The difference between a Puppy Miller and a Responsible Breeder

In essence, the puppy miller is solely concerned with selling puppies and collecting the money.  If there was no money involved, they would never breed.  Responsible breeders, on the other hand, rarely make a profit at breeding dogs, even though puppies seem to be quite expensive.  Responsible breeders are constantly searching for better bloodlines, researching health, nutrition and genetic issues, and every breeding is done with the goal of improving, or contributing to the breed.  They provide advice to their puppy-owners, often for the entire length of the dog’s life.  They offer health guarantees.  They love their dogs, and go to great lengths to make sure their pups go to homes where they will be loved and well-treated.

There is a huge grey area between, where breeders will go to greater or lesser lengths to ensure that the pups they produce are genetically healthy and sane and go to happy home situations. As a puppy buyer, it is up to you to choose what kind of person to buy from.  There are risks to buying from people at the puppy-miller end of the scale.  Puppies may not be healthy.  Their temperaments may be nasty.  They may have genetic problems - not just show faults, but conditions that will result in poor quality of life for the dog and/or excessive veterinary costs for you to keep the dog alive and comfortable. There is nothing quite as tragic as having a lovely new puppy become part of your family and beloved by your children, only to have the poor thing suffer and have to be put down.  It’s a traumatic experience that may stay with a child forever.
 

Look for body language as well as the ‘right’ answers to your questions

The following questions will help you to evaluate a breeder who you are considering.  If possible, they should be sitting in a room with at least one of their own Westies.  If there is a dog present, watch their body language.  Do they touch the dog?  Gently?  Does the dog welcome the touch? Many breeders will use older dogs to test potiential puppy buyers - often putting an older dog into the room to see how you will interact with the dog.  You can use the dog the same way - as a test to see if there is affection between the breeder and the dog, and to see how well the breeder keeps their dogs.  There is a danger to this; I know of a breeder who keeps an older dog and lets her get quite grubby to check out the reactions of potential puppy buyers!

The breeder should also be proud of his or her dogs. A good breeder is likely to have several photo albums as well as what appears to be a mountain of papers for you to look at. If they have a kennel, they should invite you to come and take a look at it. (If they don’t invite, you should ask!)  When you get out there, the dogs should all be jumping up and down for a visit from the breeder and from you - Westies are supposed to be cheerful and friendly, and should welcome pats from visitors.  They should also look healthy - be active, have bright eyes, not limp and not have discharges from nose, ears or eyes. (Westie eyes often form a little grain of ‘sand’ every day - so don’t let that alarm you - but wet, dripping eyes are evidence of problems.) 

Also watch out for dogs with patches missing from their coats or raw red skin. If you see any, ask about the skin problems in that breeders line. If it seems to be common in the line, don’t buy a pup - itchy skin can impoverish you through veterinary bills.  If there seems to be only one or maybe two, and they are not part of the breeding program, you might still want to consider dealing with the breeder.

You should also get a look at the parents of the puppies when you visit a breeder.  The breeder may have sent her female away to be bred to the right male, but you should definitely be able to see the mother if the pups are under 6 weeks old, as the pups are too young to be entirely weaned.  The breeder should also have photographs at least of the father. Small breeders will also often have other relatives of the pups. Take a look at them all. Ask loads of questions.
 

Questions about Westies in general

What do you like about Westies?
More than anything, this is a chance for them to talk about their own dogs.  A really good breeder will go on and on about their own dogs, giving examples of things that the dogs have done that illustrate a particular breed characteristic. Watch them - you can tell if a person is enthusiastic about their subject.  If they’re just giving a speech and don’t care, you might want to consider walking away.

What is the worst thing about Westies?
Again, there is no correct answer - but watch the way they answer. Do they sound and act as though they really care? Do they see the faults in their own dogs?  There is a phenomenon known as kennel-blindness, where people think their dogs are perfect (or have only minor faults) and dogs owned by others have all sorts of faults.  Ask them about someone else’s dogs and see how they respond! 

How long have you been working with this breed?
Ask them how they got their first Westie.  Ask them if they show their dogs. Do they take their dogs to earthdog trials, obedience trials, agility? Do they take their dogs to long-term care homes as therapy dogs? Have they actually been working with the breed, or do they just have a pet at home who they thought they could make some money from. Do they teach obedience classes? Do they teach show-handling classes?  Look for some involvement in activities with their dogs.

What made you decide to breed Westies?
Look for evidence of loving the breed and wanting to improve it.  Many good breeders will only breed a litter when they want their own next show or trial prospect. Ask them if they’re going to keep a pup from this particular litter. If not, ask them why not?  What was the purpose of breeding this particular litter?

What are the genetic problems in this breed?
There are a number of genetic problems in Westies.  One of the commonest is allergies and itchy skin.  A couple of problems that Westies seem to be prone to although they may be at least partially environmental are cleft palate and inguinal hernias. As a wise puppy-buyer, you should know about these problems in order to assess the breeder’s own level of knowledge. Any breeder of any breed should be quite familiar with the genetic problems in the breed. 

What genetic problems have shown up in the families of your dogs?
This is an honesty issue.  Many breeders deny that their dogs have any problems.  Some may be telling the truth.  Those who do not have genetic problems will have attained that wonderful state only through diligent selection of highly healthy parent stock. Listen to the way they talk about the genetic problems in their dogs.  If they have a plan for reducing or eliminating genetic problems, trust them more than if they just deny that there are problems in their bloodlines. If they have had their dogs certified free of eye disorders or hip, elbow or knee (patellar) problems, give a point in their favour - these tests can be moderately expensive, especially if they have more than one or two dogs.

What is the pedigree of the pup for sale?
A good breeder will not only have a copy of the pedigree available for you, they will be able to talk about the accomplishments of the father and mother and possibly the grandparents and further back.  The breeder should be able to discuss why they chose that particular male to breed to that particular mother.  If they give the impression that they used a dog who lived down the street just because he’s close, then be wary. 
 

About how they raise puppies

When do you wean pups?  What do you feed them and how often?
This will give you some idea of the kind of care your potential pup is used to.  Good breeders will make sure their pups go to new homes with a small supply of the food they’re used to, and fairly detailed instructions about times and amounts to feed the pup. Ask about what brand of dog food they use and why they use that particular one.  If they make their own dog food, ask them about the ingredients and why they’ve included each one. 

What do you do to socialize your puppies before they go to new homes?
A good breeder will ensure that pups learn to interact with humans in different age brackets, especially children.  They will often invite neighbour children in to play with the pups under supervision.  Pups should also be socialised to deal with novel situations although for health reasons, it is risky to take a puppy out in public until it has had its second set of shots.  Ways to prepare pups to dealing with new situations is to put them into different locations, or give them new and odd toys and objects in their pens.

 What age do you give your pups their first shots? Why? 
This is a trick question, as many breeders just follow their veterinarians’ recommendations.  This is not a bad thing.  However, some breeders, most notably puppy millers, don’t give shots.  If they talk about not needing to give shots, then they should be having blood titres done to establish immunity levels.  If they don’t give shots, or nosodes (inoculations without using needles) and don’t have blood titres done, then they are most likely just avoiding the cost of taking the pup to a vet. And ask about other veterinary treatments - will the pups be dewormed? At what age? 

How are your dogs around children?  Strangers?  Farm animals? What are their temperaments like?
You will want to form your own opinion in terms of the answers to these questions, but asking the breeder these questions will allow you to get a feeling for the temperaments of their dogs and if there are any problem areas.  Good words to describe Westie personality include ‘sassy,’ ‘stubborn,’ ‘courageous,’ ‘cheerful,’ ‘funny,’ ‘bratty,’ ‘playful,’ and so on. The Breed Standard says that a Westie should “be possessed of no small amount of self-esteem.”  Shy, aggressive or fearful dogs and their pups should be avoided, as temperament is about fifty percent inherited - a shy pup can be worked with, but it isn’t easy to teach a dog to deal with fearfulness. If you are not an experienced terrier person, avoid pups with shy relatives, and definitely avoid fearful or shy pups.
 

About them and the conditions under which they’ll sell their pups...

Are you a member of the Canadian Kennel Club?
Membership allows people to register their dogs for about half the cost of a non-member. The CKC is the governing body for dog shows and is the only legal registry in Canada.  All responsible breeders should be members.

Are you a member of the Canadian West Highland White Terrier Club?
Another trick question.  If the breeder has never heard of the club, one wonders how hard they’ve been trying to educate themselves about the breed.  The CWHWTC advertises in the CKC club listings, and is well known in the Canadian dog world. 

If the breeder is aware of the club, then judge their reasons for non-membership for yourself. It is possible that the breeder may be an active member of  a local kennel club or a national terrier club and may not have the time to be a good member of any further clubs.  There are legitemate reasons - feel free to ask the breeder about them. If you have questions about whether a breeder was refused membership in the club for cause, contact the club Secretary, secretary@canadawestieclub.ca to ask.

Is the puppy registered?
Another trick question.  In Canada, the law says that any dog represented as a purebred must be registered with the Canadian Kennel Club.  If a breeder offers you a pup at one price and another price if you want papers, then you are clearly not dealing with a responsible breeder. 

Some breeders claim that it is prohibitively expensive to register dogs, and use it as an excuse for not registering their pups.  For a one puppy litter bred by a non-CKC member, the cost of registering the a pup will be under $80, and the cost goes down if there is more than one pup.  What exactly are you paying that huge puppy purchase price for?

At what age do you let pups go home? Why?
Puppies have definite needs that are met at different stages.  Any responsible breeder will have made up their own mind, but you should be listening to their explanations.  Have they thought it through or are they just sending the pups home as soon as they can? Do they understand the developmental stages of pups? 

Do you offer health and temperament guarantees? And what are the details of your contract?
Any responsible breeder will ask you to sign a contract that spells out the arrangements.  Watch to see what the main purpose of the contract seems to be.  If it is to prevent them from having to do anything to honour the contract, be very careful. Look for a contract that protects the buyer as well as the seller, and the puppy first and foremost.

The breeder should be willing to make restitution if your puppy develops a genetically based problem at any time during its life. Some breeders offer replacement puppies, and some will offer a return of the purchase price or some part of it.  Some breeders will pay the veterinarian bills involved in surgical treatments that are necessary due to genetic problems such as Legge-Perthes. 

A good breeder will also ask you to sign a Non-Breeding Contract as part of the dog’s registration.  This contract will be lodged with the CKC and makes it impossible to register any puppies produced by the dog you are buying.  Unless you are specifically buying a dog for breeding, the breeder should ask you to sign this particular bit of paper.  If you are buying a pup with breeding rights, expect the breeder to ask you a lot more questions than if you are just buying a pet.

If I buy a puppy from you and have problems with it, can I call you?
The answer to this should be a resounding ‘yes!’ with some implication that they’ll be quite upset if you don’t! Good breeders want their pups to do well and want to keep contact with owners so that they can be sure the dog is doing well. It is in their best interest to make sure you and your pup are getting along and are happy together. 

Breeders should also be willing to refer you to other people when your questions go beyond their ability to answer.  They will almost certainly refer you to an obedience trainer and a vet if you live in the same area that they do.  They may know of good vets near you even if they themselves do not live near you.

The breeder should also be willing to help, should something happen to you and the dog needs a new home.  Some breeders insist that you not sell the dog without giving them the opportunity of first refusal.  There are many different ‘what if..’ situations and the breeder passes if they are willing to be involved in order to ensure the pup has a good and loving home.

Ask for references
The breeder may well ask you for references, and you should feel free to ask them for references as well.  They should include their current veterinarian, several people who’ve bought puppies from them before and possibly other breeders.  If this is their first litter, get the name of the breeder that they got their own dog or dogs from.

Make sure you actually contact their references. Ask them open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer.  Let them ramble on about the breeder and pay close attention to inconsistencies between what they say and the things the breeder says. 
 

Conclusion

Any good breeder will put you through a set of questions at least as rigorous as the ones in this article.  Placing a puppy, whether you're the breeder or the buyer, is a very serious issue. Do you have the impression that the breeder is screening you or is just worried about selling his stock, no matter what?  You are making decisions that will affect your own lives as well as the twelve to eighteen years that the dog can be expected to live.  Buying a puppy is never something that should be done on impulse, or even too quickly.  There is simply too much at stake. So take the time, think carefully and make sure you talk to several breeders, even if they do not have any pups immediately available.

One last note - many good breeders have rather long waiting lists.  Do not expect to be able to go and just pick up a puppy unless you are willing to deal with puppy millers.  If you are willing to wait four months to a year, you may find the wait well worthwhile, both in terms of the quality of the puppy and the quality of the support you get from your breeder.
 

Author: Yvonne Lord
Tiarna Kennel