A Guide to Buying a Puppy.

Take your time to plan.

Nothing is as adorable as watching puppies playing together, unless it is picking them up and smelling that adorable, puppy breath. J, but do not let emotions lead you into a fast, not well thought out, purchase. You can check out www.puppies-forsale.co.uk for some great advice on choosing your pet from the puppies for sale and here are some of my own suggestions.

 
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Be sure to know where the puppy has come from?

What do you know about the breeder?  Reg and I purchased Indigo our poodle with confidence, as we already knew Indigo’s breeder was a caring dog lover, not just breeding, for profit, as with puppy farms.There are many unscrupulous puppy breeders, don’t just fall in love with a puppy in a pet shop window and buy on impulse.

Many puppies from puppy farms can be, infested, with worms may not have strong bones due to deficient diet and some, fall sick and may die.
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Always see a puppy with its mother

We looked at photos and sort information about the health and age of Indigo’s dam (mum), her sire, (father), and even other siblings from previous litters.

We asked about health traits like blindness, temperament, joint problems and life span of Indigo’s relatives and her care. 

We went and viewd Indigo with her mother when she was 7 weeks old.
Ideally you should see the father too, or at least a photo of him.
If the breeder cannot show you the mother or father, you should be suspicious, we were shown many photos and invited to meet the sire, if we wanted to.
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Do you have proof of vaccination for the puppy?

Make sure you see the vaccination card, do not just accept the breeder’s word that the puppy, has been vaccinated.  

Be aware that vaccination cards can be a fake. A veterinary surgeon's contact details should be on the card. You can always check with that vet, if the puppy has had the correct vaccinations and if the vet thought the puppy was healthy.

Make sure you are aware of when the next vaccination is due and if the puppy has to be kept away from other dogs and for how long before they have full immunity.



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Pedigree certificates are no guarantee of good health.

They are also not a guarantee that the puppy is the one shown on the pedigree certificate.  


Buy your puppy from the breeder at the breeder’s place of residence,

Do not trust that the puppy will be as presented to you, if the breeder is not prepared to allow you to know where they live.

One very common situation is that once a puppy farm has a dog that is too old to breed from it will be offered  cheaper than a puppy, and passed off, as an 18 month old to 3 year old dog, when in fact, the dog is old and worn out from over breeding and has only a short lifespan, left.

Older dogs tend to need more veterinary,  care and involve more expense.  I have actually ‘fallen’, for that trick, brought a supposed 3 year old dog into the home as a family pet to have her die of old age, in less than 18 months.  Again, we ‘sort of knew we had been duped’, the teeth and grey hair and sedate manner of the dog, told us she was an old dog, but as dog lovers, we took pity on the dog and gave her a good home and love, anyhow.

 
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Do not buy a puppy out of pity for its condition.
Caring for a sick puppy can be an expensive and heartbreaking thing to do.  I know, I have done it.

My daughter, paid, $400. with our OK, for a sick dog to save it’s life, we did, at great expense, the dog went blind, then insane and finally died at only 18 months of age, leaving me in tears.  I should have reported the owner for cruelty to animals and left it to the authorities to deal with.  Well some of us are, 'soft touches', but t is not a wise thing to do to bring a sick dog into the family as a pet. There are some wonderful, healthy puppies, like our Indigo was J from good breeders who would bring the family more joy and less expense and turn into a wonderful four legged family member like Indigo is to us, now.

Choose the right puppy, after a lot of prior planning and research and you will have a wonderful family memberJ.  

The pictures are of Indigo as a puppy.  
 


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