It is so hard to find a puppy from a reputable breeder

*Rambling rant alert* :roll:

After years of University and finally becoming financially independent I have decided that I am ready for a pup at last.

:jump:

We already have Mim at home but I want a baby of my own that I can take with me when I move into my new house, and while my parents weren't thrilled with the idea of a new dog at home (mim is queen bee at home) they are now just as excited, and they know that it will only be for the short term...

HOWEVER- I have been searching for the perfect puppy FOREVER but it is so hard to find one that has come from a good, reputable breeder. I am so wary of puppy farms etc.
On a couple of occasions I thought I had found 'my puppy' but it didn't happen

The IKC must think Im a woman demented as Im calling them loads checking to see if they've had a delivery yet... :lol:

I know it will all be worth it in the end but I am researching this constantly.
Did anyone else have these problems when they were trying to get their fur baby?

Yes! In Ireland just try to find ANY breeders who do proper cardiac clearances and follow the well-established MVD breeding protocol. Most that I have come across start breeding their dogs at age ONE when they should't be bred til two and a half, and then only with cardiac clearances for both parents AND for the grandparents who themselves must be at least five. Most dogs will not even have a murmur show at age one or two, and most vets won't hear one if there's one there. They must be cardiac tested and have clearances at a meaningful age. Why anyone would play roulette with the hearts and lives of the puppies they breed I don't know, but I find it disgusting when the benefits of cardiac testing and the MVD protocol are clearly demonstrated.

No one here MRIs for syringomyelia.

No one I have found does hip scoring, patellas, or eyes either.

But MVD is the real concern -- this is *a very basic breeding protocl* and is proven to help delay onset of MVD. It is the single most important test but the Irish club doesn't even seem to support MVD testing. I have been told of well known Irish breeders stating there's no MVD in their lines -- a statistical impossibility. This is the type of thing unethical breeders and brokers tell people in the US -- and which other clubs internationally warn against believing.

By contrast, in the UK and US most cavalier club events have low cost cardiac clinics as part of the events and pet owners as well as breeders can make use of these.

If you want, I can put you in touch with someone reliable in the UK who can in turn recommend some breeders who do these basic tests and thus prove they care about the health of their breeding stock and of the puppies they produce.

It is my deepest disappointment not to have a list of reputable breeders I feel I can refer people to in Ireland -- and I am sure there are some out there that I do not know about -- but I have been seriously unimpressed with the breeding practices I have come across so far. And I have known of too many cavaliers who fall dead from MVD at under age seven in this country.

I can refer people to good breeders in the US and UK who will in turn likely know other good breeders they can refer people to, for those who are based eslewhere. If ANYONE in Ireland is doing such testing, let me know as I would love to assemble a private reference list.

And incidentally I am going to speak to the cardiologist at UCD to see if I could organise a cardiac clinic for those of us with cavaliers who would like them tested in Ireland. It is really important to have such testing done to be sure of the heart status of your dog -- not least because so much can be done to extend the dog's life if it turns out there's a murmur. I am hoping we might get a group discount for such an event, if people are interested.

I was in a bind in that I'm a teacher and felt it imperative to get a puppy at the START of my holidays, so that it would be trained and well-socialized by the time I headed back to work. I also wanted to get a puppy as close as possible to 8 weeks, again so ensure maximum socialization.

It's hard enough to get a puppy from a reputable breeder at any time, not to mention getting one a a time that suits one's own schedule.

In fact, I found it impossible. I was willing to travel to England for a puppy (and, indeed, made contact with several reputable breeders there), but, even when widening the field, it still proved impossible to get a puppy from a reputable source.

I figured things wouldn't be any different if I waited until next summer or the following summer again.

So, I decided to be pragmatic: I got a hold of Buy and Sell and did the very thing I really didn't want to do - bought my two puppies off the paper. The newspaper slave trade.

Of course the puppies don't have the tests done! Of course their breeders were largely in it for the money! Of course no one has any idea as to whether the Cavalier's parents had heart disease or whatever! Nevertheless, this was the only way I was going to get my puppies at a suitable time and if this was the only way I could do it, then so be it.

I looked at a few dogs before selecting my puppies. I love both my doggies, but deplore the way people breed dogs for money with inadequate consideration for the dogs' welfare.

All the best to you! I hope your schedule proves more flexible than mine and that you get a puppy from a good breeder.

Thanks for all that Karlin!! It is reassuring to know that it is not just me who is facing all these problems.

Im am so desperate for a pup, im like a women who really wants a baby and her biological clock is ticking! All I seem to do is talk about pups and coo at other people's pups, in fact i have even started buying things for the pup- how sad am I... :roll: but I want to do every thing correctly hence my delay in getting one.

I would really appreciate it if you could PM me some details of breeders in Ireland or the UK- travelling would not be a problem

Oh, I didn't know that in Ireland you can have so problems with finding a really good, reputable kennel :shock: Maybe you should try to find some puppy for you in England or Europe?

So far in Poland the good think is that Cavaliers are not so popular, so they are not many people who want to have a "business" in breeding this breed. In our country good breeders usually check hurt and yeys, or hurt and Patellar luxation or just hurt...but they are doing something I know that in Germany there is kennel, very good kennel, which is testing their dogs even for syringomyelia.

Hope yu're going to find your puppy soon! :flwr:

Getting a puppy from a reputable breeder almost always involves a wait, in any country. In the US and the UK the general advice is to plan on doing a year of research and working with different breeders to get on a waiting list for a puppy. Given that the health costs and life expectancy difference can be huge, I strongly recommend anyone looking for a puppy to seek the best breeder they can find and factor in the time element.

At the most basic, brutal level of 'product' comparison, what is the point of getting a puppy that lives til 6 at the same price you'd have paid for one that lives til 12? Or a puppy that suffers most of its adult life from a heart murmur, when one from a good breeder will typically have nothing or only a minor murmur until age 10 or so? Surely it is worth taking the time to support reputable breeders and good breeding practice? Because of course this also supports the welfare of the breed as a whole? icon_nwunsure

Hi cockerspaniel, I can totally relate to your situation as it is almost exactly the same as my own!

I am nearing the end of my work contract (September) and then I am moving home for a couple of months to take some time out for myself and to spend time with my family before I move away and into my new house and start a new job etc.
This is therefore the perfect opportunity for me to start training a pup as I will be at home with it all day.
I would ideally like to get the pup within the next month :xfngr: for exactly this reason.

I can really empathise with your predicament of wanting a pup so bad that you have to resort to advertisments etc- as I feel exactly the same, however I am going to do my best to find a reputable breeder, however at this point it just feels like it will never happen but hopefully it will

And also your furbabies are really beautiful and lucky to have gotten you as their mum X

Clare said:

I can really empathise with your predicament of wanting a pup so bad that you have to resort to advertisments etc- as I feel exactly the same, however I am going to do my best to find a reputable breeder, however at this point it just feels like it will never happen but hopefully it will

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Karlin is definitlly right. It is better to wait and get a puppy from very good breader. I know how you feel, I was the same while waiting for my Blanca, olmoust year and a half ago...every mounth was like a year than for me