Choosing a Breeder -- Give your feedback on this Info Sheet

I shared this on our DK Facebook page and the only thing anyone objected to was the statement about not having multiple litters at the same time. The objection was because some breeders have guardian homes. However, I'm not clear on how the guardian home makes a difference since dams come to the breeder's home for whelping and pups stay with the breeder till they go to new homes. So how does the guardian home situation make a difference if a breeder has 5 litters to care for at the same time, for example? Sure the 5 dams are getting individual love and devotion when they are not whelping or raising babies...but is the FIVE (example) litters at one time I have concerns about. Please talk me through this. Is there a better number to aim for? No more than 2 litters at once? No more than 3 litters at once?

If you have other suggestions for changes, please let me know! It's also kind of boring without doodle photos, so I may add some.

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Permalink Reply by Maryann,Roo and Tigger on January 17, 2017 at 6:52pm

Chiming in again as I believe that very early puppy socialization - before they leave the breeder's home - really helps to make for a "good" puppy. Sarah Wilson, among many others lists five basic steps for young puppies.

I think good should be listed early Puppy Socialization or similar. Poor socialization can lead to fearful puppies, aggressive puppies, puppies who do know about crates and their first experience is going home ( or airplane!) in a crate.

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Shusterman on January 17, 2017 at 10:15pm

Maryann, that's an important comment. Many of our knowledgeable good breeders use the Early Neurological Stimulation with the puppies between 3 and 16 days old. http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/seminars/early-neurological-stimu.... Before puppies are ready to go to their forever homes I would hope the breeders would Crate train them individually, have them comfortable walking on a lead on all kinds of turf including getting up and down steps and know some basic command words. So many ways to help the puppy adjust to different sounds and gain confidence before they are separated from their siblings and mother.

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Permalink Reply by Adina P on January 17, 2017 at 8:23pm

I'll redo this, add a little, take away a little and share again when it's more done.

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Permalink Reply by Kris and Sawyer on January 18, 2017 at 7:11am

My 2 cents: Sawyer's breeders are partners. They each have their own households. So yes they have more than one litter, but they are in two different houses. Does that make sense? I have seen other breeders (not doodles) do this as well. Their sites show multiple litters but their are 3-4 partners who each have their own females. They just work together. I'd be leery if it was a one person job with 5 litters.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on January 18, 2017 at 5:38pm

That makes sense, Kris but if they have 10 or 20 dogs between them, that is still an awful lot of dogs running around your house which makes me suspect that the dogs are kept in kennels in some sort of outbuilding, rather than living as family pets and socialized or housebroken. Of course you could have lots of help - guardian homes and even some who puppy raise for you. It is just something that you should understand about the particular breeder you are considering.