--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do breeders select the proper families for their puppies? Can we be sure that we are sending a puppy to a home where it will become a family member, to be well cared for, and loved?
Recently, many breeders began receiving a number of requests for puppies from people who seem to have little regard as to where or how they get puppies. This isn’t a new problem, but rather, seems to come in cycles, and often appears in the Spring, when many breeders plan to have litters. Some of the calls are obviously from puppy “Brokers”, (people who locate and/or buy a large number of puppies to offer for resale at high prices, or to their customers, who can’t be ‘bothered’ with looking for a puppy themselves). Some of these people export puppies to buyers in other countries, which is a topic for another article. Because of the ease and anonymity of the Internet these people have been reaching a wide range of breeders via e-mail, but one can be contacted in the traditional ways, via phone or regular mail. Do you want your puppy going to a broker, where it will be warehoused waiting for the highest bidder to take? We hope not.

Then how does a breeder protect against those who may lie about the reasons for which they are buying a puppy? Perhaps the answer can be found in the variety of questions a breeder asks someone who calls for a puppy, and what a breeder requires of his buyers. Along with many of my peers, I have a form for use when someone calls, or comes to the house looking for a puppy. I keep these forms, not only for selecting the right family for my puppy, but also to put with my records for later review. On the rare occasion that a placement did not go well, these saved forms provide me a method for reviewing the answers given to me by the client. Was there something there I could have picked up on? After a puppy goes home, I use these forms to make notations about follow-up calls from the owners. I also use them for review when a family is ready for a second dog, and calls looking for one. I also have a few posted in what I call my “Turkey File”. They remind me of why I declined to sell a puppy to someone. All-in-all, a formal questionnaire provides me with a world of information for my immediate review.

E-mail has had a huge impact on the ability of people to reach breeders across the country, which can have negative results, but it also allows for breeders to quickly evaluate them, and obtain opinions from other breeders..i.e. references. Because of the recent flurry in e-mail requests for puppies, and concerns about who was sending messages across the country looking for puppies, I posed a question (with the intent of providing our members with the answers received) via E-mail this week to the HDLRC members who have e-mail, and to members of the Labrador-L and the Labrador-H E-mail lists. I asked them to provide me with the questions they use to screen buyers for their puppies. I promised to print the top 20 questions asked by breeders, in an effort to share among us some of the ways others interview their buyers in order to assure the best possible homes for their puppies. Attached, you will find the results of this poll. We hope that the suggestions found here will help each of us to select a good home for our puppies; one’s that promise a happy, secure, healthy life.

The HDLRC strongly encourages its members to sell all pet puppies on a Limited Registration. Remember, Limited Registrations are reversible, so if you aren’t sure if it is a pet puppy or not, you can always sell it on a Limited, and Reverse it if the puppy turns out to be more than expected. At least you have helped to decrease the number of dogs being bred indiscriminately. If you need a copy of the HDLRC Ethical Guidelines, we are happy to supply one to you, or you can copy it from our HDLRC Home Page at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5498

We would like to thank the members of the HDLRC, the Lab-L and Lab-H list for their participation in this survey.

Labrador-H homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9574
Sandra Beggs: Fivepoints Labradors: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7025
Tom and Lori Dodd: TL’s Riverside Labs : http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/3974
Evie Glodic : Tempest Labradors
Janice E. Jirsa
Sandra Reiley-Lince: West Linn, Oregon : Dark Star Labradors
Alice Lipe-Judah: Deja Vu Kennels : http://www.geocities.com/~dejavu1
Ellen Morris: “Stud dog owner who does the interviewing “!
Marion Painter:Tidewater Labradors: Astoria ORE.
Nancy Parks: Phoenix,Az.
Leslie Reynolds: Coventree Labradors
Peggy Smith:
Linda Waldeck: Creekwood Farms
Dian Welle: Blue Knight Labradors: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5404
Dr. Elizabeth L. Wenner: Surry Labradors
Pat Woollaston: Southerly, New Zealand

Although these questions were provided by others, you are encouraged to “borrow” from this list for your own personal use. If the answers given to to you by your clients provides you with a better insight into the type of home they will provide to your puppies, then this club has done its job in helping the newer breeders in getting off to the right start. It never hurts to “borrow” from the experts, and these questions will perhaps prevent you from having to endure the agony of learning that just one of your puppies ended up in the wrong hands.

We ended up with 22 questions in the top 20, as there were several “ties” when adding up the score of answers. At the end of the top 22, we will list the other questions and suggestions received, as it is interesting how only a few people asked some questions, and also found interesting some of the questions that were asked by only a few.

Everyone asked the Name, address, phone, color and sex of puppy desired.

1 Have you ever owned a dog before? (8)
2 What happened to those dogs? (8)
3 What made you select a Labrador Retriever? (7)
4 Will you obedience train this dog? (7)
5 Is someone home during the day? (7)
6 Do you have a fence (include type and height) or other enclosure for the dog? (7)
7 Do you have any other pets at this time? (5)
8 How many people live in your household...children...ages...? (5)
9 What type of house do you live in (house, condo, apartment... lease/own -if lease.. permit pets)?
(5)
10 Who referred you to me? (4)
11 Who will train the dog? (4)
12 Is there anyone in the house who doesn’t like, doesn’t want, is afraid of, or allergic to dogs, and what provisions have you made for these people? (4) (This question was combined from several questions of like type)
13 Where will your dog stay while you are on vacation? (4)
14 How long will your dog be alone at any given time? (4)
15 What expectations do you have for this dog (behavior, traits)? (4)
16 If nobody is home during the day, who will come to take the puppy out to potty or feed it? (4)
17 Will you spay or neuter your dog? (3)
18 Do you have any plans to show the dog? (3)
19 Why do you want a dog? (3)
20 Will this dog live indoors, outdoors, or both? (3)
21 Have you selected a vet (who, and how did you select)? (3)
22 Do you know about crate training (ever done it before, and will you use it with this dog)? (3)

The following questions were only asked by 1 - 2 people - this is interesting, as many would offer informative answers

Are you planning to breed this dog?
Do you know what AKC Limited Registrations are?
Where will your dog stay while you are out?
How would you describe your lifestyle?
Did any past owned dogs die an unnatural death? how?
Have you ever owned a purebred dog before, did you breed it?
Are you an active Military family?
Have you ever been out of the country?
Who in the family will be the primary caregiver?
Moving? What provisions have you made for the dog? >br> About how much would you anticipate it takes to care for a dog each year?
Are you aware that Labradors can be destructive and out of control if left alone for long periods of time or go untrained?
Prepared to care for a dog for greater than 10 years?
Have you bred before, and did you do genetic clearances?
Where will your dog sleep?
What breeds did you own in the past?
What non-canine pets do you have?
Are you willing to sign a contract with a right of refusal clause?
Are you willing to sign a contract requiring a spay/neuter ? (similar to question in top 22, but this one asks about signing a contract, so listed separate)
What have your friends who own labs tell you about what to expect?
Will you sign a contract that requires you to visit a vet within 48 hours of taking the puppy home?

Three people responded in a more narrative fashion. Each of them feels to some degree that a breeder should ease the caller (or someone they meet as it were) into answering questions that come about in a normal conversational tone, and not give the client the idea that they are undergoing a formal interview. In each of these letters, they expressed a desire to know much of the above information, but they tend to slip the questions into the conversation so as to put the person calling both at ease, and off guard. One stated that it is important to gently inform people about how to tell someone they have been rejected as potential owners. This person felt that if the breeder takes the time to explain that the puppy would be sad and lonely for a 12 hour period, and cold if outside and the weather was bad for an extended time. In this way, it gives the client (or rejected client) the opportunity to think about the information prior to calling the next breeder, who may not care as much about the well-being of the puppy, but rather if the caller can pay the price. It will hopefully cause this person to wait until their living conditions are more suited to the needs of a puppy prior to purchasing a puppy. Each felt the more personal approach was by far the best way to both interview and teach. One stated “A visit is never over in less than an hour, and I generally have a ‘feeling’ for the prospective new owners by then. If they can share a cup of coffee with six Labs, they’re usually O.K.”

It is our hope that this article will assist each of us in formulating the best way to assure the best home for our puppies. Surely, not every question one might ask is included in this survey, and obviously, the questions provided are not necessarily in order from most important to least. Rather, it reflects how many breeders ask the same questions, and teaches us that a variety of questions, asked in different manners, may provide us with the information we need to evaluate potential buyers.

To other newsletter Editors: If you use this article for your newsletter, please be sure to include the list of names included herein (to include the Labrador-H and Labrador- L lists), as it was a direct result of their willingness to contrubute. Thanks !

From: The AKC Getting Started Series:Getting started as a responsible dog breeder
A RESPONSIBLE BREEDER PLACES PUPPIES WISELY As you can imagine, once it becomes time for those little beasties to go to new homes, you've invested a lot of yourself in them. Now comes the hard part: letting go and making sure they go to owners who will provide for them the kind of home or the next 10 to 15 years you've given them in the first 8 weeks. It's like being an adoption counselor!
Having learned all that you can about your breed, you now know all the pros and cons of owning one. Responsible breeders know that the negatives are just as important as the positives. They know that dogs requiring lots of coat care or training time may not be a good match for someone who's a workaholic. They know that tiny dogs may not fare well around a family of active small children. They know that a large, powerful dog may be too much for someone in frail health. Responsible breeders are also familiar with AKC rules and regulations concerning the sale and registration of AKC-registerable dogs. Before you even breed, you should contact us to make sure you've got all the right paperwork, right documents to your buyers.

Of course, there are practical considerations. Breeding is not a"for profit" activity. The 1987 study showed an average loss per litter of nearly $1,275...and that's without accounting for your time*. Some breeds are so popular and puppies so plentiful that they're literally "a dime a dozen". Others are in such little demand that it can take months to find homes. Responsible breeders learn to ignore the financial realities in order to find just the right home for each puppy.