Where should we get a dog from?
We started out searching through petfinder, the humane societies, even craigslist, why not adopt or take a dog who needs a good home? It would sure save money over getting a puppy from a breeder! We saw a few dogs that seemed to fit what we were both looking for, but when we emailed, they were unavailable, or something about the situation wasn't 'quite right.' I didn't like the idea of letting the organization email me when they found a dog who 'fit what we were looking for.' What if we didn't 'click' with the dog they chose? Would we be able to turn it down? or would be cave and take a dog only out of guilt? So we axed the petfinder/humane society idea. Why is a 'breeder' selling the dogs she bred on Craigslist? We also questioned why some people were getting rid of the dogs they had, were they temperamental or difficult dogs? Did they have health problems? So many questions came up that we decided to check out some breeders.
What breed of dog is best for us?
Well, when you decide to go through a breeder you need to choose a breed first! We hadn't done this because we had been looking for a personality rather than a specific breed. I had always had Shelties, Greg's family had a Springer Spaniel. We checked out some other breeds really looking for something big enough to run with, small enough to control, trainable... Really I think we made the decision based on the fact that we were familiar with Springers and had some other contacts who knew about the breed as well. I highly recommend doing A LOT of research about breeds prior to choosing! Talk to people who own different breeds, meet and interact with their dogs. We also had played on a few different "breed picker" websites that directed us to different breeds every time. I really don't think they're accurate at all..
How do we find a breeder?
Ok. So we want a Springer Spaniel, and we want to go through a breeder so we know where this dog is coming from, that it's healthy, etc. We started out by looking up breeders online in the area. We found a few, but some red flags went up. I had always heard that you should avoid getting a puppy for Christmas, it's not a good idea to bring one into the chaos of the holidays! Yet, one breeders website specifically advertised "Christmas litter" ready to take home for the holidays. This sparker some more research on both our parts. We visited the American Kennel Club website which has a red flag list when looking for breeders. Link to AKC puppy buyer beware: http://www.akc.org/future_dog_owner/puppy_buyers_beware.cfm We realized that anyone can call themselves a breeder, but that doesn't mean they know what they are doing, or have the best interest for the dogs in mind! So we followed the AKC's recommendations for finding a dog: http://www.akc.org/future_dog_owner/find_breeder.cfm . We emailed the area Kennel Club who referred us to a breeder believed to have a puppy available. We admit to doing a little google-stalk on her and found numerous show dog champions whom she had bred. For us, the show quality of our future dog wasn't the top priority, however, health and temperament were. After talking with the breeder we knew she had the best interest of her dogs in mine. Rather than us interviewing the breeder, she was interviewing us to make sure we were the perfect fit for this pup. She had his pedigree available to us, all of his health information as well as his parents, etc. She had mapped out all of his vet schedule for us, recommended high quality food for best health, and set us up with an obedience trainer immediately. We knew she was the breeder to go through and that we were in good hands as first time parents! Although we spent a little more than we originally expected, we knew we were getting a healthy pup with a wonderful support system in place.
On October 31, 2011, Ramsey came home.
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