Tips on puppy buying
by Bonnie Dalzell ©1997
Caution
Before buying any puppy be sure you fully
understand the breed's physical
needs and breed specific behaviors!
The most important thing to realize about getting a dog is that it really is
your responsibility to get the best dog you can for your circumstances. Dogs
are living beings that grow and change. The adult dog is a product of its
genetic heritage and its environment. The best bred dog in the world will not
turn out well if improperly reared and trained, on the other hand there is
relatively little an novice owner can do to rescue a dog from a serious genetic
disease.
If you can steel yourself to approach the purchase of a pure bred puppy with
the same degree of caution you would use when buying a used car, you will be
much happier with your final choice. This means you need to do some homework:
read about breeds and individual dogs, visit dog training classes, intensively
interview people who have dogs but are not selling one at the time, go to see
dogs without your checkbook, even borrow a dog or house-sit for a dog owning
friend. Do not leap to purchase the first puppy that wags its tail at you, no
matter how cute. Helping with breed rescue in the breed or breeds that you
finally focus on is very useful in teaching you about the mistakes to avoid
when you finally choose your dog.
Most people who are purchasing a pure bred dog are buying the dog to be a
companion or pet. I frequently get phone calls from people who want a puppy and
say "we only want a pet, not a show dog" expecting a large discount in price.
What a prospective purchaser needs to realize is that while some
attributes in a breed such as color, markings, coat length and texture, tail
length and carriage, eye color, and overall size may put a dog outside of the
cosmetic guidlines required for a show speciman without affecting the dog's
overall health and vitality other defects that bar a dog from the show ring can
also have serious health consequences or require expensive corrective
surgeries. Defects of the latter sort also make the dog unsuited as a family
pet unless you enjoy spending money at the vets or want a short lived dog.
A conscientious breeder is striving first to produce healthy puppies who will
grow up to be healthy dogs, breeding a top show speciman is but an additional
consideration. All the puppies in the litter benefit if the breeder is going to
the time and expense to screen for inherited defects and a buyer should not
expect a great discount on a puppy sold as a pet because of a cosmetic
deficiency. This puppy still has the potential to mature into a vigorous adult
to provide many years of companionship. It also costs just as much to produce
and grow as the show potential animal, an additional reason the puppy buyer
should not expect a great discount over the price of a show potential puppy.
In fact some breeders sell the show puppies for less to serious show
homes because the cost of campaigning a show dog is high, often several
thousands of dollars to earn an AKC Championship, and the show breeder's
reputation is enhanced as more dogs gain show titles.
In my personal opinion there is no such thing as a guarenteed show quality
puppy. There are puppies who are of show potential who should mature
into show specimans. However a top quality show or performance dog is more than
just its genes, it must also be well reared which includes:
- providing adequate excercise,
- providing a healthy diet - one that meets the nutritional needs of the pup
but is not oversupplemented . Too rapid growth can be more disasterous for
medium and large breed dogs than too slow growth.
- Having the time to train and socialize the puppy. Dogs do not take as
much time as children but they take a lot more time than a pet goldfish,
hamster or even a cat. Dogs in which puppy training and socializing is omitted
frequently develop behavioral problems that lead to their being given up at a
year of age.
- Do not buy a puppy that is 'sold as a pet because it
is/has':
- It is excessively fearful or excessively aggressive.
- It has a really exaggerated posture - front feet flat on the ground to the
stop pad, hind feet flat on the ground.
- Chronic lameness in a 2 to 5 month old puppy.
- The unhealthy scrawny pup in the litter. This pup may have any one of a
number of life treatening congenital illnesses such as a major heart anomaly,
pancreatitis, severe food sensitivities.
- An extremely large puppy for its age with very large, tender or hot to
the touch "growth knobs" at the wrists and ankles. Very rapidly growing
puppies are much more likely to have joint problems later in life. This is in
part a management problem. These dogs can be fed too rich a diet as pups and
pushed to grow too rapidly. Too rapid growth is generally an error made by
novice owners and breeders.
- A pup from an excessively inbred litter. Breeders sometimes tell Novice
buyers that a puppy is being sold as an unregistered pet because the AKC does
not allow the registration of brother x sister breedings and the pup is from
such an "accidental" litter. Acually the only requirements that the
AKC has for registering a litter are:
- The mother is registered with the AKC in the name of the person
registering the litter and the father is registered with the AKC in the name of
the person signing the stud dog portion of the litter registration paper.
- The parents are registered with the AKC as belonging to the same breed.
AKC registration is not a mark of screening for defects or a guarentee of
quality, it is only certification that the above mentioned criteria have been
met.
Further readings
