local or out-of-state breeder....

whats better? one thats 3 hrs away, or a reputable one, who ships pups...???

one that is three hours away. If the breeder ships a puppy that have no idea the type of home or people that it is going to. I would never have a puppy shipped anyway because it causes too much stress for the poor pup. We are getting a puppy next weekend and we are going to drive ten hours (one way) to pick the puppy up because they don't ship and we are responsible for getting the puppy to us.

in my personal opinion shipping is a red flag... i mean there might be some good breeders who do that... but if you think about it. you won't be meeting them and they won't be meeting you. they don't6 know what you're like and you don't know them or how they raise their own dogs

I agree with Julie and Yoko.

also, and this is just my opinion, I always like to meet atleast one of the parents if not both. We are fortunate that both the parents belong to the breeder so we will be able to meet both of them when we pick up the puppy.

lol of course i adopted a dog and didn't know anything about it's parents and just knew it was starved and tied up outside all day ^^;;

If you can find a reputable breeder that has what you want and need within driving distance than it would be much better to meet the parents and to pick up the pup. However sometimes this is not possible and then you need to look at shipping as a possibility!

well i found another breeder and she is only 30 min away!!! i'm going there sunday. i was gonna wait another yr., but i just wanna check it out

Never hurts to look!

you may not be able to, LOL. You'll look at all those cute little puppy faces and won't be able to stop yourself.

depends on what the person who lives far away does before she ships... does she do checks and refrences...

I have only shipped one,( out of over 80 pups ) but it was to a person I knew and she knew my litters. I would never sell or ship to an unknown. Another I knew , didn't want her pup shipped and drove from Florida to Indiana to pick her up. I would never buy a pup sight unseen.....you gather too much information from the whelping home, meeting the breeders, seeing the Dam , etc etc. You wouldn't believe the number of people I turned down as to studding their female.!! I'm sorry to say 2 I wished I hadn't agreed to ....though they knew what I expected , they didn't follow through. Yes, I now consider them BYB ers .... They did all the tests I acquired but didn't follow my rules for puppyhood.( ala " THE" book. ) .....but at least I ended up with Chip from one of them!