The Best Place to Source a Puppy

So you decide that you want a dog.  You have researched the breeds and made your decision on a breed that will suit your lifestyle, budget and experience but where do you find a good breeder and a good litter?

There are few places you definitely should NOT go and those are sites like preloved and similar, where people advertise puppies, dogs for re-homing and all manner of other things free of charge.  You should not go to a pet shop (yes there are still a few that sell puppies) nor should you go to a kennels advertising lots of different breeds.

There is the Kennel Club Puppy Finder site which tells you of litters available but you should also exercise caution here as there are Kennel Club Assured Breeders and those that can just pay to advertise a KC registered litter.  The Assured Breeder Scheme does give you a little more peace of mind but not masses.  The KC being the KC only enforce rules that benefit them and there are still puppy farmers and prolific breeders who have attained KCABS status.

In my opinion the safest place to go to choose a puppy is to the breed clubs themselves.  You can usually be assured that people that are members of the breed club and have registered their litters with them are really focused on producing the best of the breed.   They will only be able to register their litters on the breed clubs puppy list if they have followed the rules set out by the club and these are usually much stricter than those set out by the KC.

Once you have found a litter then go along and see them before you even think of bringing one home.  You need to feel like your breeder is assessing your worthiness to take one of their puppies and you should feel comfortable with the breeder.  Do you feel you could call them if you had a problem?  Do they seem knowledgeable about the breed?  Do the puppies look happy and playful? 

The breeder should have the KC registration documents there ready to go with your puppy and they should also have you sign an agreement that covers what to do if you can't look after your puppy amongst other things.  Many breeders now endorse the pups pedigrees so that you cannot breed from them without the breeder lifting the endorsement.  This is a safe guard to ensure that people aren't cashing in on the dogs that they buy by breeding them for nothing more than the money aspect but be sure to ask about this.  Also your breeder should provide you with a information on feeding, worming and general routine of the pup and food to take home to tide you over until you can get the puppy more.

If you are looking for a crossbreed puppy then my advice here is much the same, stay away from the free ads and the ads in the local paper for some odd mix or another but instead of the KC you should contact local rescues first.  They have puppies and young dogs looking for homes as well as older dogs and by getting a crossbreed from a rescue you are helping to halt the supply and demand culture of over breeding.

Choosing a puppy is a mine field, you know the trouble that I have had with our KC registered puppy and it's easy to say listen to your head not your heart but when you get there and see the puppies your head can shout all it likes, your heart will be the one that makes the final decision, just try and be sure that it is the right one.