I agree with what others have said. Now that being said, I'm very new to Cavaliers, my first one only came home a couple months ago now and even though I'll show her, she'll never be bred again (she had a couple litters before she came to me). I have been an involved breeder of Italian Greyhounds for several years, and find the policies similar in any breed. There are many breeders who are like those you mention and require a huge deposit prior to there even being puppies on the ground! I can understand why, because I've had situations where I had a large waiting list and when puppies where born, suddenly everyone on my list had found another puppy, but that's why I NEVER breed a litter unless I'm prepared to keep the whole litter if needs be! But even then, I NEVER ask for a deposit until I can confirm my bitch is pregnant at least (and that is VERY rare, and I'll only accept that from 1 person that wants a puppy from that breeding!), usually I won't take a deposit until the puppies are born, and I generally don't let families pick their puppy until at least 8 weeks so I can get an idea of temperment, markings, quality, etc, as I also don't breed unless I want another puppy as a show prospect, so I keep the best puppy out of the litter for myself. Also good breeders are occasional breeders and don't always have puppies available - Now you can get lucky and find a very reputable small breeder that might just happen to have a puppy that's getting close to being ready to go and they haven't found the right home for yet, but if you do it's always good to ask LOTS of questions, most breeders have homes in mind long before the puppies are near old enough to think about finding homes for!!!!