Finding a Reputable Breeder
Several tools and questionnaires can be useful to help you weed through all the information out there on getting a pet. Below, you will find links to several informative sites, questions to ask breeder candidates along with questionnaires and worksheets for note taking. Finding the right breeder should be an interview process to ensure your new pet is the right fit for your family. What you don’t want to do is fund someone’s vacations, children’s camps, college funds and continued mistreatment of puppy-mill living with pain, loneliness, or abuse.
When interviewing potential breeders, make sure to discuss the 4 Questions to Ask Breeders. Health testing is probably the most crucial quality of a reputable breeder. Every breed has an “official” AKC parent club that identifies health issues and standard qualities for the breed. The Havanese Club of America (HCA) is the parent club for our breed. HCA club members are committed to bettering the breed and determine required health testing. Parent clubs require registering health tests with The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). Many of the breed specific health tests MUST be performed by veterinary specialists. Health testing is NOT the same as simply performing annual exams with the vet.
The Wisconsin Puppy Mill Project’s resource on Identifying a Quality Breeder and the Central Carolina Havanese Club website will aid with breeder candidate selection. The AKC also provides breeder interview tips.
Please take your time and do your research. It will pay off in the long run. Finding a reputable breeder is the best way to ensure your new pet has healthy lineage and will be a member of your family for many years.
Pet Store and Flea Market Puppies
People tell me all the time that they saw this cute little dog or cat in the pet store and just had to bring it home. When they tell me this, I just cringe. I ask them, do you know where that dog has come from? Do you know what you have just done? Some will answer, “Yes, I just saved this poor dog.” Others say, “No and I don’t care.” Well, hopefully reading some of the sensitive information about puppy mill practices and visiting some of the links, will provide enough information to dissuade your from purchasing a puppy from a pet store, flea market, puppy broker or from a backyard breeder. Whether you purchase a puppy from us or another reputable breeder, please by all means, do not buy a puppy from a pet store, a flea market, or from someone advertising online or in a newspaper. The AKC offers tips for spotting online puppy scams. Research your breeder through references; check puppy pedigrees.
The pet store views animals as merchandise. They must get their products from a retail distributor. That distributor is either a puppy broker, that buys entire litters from a breeder or from a puppy mill. Places where large numbers of puppies are produced and sold each day, many times being separated from their mothers at only 6 weeks old. Puppy brokers and puppy mill breeders do not health test their adult dogs. All they care about is the bottom line…. the profit and moving the product.
Pet stores, flea markets, and backyard breeders generally never require an application or references from a potential buyer and seem to always have available puppies. Below are some red flags that families looking for a quality puppy should avoid.
FaustHouse breeds show quality companion pets. We welcome adoptive families to become life-long members of the FaustHouse Havanese family. We are here to support buyers with transitions, questions, or just to share in your new puppy joy.
