How do you tell the good from the bad?

[ursula wilby]

Selling puppies is one thing, finding the right buyers, quite another.
How do YOU tell the good from the bad?
I think all breeders have come across buyers that seemed OK to begin with but turned into total nightmares.
So how do YOU choose?
And whom would you NOT sell a puppy to?

[Laura Kolbach]

just a comment: i think it makes a difference if you have a litter at home and keep two pups and buying two pups. with other dogs at home they learn a lot, while "just two pups" don't. of couse you have to spend time with them whatever situation we talk about, but i still think there is a difference.

[ursula wilby]

I quite agree Laura.
Having a kennel full of dogs, or at least 4 or 5 (plus the house set up for this) is a totally different matter to just going out to buy two puppies.
Older dogs keep the young ones from "taking over" and if you call an older dog the young ones will follow and learn this way.

[Dee Rance]

I agree as well Laura, and with you Ursula. Buying in two puppies is soooo different from breeding your own, and then running on two. As well as that, most of us here have breed a couple of litters, so we have know the 'little horrors' from the word go..we know that if all else fails their mother will give them a swift paw behind the ear, if they become a problem. As for the 'fun' of digging up the garden, as Susan says, they won't stop at a corner, they are crossed with Locusts, everything green will disappear, and your garden will become a relief map of the moon, Puppies need to know where their parameters are, if there are two of them, they will listen to each other, and not their owners, and you will be lost as far as 'being the boss' is concerned. Please don't go taking them for long walks, they really don't need it at their age.

[Laura Kolbach]

i think i have to comment again :-)
1. what is considered as a long walk?
2. great if you have a garden, but what on earth would you do if you lived in a flat? (like me for example).
3. if you had a very very active puppy like i had in Danka, you would for sure take them out for motion and not only on leash... believe me, my neighbours would have killed me if they had had to listen to her rodeo-like playing all day long (with the long walks they had to listen less :-))

i took both my girls out since little puppies, after the third shot. no bicycle or running with them, just walking around on the doggie island and let them play and move and fool around and run as much as they wanted. i don't think it is harmful. honestly said, i think the opposite. also, free running on walks teaches them to pay attention to the owner and you are not hit by surprise that they won't come back to you when you let them off-leash at the age of 1 year or so for the first time.
also, my pointer friends introduce their dogs to the field already in puppy age and they run with the adults. no, not the 40 minutes in full sprint but they definately don't walk them on leash only.
my opinion :-) and i will continue to let them run from puppy age :-)

[Carmel Murphy]

When I mention walks I am talking only about long road walks(hard surface) for miles(kilometers) which is very hard on puppies joints! Free running is great and puppies need that! But best done on soft ground, like fields, parks,woods etc if you dont have a garden(my garden is one acre!!) then your closest park etc is great! And not for hours as some people do! I have had people tell me they have walked pups for 4 or 5 kilometers and that is too much for babies even if they are 6 or 7 months old!

[ursula wilby]

I agree with both Dee and Laura (seems impossible as they appear to have different standpoints when it comes to excercise).

I normally recommend puppy-buyers NOT to take their puppies for long walks.
On the other hand I see nothing wrong with puppies excersising themselves as much as they want to.
I think there is a vast differance.
Yes if you have no garden and you take your puppy to the park and it plays and runs about, I think that is fine. I trust nature on this point.

No long walks on the lead, but play and run as much as they want to. If you walk and the puppy is constantly in front of you, I feel it can handle the admount of excercise. So I feel its a matter of looking at how much your particular puppy can handle.
And thats a difficult one to tell puppy-buyers.
So its easier to say...no long walks.

Looking at the distances Carmel is talking about, yes I would take a 7 months old puppy on a 4 km walk. But all my walks are on soft ground and with the puppy mainly off the lead.

[Carmel Murphy]

Again I have to mention when I talk about walks I am only talking about lead walks on roads!! Free running on grass is perfect for pups! When I bring my dogs to fields, woods, parks etc. I call that bringing them for a run(they dont go slow enough for a walk) so I think its just a matter of interpretation on the word WALK :o)) All my pups go for runs in the field!!

[ursula wilby]

Yes, you are right Carmel...its what we read into the word WALK that differs...:-)

[Dee Rance]

When I said Walks I mean ''formal walks'' ie on the lead for miles and miles on hard ground. I too think that puppies should play as much as they want, I personally have difficulty with a puppy (Irish Setter) going into a flat....or apartment....It would need a great deal of persuasion to make me sell a puppy to a flat....I am not saying that I wouldn't.
It sounds like Danka is like Saffy, I couldn't envisage Saffy in a flat..I think that I would be evicted within a couple of weeks, she would drive the people down stairs from me totally mad, they would never be able to think, and that is with a garden to let her out in, and walks of several miles a day. I admire your dedication. Perhaps if I could run with them now they may use up more energy. Perhaps I am too old now, would I sell to an O.A.P? I would like to think I would.

[Laura Kolbach]

Two nice breeders already sold me two dogs and I am sure they never regreted it :-) I think, looking at my photos in my gallery could convice anyone :-)))
And yes, I would love to have a house and a garden but still would take walks with them. Being in an appartment also have advantages: you are kind of "forced" to go out with the dog, no temptation to just let them out into the garden and that's it (I know too many people doing it that way...). I also work a lot in home office which of course makes the whole situation easier.
Dee, what is O.A.P?

[Dee Rance]

I hope I didn't give any offence there was non meant, I know how difficult it can be when you really want a dog, especially an Irish Setter, and that is why I said ''I am not saying that I wouldn't'' but a lot depends on the person. After 'talking' with you on the occasions that I have on this site, I am sure that I would have let one of my pups go to you and yours. I have let puppies go to people who couldn't afford to buy a dog outright but could afford to look after one, I have taken 'instalments' on the purchase price. A bit like 'higher purchase'
As far as O.A.P. is concerned.... Old Age Pensioner...... this is what I am, and some might not let me have a dog because I am, one of these, Old people, some would say 'just too old'......so it is very difficult to say who is good and who is not.
It is like choosing a friend, in a few moments of meeting them, haven't we all been caught out, with so called friends, who have let us down badly. Taken us for a 'mug' or just used us????.....

[ursula wilby]

I certainly have no doubts whatsoever when it comes to selling a puppy to someone in a flat! I find the flat-living-dogs are the ones that normally have the most varied lives.
As Laura said...you have to do something with your dog.

Generally as far as having a stimulating life the dogs that have less of that, are the people with big gardens...its easy to skip todays walk and just let the dog out.