Puppy Buyer Information Page

Here are a few questions to ask any breeder that you are contacting about purchasing a puppy:

1.  Are the puppies raised in your home with your family?
2.  Have both parents had the following health tests and what were the results?  FYI, these questions are specifically aimed at the Keeshond breed.  If you are interested in another purebred breed of dog, please research the health issues that are linked with that breed:
     a.  Have both parents had their hips (and elbows) x-rayed and are clear of dysplasia confirmed by OFA?
     b.  Have both parents had a complete thyroid panel run and all the numbers are in the "normal" range?
     c.  Have both parents had their stifles vet checked and are classified as "tight"?
     d.  Have both parents been tested for PHPT (Primary Hyperparathyroidism) and are they both negative?  See Dr Goldstein's link for all the information concerning this preventable defect:  Go to: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/labs/goldstein/
     e.  Have their eyes been CERF'd for any eye abnormalities?
3.  Does the puppy come with any health guarantees? What if the puppy becomes ill at 3 years of age, what will the breeder do if it is a genetic defect they should have known about prior to breeding?
4.  Is the companion puppy sold with a spay/neuter contract?  All companion puppies should be sold with a spay/neuter contract.  The reason they were not deemed a show prospect is some small thing told the breeder that they probably wouldn't make a winning show prospect.  Be it a crooked tooth, incorrect coat coloring, low tail set, wide ear set, too long in the loin, etc.  These are valid reasons that a show breeder would consider when making their decision on companion pup or show prospect pup.
5.  How has the puppy been socialized?  The puppy should have had trips in the car after recieving the first vaccinations, should have been acclimated to loud noises, been bathed, blowed dried, had their nails trimmed, been brushed and experienced grooming processes, handled by different people/children and been introduced to other animals?
6.  Has the puppy had any vaccinations and been wormed?
7.  Never purchase a puppy that is younger than 6 weeks of age.  The pup needs their mothers influence and education.  Prior to six weeks of age, mom dog is just that, mother.  They don't start disciplining the puppies until after 6 weeks of age.  This interaction with mother is extremely important to have a well adjusted puppy that will know that discipline is part of life.  The 5 week old puppy has no clue why this human is scolding it for pottying in the house, that 5 week old puppy was way too young to be taken from his/her mother.  The time between 8 weeks and 12 weeks of age is a very important period in a puppies life.  These are when their first fear periods can occur and mother dog can help them through it.  You may not even realize the puppy is in a fear period.  My puppies will stay with me until they are 12 weeks old.  So far, that has proven to be sufficent time for mom to do her motherly, disciplinary training.

What I hear very frequently is the for-profit-only breeders tell uneducated puppy buyers that their dogs are "Very Healthy" and "I don't need to do all these tests on my dogs" or best yet "these aren't show dogs, only show breeders do all those tests, I don't need to, look how healthy they are?".  This is totally inaccurate.  There is no such thing as a totally healthy gene pool and health maladies lurk in all predigrees somewhere.  Only a responsible, reputable breeder will do their best to produce the healthiest puppies possible.  I care about the health and well being of all the puppies I place in companion as well as show/performance homes.  Please only buy a purebred puppy from a reputable, responsible breeder as you are adding a very valuable member to your family and your lives.  Beware of the "designer" breeds.  The people promoting these new mixed breeds (no matter what these breeders tell you, these dogs are mutts) are combining bloodlines of two totally different breeds and you can not predict the outcome when mixing two different breeds together. 

It is impossible to project whether a "designer" breed will look like mother or the father.  How big or small the dog will be?  What type of coat will it have?  What type of personality will you have at maturity?  This cute puppy could be a potential time bomb as far as health problems or hereditary defects are concerned.  Who do you blame when a problem develops?  Dam or Sire?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Does the breeder even know what health problems affect both breeds they are mixing together????  I would venture a guess here...no they probably don't.

This is why buying from a responsible, reputable breeder of a purebred breed becomes so important.  We know the lineage behind our dogs and can track it.  We have tested our breeding pairs for all the necessary health concerns that our breed is currently dealing with.   Believe it or not, many breeds of purebred dogs are sold at a more reasonable price than these so called "designer" dogs.  So decide for yourself...buy a puppy or dog that you have an entire background on or flip a coin and go for that "designer" breed.  Please feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss this further.

Another very inportant note that all purebred puppy buyers should know.  There are alot of newly created registries that claim to be registering purebred dogs.  DO NOT BE FOOLED!  The AKC (American Kennel Club and the CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) are reputable registration services for purebred dogs.  If a breeder is trying to sell you another registry, stop and say NO.  Many unscrupulous people and organizations became active when they realized they could not register their puppies of questionable parentage.  Just because they say it is a "registered" puppy, ask them what registry and if the above main registries are not what the pup is registered with, please keep away.  Also remember to ask the questions I have outlined above to weed out the backyard breeders and puppy mills.  Some folks that claim to "not be a puppy mill" are very good about disguising the fact that they are indeed a mill.  Be aware that anyone that raises many different breeds or seems to have dogs every where you look on their propoerty or have several enclosed buildings where you can not even see the number of dogs they raise, these are probably a puppy mill. 

A reputable breeder will only have one, two, maybe three different breeds.  You can not possibly spend quality time with each dog if there is a large number of dogs.  Heed the warning signs and if you feel uneasy about anything that you see or hear from a breeder, please do not buy from them.  Buying from a mill or a backyard breeder only encourages them to continue their questionable breeding practices if they have unsuspecting people buying their animals. For these people, it's merely a matter of supply and demand.  If they no longer have a demand for their poorly bred animals, the supply will dry up.

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If you would like a Wund-R Y Keeshonden Puppy Application to fill out, please send me an email with your name and full address and I will gladly email one out to you. 

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The first picture below is Tess's newest litter at 19 days of age, whelped on October 2, 2007.  The pictures following are of Tess's litter sister Annie's 2nd litter born 11/29/06.  Annie resides in Upper  Michigan with Diane Peppler.