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Puppy Breeders

fuzzie bear

Well-known member
Are there any breeders on here ??

How do you cope giving up the puppies ?

I know from even from having foster dogs that I used to cry after giving them away after 2 weeks....
 
Fuzzie, I'd never be able to give up the puppies either. My idea of heaven is a house FULL of Cavaliers LOL
 
First to Maxxs Mummy: Be careful what you wish for :lol: . My wife and I have 9 and it's a LOT of work.

As for coping with letting the puppies go, where can I begin??? First off, taking care of the puppies for 3 months til they're ready to go is plenty of time to get attached, and we definately do get attached! That's why we are very picky about who we sell a puppy to. It's so much fun to see the personalities go from basically a lump when they are born to a full-fledged cavalier.

To help cope with letting them go, we do everything we can to be sure the puppies will be well taken care of annd loved.

We start by "requiring" that the local people we sell to start visitting their puppy at about 4 weeks old. That means the puppy begins to get to know their future family. It also gives us a chance to talk to them about the proper care of their puppy, what to watch for with the health issues, etc., etc. We encourage them to call us with any questions at all after the puppy is home; and we make it very clear to them that this is like us giving up one of our children.

All our puppies are microchipped (included in our puppy cost) when they leave, with us listed as the second contact. Our contract also requires that the people contact us at least once a year with a photo and a short note on how the puppy is doing. The puppies go home with a "care package" that has food, toys, a DVD on training, and just a lot of miscellaneous stuff that we know the puppy will like. The last week that we have the puppy, we ask that the puppies crate be dropped off at our house with bedding so we can start the puppy out with crate training in it's own crate. That way puppy has something familiar to go to when it gets to it's new home.

Having said all that, how do we cope? Sometimes good, sometimes not as well. I have always said that the day the puppies leave is both the best and worst part of breeding. The best because of the happy, excited people who are finally getting to take their puppy home and the worst because the puppy is leaving us. It's seldom that there is a dry eye in our house when they go. The one thing that helps is when we decide to keep a puppy out of one of our litters.

One of the things we really hope for is that the families will contact us for dog-sitting or a play date. We dog-sit as much as possible for our puppy buyers and a lot of them call for that. It's so much fun seeing the puppies grow into adults.

I guess this got a little long winded, Fuzzie Bear, you hit on something that my wife and I have to deal with every time we have a litter.

Bruce
MysticKnight Cavaliers
 
Bruce, that's so interesting to hear the breeder POV on this (thanks for the question FB)! I would think it hard to let them go; but also pleasureable when you knwo they are going to a good home (that's how I feel about fosters, dogs or cats/kittens). Sure sounds like they come with a great puppy 'package' too.

I have a wholecolour on my mind these days... :lol: . Maybe a puppy when I get a new house which is probably sometime in the coming 9 months.
 
Only 9 Bruce???? LOL That sounds like heaven to me :lol: I have three here at the minute and it's wonderful - except they got me all tangled up in their leads last night and we were laughing so much I couldn't get untangled!

Thank goodness for breeders like you and your wife - not too many around :cry: I'm still in touch with maxx's first human mummy and he's six now :D I cried as much as she did when she lost a litter of pups the other week. all she could say was "I'm so sorry, I've lost your new baby" . She did her very best but it wasn't meant to be. I was more upset for her bitch :cry:

I really don't know how I personally would cope if I ever did breed. I get very emotional if I have to leave Maxx at the Vets - he's more like a baby than a dog :lol:


Saying that, he's not spoiled in any way or anything icon_whistling icon_whistling icon_whistling
 
We have been very lucky in that we have never lost an entire litter, but we have lost 1 out of a litter a couple times. Very, very sad. The hardest puppy we ever had to let go was one that was born quite small (4.5 ounces) and had a difficult time getting started. My wife spent the better part of 2 weeks getting up every 2 hours to put him on the best nipple and making sure he was hydrated, etc. When that boy went, my wife didn't just cry, she sobbed. I wasn't far behind her. He went to a wonderful retired couple not far from here and we hear from them about every 3 or 4 months, with pictures. He is very healthy at 8 months old and, based on the pictures we've seen of him, my wife is now saying she should have kept him.

Bruce
MysticKnight Cavaliers
 
I swear I'm driving to Bruce's house if I ever get another!! I wish more breeders had your attitude and care. You go the extra mile and I am so glad you do!
 
I don't know that Kris and I are all that unique. I know of a couple other breeders (1 local and 1 a couple hundred miles from us) that do just about everything we do. We recommend them all the time to people who are looking for puppies when we don't have anything available.

One of the side benefits of all this is the wonderful people we have met; we've developed a couple very close friends through our breeding hobby.

Bruce
MysticKnight Cavaliers
 
I am totally with Cathy T, Bruce!!!! I would drive to Minneapolis for my next pup!!! When it is time I will contact you!!!
 
Wondering would you be able to help me out . I am looking for a breeder around the Sligo area . Some one who is reasonably priced i am a mother of three not alot of spare cash lying around.
 
You shouldn't pay less than euro450-500 for a cavalier as any good breeder doesn;t charge less than that; unfortunately many backyard breeders and brokers (sellers of puppy farm puppies) also charge that much, typically in small ads or the Buy&Sell (definitely don't buy a dog from the Buy&Sell).

There are some cavaliers listed free to good homes there at the moment -- normally I would call and try to get them into rescue but I don;t have the time to do that right now before I go away for three weeks. You can also fill out a rehoming contract and I can add you to my list for adults coming into rescue; this requires a homecheck and a rehoming fee to cover any medical costs (typically a vet check, perhaps vax and neuter, which are costs you'd have anyway).

This is a breed with a lot of health issues and the chance of having them is greatly increased by getting dogs bred by backyard breeders (people who just breed their own dog with no regard to matching pedigrees properly to breed around serious health issues) and puppy farms of which there are many in Ireland. A lot of them are out west, so be very, very careful buying a dog.

The best thing to do is contact the breed club (I provide a link in the Breed rescue listings or see ikc.ie under the 'buying a dog' heading I think) and ask them for their puppy listings. They can tell you which breeders have litters. Always ask to see at least the mother, & go to the breeder's house -- if they offer to bring a pup to you it is almost certainly a puppy farm puppy being sold by a broker. Though these dogs may cost slightly less up front (usually they are the SAME asd a good breeder's pups) they will likely cost quite a bit in the longer run due to health care expenses.

I strongly recommend getting pet insurance thru Allianz as it is not very costly and most cavaliers will eventually be dealing with heart problems as they age.
 
Thanks for the information you gave me. I have been looking in the buy and sell and there are a few advertised . I think there are at least 2 adults advertised for free there and loads of puppies for sale. I DONT KNOW IF AN ADULT WOULD BE OK WITH KIDS IN THE HOUSE , WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND . I WOULD LOVE TO RESCUE AN ADULT AND GIVE IT A GOOD HOME . A FRIEND OF MINE GOT A LOVELY PUP A WEEK AGO BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FELLA. IT MADE ME EVEN MORE DETERMINED TO GET ONE WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT .
 
I definitely would not even consider getting a puppy from the Buy&Sell for the reasons noted -- the chances of early onset mitral valve disease (see the Health Issues FAQ) are very high for such dogs and life expectancy can be only around 6-8 years. Whereas good breeders tend to opt for longlived dogs with heart-healthy lines and this can push MVD onset back into normal timeframes (though kost cavaliers will ultimately get it). Also cavaliers can have other health issues and the chances of all of them are hugely increased when you get puppies from people who have no idea what they are doing when breeding. So many wonderful breeders have had their health overall seriously damaged by backyard breeders and puppy farms -- poodles, cairn terriers, dalmations, boxers, labs and of course cavaliers, to name a few.

An adult can often be a better option than a puppy, especially with younger kids. Cav puppies are very small and basically, you will have your hands totally full from the first two months --they are hard work, just like a human baby, and can't be left alone initially for longer than maybe two hours. Housetraining takes up to a year, and goes faster if you can work at it full time. So that's something to think about. When I got my second dog Leo, I got a 10 month old as I couldn't bear the thought of going through all that work again, though puppies ARE very cute! But if you have really young kids, a puppy can be an overwhelming additional responsibility and I really recommend an older dog.

Most cavaliers love children. If you call some of the free ads, ask them if the dog has been around kids. Go and visit the dog to see it in its home environment. I am happy to give advice and depending on where you are, suggest palces to go to do some dog training if you want.

BTW the reason many of those free ads say 'not suitable for breeding' is that puppy farmers regularly pretend to be a family seeking a new dog to get such dogs for breeding stock -- presumably the family has neutered the dog they are offering. It is a horrific industry (as a glance at my puppy farm section will show; I have an example of the kind of situation these Irish dogs typically live in and it is terrible). IF you call any of those ads let me know what they say. If they will hold onto the dog I can help them rehome at the end of the month but I won;t have time to do this until the end of Spetember.
 
Hi all,

Karlin, you mentioned that EUR 450-500 was average for a puppy cav and we paid the upper end of that for ours and touch wood (and obviously with lots of love and caring) he's been in perfect health (8 months now) and we have all his papers+ vaccination confirms + have been in contact with the breeder since to ensure that his parents + siblings are also ok etc.

I know someone else that got a cav a couple of months after us from a breeder and we were told that it cost them EUR 300 ??????

I didn't think that could be right and with reading postings on here it seems as if 1) they were just lying/joking or 2) they got it from a puppy farm/disreputable breeder.

For the puppy's sake I hope it's the former !!
Am I worrying too much??
 
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