What do you think to this breeder?

Im buying a labrador puppy soon and i am keeping my eyes peeled for breeders with pups.

I have seen these pups advertised online and i think they look good.

http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/classif...s-ready-to-go-to-loveing-homes-sheffield.html

Im in the uk.

What do you think?

I'm not seeing a link to a breeder website or even a kennel name....am I missing it?

I would guess they are not good breeders. They don't mention health testing and talk about the mom's ancestors titles but not the actual mom and dad's titles.

I would look at breeders on this website (I checked the box that said health tested so hopefully that transfers in the link):
www.champdogs.co.uk/breeds/labrador-retriever/breeders?ht=1

You can choose your location at the top.

You should really try and find a breeder that checks their dogs' hips, elbows, etc. For abnomalities. You wouldn't want your dog to end up with crippling hip dysplasia when he's a few years old, and screening the parents for those conditions will minimize that chance.

I would also wonder about health clearances, in Labs it's a HUGE deal as they are so heavily over bred that there are lots of problems. Also if your looking for a lab as a pet with a couple of walks a day and romp in the yard rather then a working companion I would stay away from field bred labs as they tend to be a bit bonkers, and can be very destructive if not given a prober outlet for their energy.

I would probably stay away from any breeder on a site like that.

They could easily be great field labs, hard to tell. Nice pedigree, reasonable price, I am not turned off by their form of advertising, but I would like to see what mom and dad can do themselves.

I would call and ask some questions about why they are breeding them, if that pans out I would go meet them.

Mommas nails make me cringe, fwiw.

If they can't even keep up on their dogs' nails, I don't consider them to be responsible owners, much less breeders.

Champdogs!

I could also ask around for some breeder recommendations if you like? Since getting Fred I've got to know quite a few people in the gundog world, and they might know who to recommend.

Steer clear of those other advert sites, there is just no need to go near them. None at all.

Where in the uk are you? Although, for the right dog in the uk anywhere is feasible, we are hardly a huge place....!

Haven't I given you the link for champdogs before, or am I losing my feeble mind?!

NOTHING whatsoever wrong with advertising sites. Good and bad breeders alike can be found in all corners of the earth. Just gotta know what to look for

I think the point is that most good breeders don't NEED to advertise on websites like that to place their puppies

Maybe not there but you won't find a decent breeder on one in the uk.

Champdogs is the only place worth recommending.

In order for the general public to learn about good breeders, good breeders NEED to advertise on websites like that. To suggest that a good breeder should not advertise on a public website is the same thing as suggesting that, unless they have an "in" to the dog world, the general public should not buy a well bred dog.

There is a movement right now that I fully support to get more good breeders to advertise in the public eye to help educate the public.

A good breeder said recently
" ...if people are going to find good breeders, then we need to place our ads where they will find them. On the top of a mountain seen only from another mountain top is not going to mean anything to the people who live in the valley."

Exactly. They ought to be easier to find than bad breeders, not harder! And that means shoving ahead of the bad breeders in whatever medium theyre in, being more approachable, more accessible, easier to find, than the people who hand you a puppy when you hand them some cash. nobody has ever said they must SELL to anyone, just that they need to be the first one newbies find, see, talk to, NOT Joe Bob down at PittzRUs Emporium

Great post.

IMO, while there may be a movement to get good breeders on sites like that, in most breeds its still rare to find one.

Ok, well, I get what Keechak is saying and I agree to a point, but I have never had an unsold puppy in any of the litters I have bred, and I have never needed a site like that. I guess part of me wonders, if people are browsing those sites, are they really serious about getting a dog? Are they really prepared for the breed they're looking into? Can I trust them not to go off and breed my puppy to some random dog down the street?

Yes, the general public needs to be educated. But do I have to put my puppies at risk to do it?

As for the breeder on the link, they mention nothing of health testing so I would be wary.

I have found no difference between the pet puppy buyers that find me thru my website/referral and the pet puppy buyers that find me thru the breeder listing site I'm on. If I feel uneasy about ANY potential puppy buyer, they will not be getting a puppy from me, it doesn't matter to me from where they heard of me.

Since I started advertising my kennel I have had about 30-40 e-mails from a combination of public listing and private referral. I have only considered 3 of those 30-40 emails promising, two of those three were thru public listing. One of those public referral was looking for a 4H agility dog and had owned two previous Aussies, the other was an outdoors enthusiast who wanted an active hiking and biking companion and had family who had had Aussies that he liked. (those descriptions of the people are short and we had much longer conversations covering a lot of other more important things)

I also had another person contact me from my public listing that we got to talking a lot and I ended up turning them down due to them wanting an Aussie to help work chickens. More like they turned me down because they didn't email me back after I asked them what would they do if the Aussie they got ended up killing their chickens.

Awesome post.

This. So many times this.

I bought both Sloan and Backup after finding them on a working dog forum classifieds.