Breeders and keeping in touch

[yoko]

ok i posted this as part of my msg on that thread but deleted this part because i didn't want to thread jack it.

is that normal for a breeder to want to keep that in touch? i mean i can see maybe doing an update during summer and maybe a christmas time one, how often do breeders want to hear from you? is it normal for a breeder to fly/drive out of state to look in if you don't reply back? i know with life/work/yoshi i don't always respond to emails. someone could ask me something and they might be lucky if i have time to send a 'yeah that's cool' or a 'yeah she's doing ok'. but there are times i have enough time to maybe skim an email and then i'm off.

and if you get a dog from a breeder out of state do you stay close? i mean i might keep the number in case something health wise shows up that my dog got from the parents but in general i'd go to my vet before calling an out of state person who isn't close enough to visually see my dog.

another thing is i hate...HATE people i don't know that well coming into my house. i don't have anything to hide, but after working with people at my job 24 hours i like my little safe spot for me, friends, and my pets. how often do breeders show up at your house? i mean i know they want updates but that just seems creepy :/ i know if i call someone and say 'hey i'm coming up' and i don't hear back i DON'T force myself on them.

and even though there is a contract isn't the dog theirs? because if it's a case of they keep it/feed it/vet it but if they don't respond to someone's email it's not theirs it sounds more like a rental pet then anything :/

i'm not trying to bash breeders, for my next dog i actually had a few breeds i have been looking at. while i will always own a rescue dog in the future if i can have one i have thought of owning certain breeds. it just seems like getting from a reputable breeder means i am giving up time spent emailing, allowing house visits, and actual full ownership of my dog. and if that's the case i can see why a pet store would be more appealing to someone just wanting a pet. *i don't support buying BYB dogs or pet store dogs. i am just saying it makes it look like that would be the easiest way to make sure that dog is mine*

 

[lizzybeth727]

I agree, Yoko. I understand breeders (and rescues, too) wanting to learn as much about their buyers as possible, but some of it does seem a bit too prying. And then following up afterwards.... there's a point where it becomes stalker-ish.

Makes me want to just pull all of my dogs straight out of the shelter.

 

[Laurelin]

my breeder calls once a month or so just to talk. I haven't talked to her in a month and a half which is unusual for me. But then again we're friends (through the dogs) so it's not weird. Mia's breeder hasn't contacted me, but then again I'm probably annoying her with updates lol. I send pics every now and then. I've contacted her a couple times about a small behavior problem and she gave me the name of a behaviorist, but I worked through it on my own. We're also on the same papillon list serve so she can see pics on there too and we chat that way with other breeders and owners.

No breeders have shown up at my house yet. We kept trying to get a time to get Summer's breeder over but just haven't found the time. We do go to their house several times a year just to play with dogs and board our crew.

That's part of the awesomeness that is a good breeder. If I have to go somewhere on short notice, I have a good place to board them. If I have a behavioral issue, I have someone to ask about it. If I die or am suddenly unable to care for my dogs I don't ever have to worry about them going into a shelter, I know they'll have a place to go and someone that will take the time to find them a good home. A good breeder is not a stalker relationship. They have a vested interest though in the well-being of their dogs and offering support.

 

[JennSLK]

As a future breeder:

I require e-mails or calls regularly to know how my puppy is doing. Unless we live close and see eachother often.

I would also do a home check on someone I can not meet personaly. Just tp be certain they are on the up and up.

My puppy's well being comes above all else.

 

[Maxy24]

If I were a breeder I would call or e-mail (whichever the buyer says they prefer) to get updates on my dogs. It is, after all, the breeders responsibility to look out for the dogs they choose to add to the world and make sure they are cared for and do not end up in a shelter contributing to the overpopulation problem. If once pups were in homes they never asked for updates and pics they would probably be contributing to shelter dogs almost as much as the well meaning BYBs.

I don't see myself doing a visit unless I smell something fishy going on, by lack of response after several calls and e-mails, perhaps after a call to the vet I know they go to to see the last time they've been (assuming you can do that) or if their condition from pictures looks horrible.

They put so much effort into these dogs. I mean imagine if you had to rehome your dog, who you love so much and never heard another thing about him. Never found out if he adjusted well, don't know if he fits in, don't know if they dump him in some shelter, if he is alive or dead. That is a horrible feeling I'm sure. now add to that the fact that breeders have the weight of responsibility, they CHOSE to create this puppy, if they created him and then allowed him a miserable life I'm sure that would overwhelm the breeder with guilt. they chose to bring dogs into this world,t hey SHOULD be making sure they are living happy lives and are not contributing to dogs in shelters or overpopulation.

 

[FoxyWench]

Most breeders went going to just show up on your doorstep unless they have a SERIOUS concern about the dogs well being and all other attempts to contact you have gone ignored.
Personally (right now I only have 3 puppies of my Doing out in the world. My contract requires a mimimum of 2 PICTURE updats a year.
However more often is perfered.
Rout now in the world o have gizmo, I hear from his people every couple of weeks as they are family friends. Olive I get 1 picture and 1 quick update a year, she look good and I've no concern about her well being so no need to push. Fernando people inhear from sporadically, sometimes it's e ery mont for 6 months straight and then nothing for a for the rest of the year. Again, I know he's being taken care of, when pics and updates come they are awesome! I do go out of my way to send a happy.birthday though.

 

[planet molosser]

During the first few months more often till you feel comfortable I like calls and I call allot.
I call before summer after summer and xmas.
I check to make sure spays are done and neuters are not done too early.
THis summer due to summer of hell I have catching up to do.
But about half my buyers are my friends and call all the time. They call from vet for help like what shot, what not to do.

I love hearing from them and it is a requirement. But i prefer calls cause i got a headset so I can do chores and chat. I just use my caller ID and redial all who have called when I find time.

This summer I lost 6 wks so now I have to put my lifetime of advice online if I ever go off line in life again so they have advice. Like NEVER free feed a puppy!!

With every sale u extend your family and everything that affects the humans like divorce , illness , job etc affects your pup - so u need to really have patience to manage your life your dogs and theirs as well. And never ever in most cases blame or accuse just be a shoulder . One or two cases you find you sold to a nut job and well another topic.

I have track phone to keep bills down and dropped off pup this past weekend i got 3 texts before i got home how well he did on the ride home. THat made me smile but I need new card now

 

[planet molosser]

Forgot to add some buyers do NOT want to keep in touch and I try to weed those out by just not selling them. They feel they bought a product from you so why keep in touch with Macys for a item they paid for. My website is not very normall so it normally weeds out many. Most breeders in my breed never keep in touch that is why we have rescues out the ying yang. And they dont care the deal is done whatever the check is cashed then you dont here from them - unless you were sold a show dog then they want u to show the dog so they can win some shows.

 

[Fran101]

surprise home checks? no way. IMO that is WAY too much

but if a breeder asked would I have them over? of course I would

i do understand what the breeder is going through, so I do my best to provide long detailed updates w/pictures every month or so. when I gave away the foster puppies, i got a taste of what it feels like to trust "your" babies with other people lol and those pictures/updates really put me at ease.

long updates with pictures every month or so, (which is less often than I take pictures anyway lol) will put a breeders mind at ease knowing her dog is taken care of and keep the relationship in touch, which is VERY important to me.

to me, a breeder is more than just the person I get my dog from. i want to talk to them when I have questions, training problems etc..

and yes, If i ever move I would make it a point to provide updated information as far as address/phone number/email or w/e , incase she needs to contact me

also, the first months you have a puppy are very important. the pup is adjusting and there are PLENTY of questions. i think those months are a time when a breeder/new owner should be even more in touch

I would actually be a bit worried/put off if a breeder dissapeared once I got a puppy and stopped contacting me :/

 

[Beanie]

I talk to Auggie's breeder all the time, but we're usually out at her place about once a week for agility practice or stopping in at the store for doggie daycare or whatever. We e-mail back and forth a lot. I suppose if we weren't doing agility with Auggie we wouldn't be in such constant contact, but there's always something going on to talk about.
She's actually never been out to our house. A few times she has mentioned maybe stopping by but they've never made it out here.

She was a vet tech so I've called her with health questions when the regular vet isn't open, like the infamous reverse sneezing panic story, LOL.


From what I hear very few breeders do surprise home visits. I know they often do home visits before placing a dog, but afterwards I don't hear it much. Have I heard rescues say they will do this? Yes. I think I posted about this before on here, but a local sheltie rescue will do surprise home visits and if they ever find the dog alone outside, they WILL take the dog away.
I don't really see a lot of difference between what some breeders require and what some rescues require, actually. =P I think we all know about the rescues that won't adopt out to somebody who rents, somebody without a fenced yard, somebody who this, somebody who that, on and on.

 

[Laurelin]

She was a vet tech so I've called her with health questions when the regular vet isn't open, like the infamous reverse sneezing panic story, LOL.

Sorry i just had to laugh here, lol. We panicked the first time Beau reverse sneezed too. We were on the verge of rushing him to the e-vet. :rofl1:

 

[CaliTerp07]

I would never want to feel obligated to contact the breeder with updates. Maybe once a year, but more than that would feel like overkill to me. To be honest, if I liked the person I'd probably email them pictures willingly--but if they told me it was part of the contract and I had to, I'd be turned off.

I've fostered several dogs (as well as rabbits and assorted critters), some for as many as 6 months, which is longer than breeders keep most dogs. I've never felt like anyone owed me information or pictures. If they had questions about the animal, I made myself available, but I have never followed up with any of the new families--just not my place, in my opinion.

 

[planet molosser]

Home visits are to much if the person kept in touch.
Rescues happen all the time and if we dont keep in touch to let them know anything goes wrong in your life you know the dog has a home right?

Only 2 guarantees in life dying and taxes , you having the ability to keep this dog for 15 years is not one of them. Thus they would feel more abandoned if they got hit by a nasty anything and they were embarrased that their hubby cheated and left them for another women penny less if u did not have a previous repore with them.

And it did happen and yes I still needed to get to a top of a mountain in VA in one day to get my LGD left with sheep down the road when the women lost all.
If I had not kept in touch AND VICE versa my dog would be in rescue.

So if I lose good people cause they want to cut off contact once pup is theres.
So be it . I will SLEEP better at nite checking up on every dog I bred and if 10 yrs from now one has to come home to DIE. The pup born in love will die in love NOT alone in a shelter or a street.

If more breeders took responceability for every dog bred, we would have less rescues and less bad people trying to regulate dog ownership based on unwanted dogs and cats.

 

[Fran101]

I would never want to feel obligated to contact the breeder with updates. Maybe once a year, but more than that would feel like overkill to me. To be honest, if I liked the person I'd probably email them pictures willingly--but if they told me it was part of the contract and I had to, I'd be turned off.

I've fostered several dogs (as well as rabbits and assorted critters), some for as many as 6 months, which is longer than breeders keep most dogs. I've never felt like anyone owed me information or pictures. If they had questions about the animal, I made myself available, but I have never followed up with any of the new families--just not my place, in my opinion.

Its not really an obligation IMO, but it just feels like the right thing to do. they bred and raised and love and put 100% of themselves into these pups, I feel like its right to keep them updated on the precious gift he/she gave me

as for the foster pups, they stayed with me for quite a while and I would NOT BE OK without updates lol no way did I spend all those sleepless nights, countless money on vetbills, cleaning up poop after poop after poop, just to give them away and for the new owners to dissapear. i dont FORCE them to send updates, of course not, but they are nice people who I trust and KNOW how much I appreciate seeing updates, so they send them quite often Thats the best part about being able to be so selective when placing puppies, you find people you know and trust who will LOVE these pups and continue to keep it touch. I would NEVER have placed them with people who I didn't feel confident would send me updates and keep in touch

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I like my breeder. We became friends over me getting a dog. We talking in the year between making contact and Smudge being whelped and coming home.. And I send regular emails and pics, and we talk on the phone every month or two. She sends me pics of some of her dogs too. Makes me want another puppy..

 

[CaliTerp07]

Its not really an obligation IMO, but it just feels like the right thing to do. they bred and raised and love and put 100% of themselves into these pups, I feel like its right to keep them updated on the precious gift he/she gave me

Totally agree, it's a nice thing to do! And like I said, I probably would do it...but if it's in the contract that I have to send pictures x times a year, I'd be turned off and annoyed. Really annoyed if the breeder started calling me trying to find out how the dog was doing because I forgot to email them that month!

I get it though--a few bad apples spoil it for all the good ones. Just not something I want to deal with.

 

[Cheetah]

Shippo's breeder has never shown up at my house... but then again, she lives clear in Canada LOL. I've actually told her that one of these days she should fly out and visit!

When I first got Shippo, I talked to her every day, and we formed a friendship. Nowadays, I e-mail her maybe once a month with updated pictures and stuff, and she even sometimes helps me out by forwarding my photos to someone who might want to use them, which is awesome.

 

[AllieMackie]

There definitely needs to be a good balance. Staying in regular contact with your breeder and your breeder staying in regular contact with you is generally very awesome, but it sounds like with Yoshi, it might be a bit much.

Finn's breeder and I live seven hours apart. In the first few months I had him I was emailing her and/or calling her every two weeks or so, but we've dwindled to about once a month, and once he's grown it may dwindle farther.

However, we keep in touch about what Finn is up to, what her dogs are up to, her litter plans (I maaaaay get another dog from her in the future, her two young dogs are prodigies in the making and I may want in on that action in a few years!) and really, that amount of contact is awesome. Spending the night at her house when I picked up Finn was wonderful. It gave us time to talk, bond and feel much more comfortable with one another. I lucked out.

I'm not sure what you can say to your breeder... I mean, I would definitely mention that surprise home visits make you uncomfortable, if they do.

 

[FoxyWench]

im with PM on this one (is it kim?) if i purposly create a life i WILL be responsible for that life forever, even if it is living in someone elses house...
i want to be kept updated for the dogs sake...if something changes i want to be the first one there to take the dog back should something happen, i dont want to find out a year down the line "oh we took him to a shelter" or "well i gave him to a friend and they moved" And if i have to loose a potential owner because of it...then thats ok...
id rather weed them out before hand, personally i want an owner for any of my "products" to feel the same way i do about it, to understand that i will be there for the life of that puppy to protect it form potential disaster...like it or not.
those that ive sold to, those that ive talked to form other breeders seem to like knowing they can contact the breeder whenever thay want, but also say its nice every once in a while to be reminded without them making the first move that yes, im still here incase you and the puppy need me.

Now im not talking, i need a cd full of pictures every 6 months and a 10 page essay...as i explain to my buyers (i talk like ive done this a million times, but its mostly from working with other breeders) i like to watch them grow, a couple pictures and quick update twice a year would be great...they grow so quick

showing up on someones doorstep however, now that is something i would ONLY do if i had serious reason to belive that my a life from my hands is in jepordy.

 

[Gypsydals]

Ivans breeder likes to keep in touch and she never gets tired of seeing pictures of her puppies and if she gets to see them in person even better. So much so she started a yahoo group for her puppy buyers so that we can chat, post pictures and such. She is also on my facebook page. I know that if I ever have a problem, question or concern all I have to do is pick up the phone and call or email her. The weekend I brought Ivan home, she had me call when we got home (its almost a 4 hour drive from her place) to let her know we arrived home. She also called me the next day and the day after to see how he was settling in.
So for some breeders I think it is normal, because like Planet said, with every sale you extend your family.