopting! I would hate for people to just go out and buy a puppy when there are plenty of puppies that are actually being born in shelters, as well as being found motherless out on the street that needs homes just as much.

I bought Precious at 5 and a half weeks and adopted Sally at a year and a half. Now that I have had the chance to adopt, I will NEVER buy a puppy/dog again. I will always adopt.

[Grace Erick]

Hi Amber,

I'm sorry that I just saw your post and did not respond earlier. I am definitely pro adoption. I was new to the internet and adoption agencies, so when I wanted to adopt a chihuahua, I went to the only chihuahua adoption site I found in my state. As I started checking with show dog breeders, I kept watching the Pacific Northwest chi rescue site for 5 months which is how long it took me to find Capri. They never had any chis available, but I later found out it was because the gal who heads the Pacific Northwest adoption was not getting involved. I found this out when I attended a chihuahua fundraiser for rescue chihuahuas a year after I bought Capri.

I made a gift basket which they auctioned off as a grand prize and donated food to be sold. It was very rewarding and fun to make. The winner loved everything I had put in the basket. Food and doggie items were also sold to make money.

This fundraiser was actually held by a Canadian (B.C.) chihuahua rescue person, but in a U.S. park. It's a very strange situation, but they have chis available in the U.S., but they are posted on the B.C. chi rescue site. The chis are fostered, so that is another reason why I could not find one since there are no facilities. I would have to have looked at the B.C. chi rescue site which never occured to me for Pacific Northwest chis.

I love my Capri, but it saddens me that I was not able to rescue a chihuahua. Capri is very shy and timid and kind of reminds me a little of Precious, so I feel a little better that she went to me and not another home that didn't understand her even though I bought her. She was 5 months when I bought her, and her "time" was done in a pen with other aggressive puppies, and she was very skinny.

I am definitely going to get a rescue chihuahua for my next dog. That won't be until Capri is gone since she is not dog friendly and I only want one dog at a time for various reasons.

I didn't think to post anything about rescuing dogs from a shelter, I guess because I don't know anything about the process. The process for adopting through the chi rescue is very tough, especially since they are particularly emotional and delicate dogs. They will send someone to your home to investigate the dog's new home. It's been 2-1/2 years now that I own Capri and there still has not been one chi posted to the Pacific Northwest chi site in the U.S., but now I know there are other venues for finding a chi to adopt.

I would never recommend anyone buying a dog from a pet store. They tend to be in ill health and not very well cared for and come from puppymills to be sold to stores cheaply and then sold at much higher prices for no apparent reason. I have heard enough bad "I bought my dog from a petstore" stories.

Bye, Grace

[Amber]

Grace-

I hope I didn't offend you in any way. I was just wondering since you didn't say anything in your original post about adoption. Sally has been such a joy to have in my life, even through all the issues that she has. I love educating people about adoption and what comes along with it.


Amber

[Andre Mendizabal]

Thanks guys, you both give very useful information for any person who's planning to become a doggie parent, doesn't matter if its of a purebred or a rescue. I think for various reasons sometimes you go either way, the thing is to be aware of what you're doing and making the best decision for you and your pet, I also volunteer in a shelter and wanted to adopt a dog, but they have so many behavioral issues and I don't feel to have the time or knowledge to handle them, plus, having three other dogs in the house doesn't help. So to make up for it I volunteer at the shelter and, as you do Grace, usually donate prizes for auctions and fund raisers.
Thanks guys, keep up the good work!!!! :yourock:

[Amber]

I have to say-even though I had Precious before adopting Sally- I really did not know a whole lot about dogs and dog behavior. It wasn't until I adopted Sally, a dog with a lot of behavioral/mental issues, that I really started looking into dog behavior and psychology in order to help her out. I know some people may not do that and just say the heck with it and let the behaviors continue...but I jumped on the chance to learn something new. Now I can't stop reading! lol

[Grace Erick]

Hi Amber,

Oh please, no, you didn't offend me!!! It's good that you brought up the topic of rescue dogs from the humane society or any rescue group.

Andre, you bring up a good point about dogs with issues. I guess you tell people what the issues are of the dog they may want to adopt if you know what they are.

You are correct in not adopting a dog you don't have the time for if the dog has issues. No one should take on a dog with behavior issues if they don't have the time or experience or can't afford to get help for the dog, because as I'm sure you and Amber know, they will end up back in the shelter and it will mean just more upsetment for the dog going from home to home to shelter and back again.

I bet some dogs have problems that you can't even know about until they are placed in a home unless the previous owner was honest about the dog's problems. I remember on a pet adoption show on the Animal Planet channel, this gal really wanted this big dog that had been rescued from living in a small cage. She comes home to find him standing on her kitchen table!!!! The dog had no idea of boundries and what was normal, but he was a real sweeheart. He jumped over her fenced yard and she was freaking out, but the rescue people visited her and she signed him up for a behavior class and it all worked out.

It's a shame that the dogs are punished for problems by not being adopted or by being brought back since the problems originate from the original owner.

Bye, Grace