Free: Contests & Raffles.
The 3rd route that has not been discussed is adopting a dog. I know that this isn't what the thread is all about, but with today's economy some good dogs are given up for little or nothing... I think adoption may be an easier way to asses because they are usually full grown... Neither of my hunting dogs have been adopted but i have had adopted dogs.
Quote from: JJD on February 18, 2013, 02:27:40 PMQuote from: BIGINNER on February 14, 2013, 01:58:03 PMthis thread CAN be very useful, if we stick to FACTS, and suggest what people should look for in health certification, how the kennel is run, stuff that would affect EVERY puppy purchase.a lot of the other stuff is just opinion, like if parents are champions, or champion bread, does not necessarily give you a good pup. and someone's experience with a certain breed can be a total different experience for me with that exact breed. I can see this thread turning from helping someone pick a first dog, to I like this breeder and this breeder is better because MY dog came from there..just my I agree to a point, there should be a seperate thread for "recommened breeders".I believe you analogy is a bit off however. A breeder providing health clearances garrantees no more than work titles. Both of the scew the odds in your favor. However, pups whos sire and dam have NFC or AFC in their name may not be what the average hunter wants. Dogs that run the upper ends of the dog games are often high power dogs who have a very high energy level and need to leave the line like they are shot out of a cannon in order to be competative. These dogs often require more pressure and time to train than the average hunter is willing to put in. Test titles however, indicate that the parents were trainable. Many of these dogs may well have Field trial lines, but may have not had enough fire in themselves to compete at the upper levels. Still excellent dogs, and maybe more suited to the dog a hunter can work with.All based on empirical observation. I'm not a breeder and don't intend to get into that game. God bless those who do it right. So, What you are saying is that testing the dam and the sire for PRA(knowing their results) will NOT guarantee that the pups won't go blind? (I'm setting you up if you can't tell) If you are saying a PRA result is of equal importance as a agility title I'll have to politely disagree with you. Having both Sire and Dam (in breeds with histories of dysplasia such as Labs) showing good results doesn't mean anything?
Quote from: BIGINNER on February 14, 2013, 01:58:03 PMthis thread CAN be very useful, if we stick to FACTS, and suggest what people should look for in health certification, how the kennel is run, stuff that would affect EVERY puppy purchase.a lot of the other stuff is just opinion, like if parents are champions, or champion bread, does not necessarily give you a good pup. and someone's experience with a certain breed can be a total different experience for me with that exact breed. I can see this thread turning from helping someone pick a first dog, to I like this breeder and this breeder is better because MY dog came from there..just my I agree to a point, there should be a seperate thread for "recommened breeders".I believe you analogy is a bit off however. A breeder providing health clearances garrantees no more than work titles. Both of the scew the odds in your favor. However, pups whos sire and dam have NFC or AFC in their name may not be what the average hunter wants. Dogs that run the upper ends of the dog games are often high power dogs who have a very high energy level and need to leave the line like they are shot out of a cannon in order to be competative. These dogs often require more pressure and time to train than the average hunter is willing to put in. Test titles however, indicate that the parents were trainable. Many of these dogs may well have Field trial lines, but may have not had enough fire in themselves to compete at the upper levels. Still excellent dogs, and maybe more suited to the dog a hunter can work with.All based on empirical observation. I'm not a breeder and don't intend to get into that game. God bless those who do it right.
this thread CAN be very useful, if we stick to FACTS, and suggest what people should look for in health certification, how the kennel is run, stuff that would affect EVERY puppy purchase.a lot of the other stuff is just opinion, like if parents are champions, or champion bread, does not necessarily give you a good pup. and someone's experience with a certain breed can be a total different experience for me with that exact breed. I can see this thread turning from helping someone pick a first dog, to I like this breeder and this breeder is better because MY dog came from there..just my
There have been two or three cases of a mutation in labs and over how many registered per year? I think you'd be better off buying a PRA affected dog and hoping that it didn't go blind. What you are suggesting is that OFA's have NOT reduced the amount of dysplastic dogs and breeders using knowledge of PRA genetic testing has not almost completely clipped the PRA blindness problem nearly completely out of the picture.