I am constantly asked how to know which breeder to use to buy a dog. People ask what questions they should ask while they are puppy shopping. Is this you? Have you ever wondered how on earth you will pick the breeder for you?
There are a lot of things that go into making a good breeder. Every breeder is so different and does things their own way. Something I am passionate about is the genetic testing done prior to breeding. If you have a dog that has genetic disorders, they can pass this onto their puppies. This causes someone to purchase a puppy that can have long term life problems. Something that can be so easily prevented. When you are looking for a breeder, ask if they do genetic testing on their dogs prior to breeding.
Along with genetic testing a breeder can do further testing such as OFA hips and elbows, PENNhip and OFA heart and eyes. PENN hip is a test that ranks the dogs compared to other dogs their age and their breed. This helps to ensure you won't have degenerative hip problems or hips dysplasia. OFA hip and elbow tests if the hips and elbows are good and not prone to hip/elbow dysplasia. OFA eyes and heart are the same. You can ask your breeder what further testing they have done on their dogs.
When our puppies are born at day 3 we start ENS training. (I will discuss more of this in a future blog post.) This training helps to make puppies smarter and utilize more of their brain capacity. They will be calmer and easier to train. We also do ESI which is Early Scent Introduction. This introduces the puppies to different scents early on. Puppy Culture is a week by week guide to socialization. Each puppy will work through different obstacle courses and be introduced to different toys as they start to explore the world around them. We spend a lot of time with our puppies and make sure they feel safe with each new introduction so they know the world around them is safe. Ask your breeder what they do with the puppies early on.
Each breeder will be different! You can decide what is important to you in your future member of your family! Do your research and come up with a list of questions to ask your breeder. When wanting to find good homes for puppies, we welcome and like questions about our puppies and what we do.
Once you pick your puppy, LOVE them! Dogs are the best pets and companions! They will love you so love them!