Me first, ... I've had great experiences with 2 in particular. One, many, many years ago, for one of my Boxers. She was a hobby breeder, just 2 litters, a licensed vet tech and obedience instructor for a living. While she did all appropriate testing and health checks, what I found a great experience was that she made the purchase of a puppy very "personal". She took a photo album for all owners, documenting birth to the sale of each puppy. She let all of us call and check on our puppies thruout the 8 weeks without ever becoming impatient or annoyed. She encouraged families with children to come out when the time was right and gave a lesson to the kids on how to properly handle and care for their new puppies. She stayed in touch with all of the families, periodically checking on how the dogs were doing over the course of the year and was always available were there a problem. She never critisized owners for not being comfortable with trimming nails and such. She told owners to bring them to her, with several days notice, anytime their vet was not available and she'd be more than happy to dremel nails, clean ears, and if owners wanted to have play dates for their litter mates, she arranged those a couple of times a year. She was very involved with these dogs well beyond their sale and a lot of owners sent pictures and Chrismas cards, thruout their dogs lifetime because she loved our pups' as much as we did. (I know this because she also became a friend, after I bought my pup.) The second breeder, is my current Dobie pups breeder. She is a wealth of information. She checks on the pups well after their sale. She's also available anytime an owner has a question or concern. And she too, is someone owners stay in touch with for the lifetime of their dog. She has many Dobies out there, having bred and shown dogs for 25 years. And she knows them all! Two having boarded with me over the years, both owners spoke about what wonderful dogs she has and how much they appreciated her care and attention, well into their dogs senior years. The kind of breeder, when your first dog passes, you wouldn't think to go to a different breeder for a second family dog.