How-to for Puppy Buyers

How to get a puppy from us ( or another good breeder).

By Joanna Kimball

I have found that a lot of people who would make excellent homes for puppies end up with puppies who are far less than ideal for them (or far less than well-bred) because they are intimidated by the process of getting a puppy from a good breeder. And it's not particularly fair (I admit this) that we breeders expect you to know the answers to questions that WE discuss at length but YOU have not necessarily ever heard before. 

There's a lot of wariness on both sides, when the e-mails start coming; as a buyer you're worried that you're going to get ripped off or are choosing the wrong person and as breeders we always have the worst-case scenarios going through our minds. We've ALL been burned by puppy people and I'm sure most of you have been burned (or at least made to feel stupid) by a breeder, so it's not all air kisses and happiness for a good long while.

That having been said, as buyers you have GOT to get over the idea that either it's too much trouble to go after the best of the best, or it's a process that will be too invasive and inconvenient, or you're sure the breeder already has all the puppies sold and you'd better go find somebody who's a little bit more "approachable" (usually "mediocre" would be the correct adjective there). Every breeder, no matter how amazing, has to place pet puppies. And they're honestly just as happy to put a puppy with someone who lives in a doublewide as they are with someone who lives in a McMansion. The key is how good an owner you're going to be, not how much you can impress them with your ability to write a check. And yes, you will have to take some time and exchange some e-mails and phone calls, and at the beginning of the process it can be very intimidating or feel invasive. I know this because I feel that way too; when I get ready to sit down and e-mail a breeder for the first time (about buying a show puppy or about using a stud dog) I have to take lots of deep breaths and I start the thing about eight times before I finally hit "send."

It is MORE than worth it to go out there and get the best puppy you can. The rewards of having a supportive breeder, a sound and healthy dog, and a community of similar owners and breeders to enjoy can (and I do mean this literally) change your life. Buying a great puppy is the way you get a great family dog, but (for those who want it) it's also the way you become "a dog person," and entering that group is not to be underestimated. 

So how do you do it? How do you get that great puppy?

THE PREP WORK

1) Know what you want. If you're not sure you're a dog person; if you're not sure your family is ready for a dog; if you aren't sure how your ancient and beloved cat is going to react to a puppy, do not experiment by buying a puppy. One of the best ways to answer those questions is to become involved with a rescue group as a foster home or (as a longer-term but still temporary situation) apply to be a puppy raiser for a guide or service dog organization. If the answer at the end of that experience is no, that doesn't make you a bad person! It just means you shouldn't go out there and buy a puppy and hope that it turns out better this time. Before you even start considering a puppy, know whether you really want a dog after all.

2) Research breeds. You should not contact even a single breeder with puppies on the ground before you have decided on a breed. DO contact breeders when you've gotten to the point of deciding between two or three breeds, but be honest with them that you are trying to get to know their breed, not that you are looking for a puppy. Most of them will be very happy to talk to you about what living with the dogs is actually like, and this will (hopefully) help you make up your mind. But I promise you, almost nothing turns off a breeder more quickly than someone who says "I am also looking at Rottweilers, but I would like to come see your Yorkies." This is not because we feel like we're in competition with each other; it's because we spend thousands of hours completely bathed in one or two breeds and we (correctly, I think) immediately think that if you don't even know the difference between living with those two breeds we're not particularly interested in putting a puppy with you. 

3) Be very, VERY realistic about what kind of care and commitment you can give to a dog. It is VERY TEMPTING to see a dog working at its best and to want that life yourself. You see a Border Collie running an agility course or a Gordon Setter quartering a field or a Golden running through a yard with its kids and you think you could do that. I know you do, because I do it too. I have a desire for an Irish Water Spaniel that borders on the obsessive, because I absolutely love how they're a completely multi-purpose breed who are insanely smart and active and because I love grooming. Every time I see one I start thinking of myself in a boat or on the agility grounds or with a dog up on the grooming table. However, you have to realize that YOU ARE VERY UNLIKELY TO CHANGE to meet your dog's needs. If you already run four miles a day no matter what the weather, or if you already hunt, THEN go get yourself a big sporting dog. If you already spend five hours outside every day in the woods, then look at a coon hound. If you imagine yourself on an agility course but in real life you spend eight hours in front of a computer every day, DO NOT GET a Border Collie. 

I'd also add that you have to buy a dog for your WORST day, not your best. Maybe some days you do get that run in. But other days your kids have to go to soccer practice or you put off the run because it's too hot or you go to the gym instead. Or maybe you really do go camping every weekend… from May to November. Your dog is not going to need a different level of activity or a different level of mental stimulation because you had a bad day. If you're snowed in, two kids are sick, and you have a huge project due tomorrow, your Gordon Setter STILL needs 45 minutes of hard-running exercise. Can you provide that? How crazy will it drive you?

4) Never buy a dog to be anything other than a dog. Dogs are not good at teaching kids responsibility. They're not good at saving marriages. They're not good at getting you friends. They're not good at making you exercise. They pretty much all massively suck at being ornaments in a lovely home. If you get a dog to be a dog, if you meet its needs and desires and make its life wonderful, as a side effect it may well teach your kids good things; it may do good stuff for your marriage; it may get you new and wonderful friends; you may lose some weight. But those are pleasant side effects of doing the right things for a dog just because it's a dog. 

5) Learn enough about what dogs in general and what the breed you have chosen in particular need in terms of training, feeding, and exercise that you could do an "elevator pitch" for the breed. You don't need to be able to quote phosphorus/calcium ratios or the proper distance between weave poles, but feel like you know how to meet the needs of the dog you're considering, and be sure that you are ready to do so. 

6) Prepare your house and yard, or have a plan for doing so. Many times the first thing a breeder will ask is whether you have a fenced yard. This isn't because we're trying to be mean; it's because we know our breed well enough to know that it's very difficult to manage them without good fencing. This is a question you should expect to answer. Some breeders absolutely will not put a puppy anywhere without a fenced yard; others will put a puppy with you as long as you have a good plan for providing exercise without it. Either way, the correct answer is NEVER "We live in the country so our dogs love running around." I do not care if you live fifteen miles from the nearest road, you are NOT letting one of my puppies off-leash until it is trained enough to have a reliable recall, and even then you should only do it when you are mindful and involved. Many a dog with a wonderful recall has been killed when an owner got distracted with yard work. 

In your home, you should plan on making at least one room (a room you actually live in, not the laundry room) completely puppy-proofed, and that includes not freaking about pee and poop. Crate training is wonderful and you should do it, but you should also have the puppy on your lap on the couch or on your feet, and you should play with your puppy and bond with it and tug with it and watch TV with it, and there WILL be accidents. 

7) Pick out a training center for puppy K. This is an absolute requirement if you're buying from me and it's a very good idea if you're buying from anyone. Puppy K is the BEST gift you can give yourself and your puppy, and that means everybody, including experienced owners and even trainers. I am so serious about it that I will pay for your puppy K class (I will rebate $100 from your purchase price when you graduate). You should plan on entering puppy K when the puppy is between eight and ten weeks old, so you have to have one picked out before you find the puppy and should be registered for class before you take the puppy home. Puppy K is about socialization, not hard-line training. Look for one that offers a good long puppy playtime at the beginning of each class, and that uses happy, positive methods. The AKC STAR classes are getting very good buzz, so finding a STAR trainer may be a great way to begin.

CONTACT A BREEDER

The reason you should have that elevator pitch ready is that you're going to write an e-mail to ONE BREEDER AT A TIME, and you're going to use that pitch.

(Don't forget to scroll down and read the articles below to learn more!)

1) Contact the breeder using whatever medium makes you most comfortable. I think e-mail is ideal because you can make sure you're saying all the things you want to say and you can do it at 4 am if you want to, but some people are very uncomfortable when they have to write out a long e-mail and may prefer to call. 

1a) If the breeder does not have any puppies available or anticipated, say "May I talk to you about the breed to make sure I am making the right choice?"

2) Clearly communicate that you understand the breed, understand its needs, and are willing and able to meet those needs. Ask the breeder if she agrees or could add anything.

3) Say "Do you have any questions for me?" and "Is there anything else I should be asking you or another good breeder?"

4) Try to get two or three e-mails back and forth, and then (if you like the tone of the conversation so far) say "Is there a good time for me to call you?"

This level of exchange is very likely to establish a couple of things for you: If you were right about the breed, and if this is going to be a good breeder for you to either get a puppy from right now or to wait for a puppy from. Confirm this with a phone call. A great sign is if the call lasts half an hour or more and you get the feeling that this person is absolutely an encyclopedia on the breed. 

Oh, one note on semantics: Breeders SELL puppies. Rescues ADOPT them out. Retired dogs are PLACED. Dogs who are not happy in their home are RE-HOMED. I know that there's no way you could know this, and most people use language that they think will be the least likely to offend (and that means "adopt"), but it can set our teeth on edge a little bit. Our puppies do not need homes; they have a home here. They are not up for "adoption." So use the word "sell" or "buy" when you're talking with a breeder about a puppy, or "place" (as in "I was wondering if you have any retired dogs to place") if you are inquiring about an older dog. If I have a rescue here who does need a new home, I'll use the word "adopt"; if I have a dog who is returned to me I will "rehome" her. It's a small thing but you'd be surprised how much using the correct words can help set the tone for the communication with the breeder. Under no circumstances should you use "get rid of" or anything of the kind.

MOVE FROM CONTACT TO PURCHASE

The two posts on buyer etiquette above are better and longer explanations of this, but the key is to not stop communicating. Call, e-mail, keep up the contact. I'll be posting pictures daily or close to daily on my blog, so drop a comment every few days so I know you're still alive and interested. The goal is for both of us to feel like we're in a partnership where the end goal is a great home for a great dog.

So let's say you want a Clue puppy (and I do have spots open, though I am not pushing for puppy buyers at all right now; I want to see what we get first). Send me an e-mail that thoroughly introduces you and your family, and give me some idea that you understand what a Cardigan is and why you want one instead of some other breed. I'll respond by sending you a questionnaire to fill out; this isn't because I don't trust you but because I keep a file for the litter with everyone's questionnaire in it so I am organized and remember who everyone is. If we get nice feelings about each other, you call me and we talk. If it all seems like it's going to work, you go on my waiting list. When the puppies are three weeks old, I will begin having visitors; you will be welcome to come meet puppies. (Just so you know, the other dogs will be downstairs and I may even put Clue down there; it can be very, very stressful for moms and other members of the pack to see puppies held and moved around by strangers and she can communicate that stress to the puppies, who start to think that strangers are things to worry about. We'll have to play it by ear but if she starts to get agitated I'll invite you to play with puppies and meet her separately.) During the visits we talk and talk and talk and talk and Doug falls asleep on the couch because he is SO bored by dog talk. Finally, and this is after you have visited as many times as you like, the puppies get evaluated at 7 weeks (temperament) and 8 weeks (conformation) and are assigned to different families at that point. 

The way I do it is pretty standard for show breeders; the only other variation on the process is that some of us take deposits and some don't. I take them if you are sure you want a puppy from this litter and you will be happy with me choosing one for you. Giving a deposit means that you WILL get a puppy. I do not like to take a deposit if you only want one particular puppy and won't be happy with any others, because I simply don't know if that one puppy will be the right one for you or will be available after the show/pet evaluation. 

Buying a puppy is a VERY BIG DEAL and we want you to treat it that way, but it's a joyful and wonderful deal too. Any breeder will tell you that the greatest reward they get is that e-mail saying that Lydia is now a therapy dog, or that Bogart passed his herding instinct test, or that Cherry has gone to her great reward and that everybody cried for three days because she was such a wonderful dog. We are eager for you to have the rewards and joys of owning a great dog, just as we do. So please, DO go to the trouble to get a dog and a breeder who can get you there. It is SO worth it. 

Borrowed From "Ruffly Speaking"

Puppy Buyer Etiquette

By Joanna Kimball

So you know that I’m not singling any real person out. This is because it seems that there’s a lot of confusion about the whole “proper” way to go about things. So, puppy buyers and anyone else thinking about maybe someday approaching a good breeder about a puppy, here you go:

1) STOP LOOKING FOR A PUPPY. The classic mistake puppy buyers make is saying “I need an xx breed puppy at the beginning of the fall” or whatever it may be. So they go out looking for litters due in August.

BAD IDEA.

Puppies are not interchangeable; one is not the same as the others. This is largely because every breeder has their stop-the-presses criteria for breeding or not breeding, and each has preferences for size, personality, working ability, etc. Breeder X’s “perfect puppy” is not the same as Breeder Y’s.

Stop looking for a puppy; look for a BREEDER. Make a personal connection with a breeder you feel shares your top criteria, and then wait for a puppy from them. Maybe they even have a litter on the ground, which is wonderful, but maybe they’re not planning anything for a few months. Or maybe they’re not planning anything for a year; in that case, ask for a referral to another breeder that shares those same priorities and has a similar (or just as good) personality and support ethic. However it works out, screen the breeder first, then ask about a puppy.

1b) EXPECT TO WAIT FOR A PUPPY. It’s VERY rare to wait less than a couple of months; four to six is normal. I’ve waited a year on a couple of occasions; no, even we breeders don’t walk through the field, able to pick puppies like tulips. We ALL have to wait, and we ALL have to get matched up by the puppies’ breeder.

2) INTRODUCE YOURSELF THOROUGHLY. The initial e-mail should be several paragraphs long; block out at least an hour of quiet for the first phone call. When you initiate contact, clearly communicate three things: You are ready for a puppy, you are ready for a puppy of this breed, and you understand what sets this breeder apart from the others and you share that commitment. Specifically describe your plans for this puppy; be truthful. If you are not going to be able to go to four training classes a year, SAY SO. Don’t say “Of course, training is a huge priority around here,” or you’re going to end up with a puppy who’s flushing your toilet sixty times a day because he’s so bored and you’re not challenging him.

The ideal first contact e-mail usually goes something like

“Hi, my name is X and I’m writing to inquire about your dogs. I’ve been doing a lot of research on [breed] and I think they’re the right one for me because of [these four reasons.] I know puppies are a huge commitment, and I am planning to [accommodate that in various ways.] I’m approaching you in particular because of your interest in [whatever,] which is something I feel is very important and plan to encourage in [these three ways.]”

That’s the kind of e-mail that gets a response, and usually pretty quickly. If I get something that says “I hear you have puppies on the way; how much?” it goes in the recyle bin before you can blink.

2a) Bring up price either at the end of the first contact (if it’s been successful and you feel a connection to this person) or in a follow-up contact. It’s nice to say “If you don’t mind me asking, about how much are [breed]s in this area, if there is a typical price? I just want to be prepared.” The breeder will usually give you two pieces of useful information: Her price, and the median prices around you. That way, if you decide to go a different way, you know about what to expect. If the second person you contact names a price that’s double the median, try to discreetly find out why. A very difficult pregnancy, nationally ranked parents, a surgical AI, c-section resulting in very few live puppies, those are some reasons a breeder could be asking more and it’s reasonable. If there’s no real difference from the other breeders except price, think carefully.

3) BE WILLING TO BE TOLD NO. Not every person is the right match for every breed. That’s just fact. There is no way on earth I could make our home appropriate for a Malamute puppy, and I’d have to lie through my teeth to get approved for one. And I have my entire life devoted to keeping dogs happy. I don’t expect you to have anywhere close to the obsession I have, so that means there will be some dogs that are just plain wrong for you. If a breeder says no, ask why. If the answers make sense, don’t keep calling people until you finally get one who will sell you a puppy of that breed. Go back to the drawing board and be very humble and honest with yourself about what kind of dog really would be right for you and your family.

4) PLEASE DO NOT GET ON MORE THAN ONE WAITING LIST unless you are VERY honest about it. This goes back to rule 1. You need to understand that we think our puppy buyers are just as in love with the puppies as we are. We’re posting pictures, writing up instructions, burning CDs, researching everything from pedigrees to nail grinding, all so we can hand off this puppy, this supreme glorious creature of wonderfulness, with the absolute maximum chance that it will lead a fabulous life with you, and we’ve built all kinds of air castles in our heads about how happy this puppy will be, and what it will do in its life with you, and so on. Finding out that you had your name on four lists shows that you don’t realize that puppies are not packages of lunch meat, where getting one from Shaws is basically the same as getting one from Stop and Shop.

Also, as soon as your name is on one of our lists, we’re turning away puppy buyers. If we’ve sent ten people elsewhere because our list is full, and then suddenly you say “Oh, yeah, I got a puppy from someone else,” it really toasts our bread. So just BE HONEST. If someone came to me and said “I’m on a list with So and So, but she’s pretty sure she won’t have a puppy for me, and I’d love to be considered for one of your dogs and I’ll let you know just as soon as I know,” I’m FINE with that. I understand how this goes. It’s not a disaster for me to have a puppy “left over” at eight weeks because you ended up getting that So and So puppy; it’s just frustrating to have the rug yanked out from under me.

5. PLEASE DO NOT EXPECT TO CHOOSE YOUR PUPPY. This one drives puppy buyers CRAZY. I know this, trust me. I have a lot of sympathy because I’ve been there. But the fact is that when you come into my house and look at the eight-week-old puppies and one comes up and tugs on your pant leg and you look at me, enraptured, and say “THIS IS IT! He chose ME,” I’ve been looking at people coming into the house all week, and every single time this same puppy has come up and tugged at them and every single one of them have said to me “THIS IS IT!”

What you are seeing is not reality. You are seeing the most outgoing puppy, or you’ve fallen in love with the one that has the most white, or the one that has a different look from the rest of the litter (when I had one blue girl puppy in a litter of black boys, every human that came in the house wanted her; when I had one black girl puppy in a litter of blue boys everyone kept talking about how much they loved HER), or the one that’s been (accidentally) featured the most in the pictures I’ve posted. Or, sometimes, you have a very good instinctive eye and you’re picking the puppy that’s the best put together of the litter. And that puppy, of course, is mine, and you’re going to have to pry him out of my cold dead hands.

My responsibility is not to make you happy. And that, dear friends, is why I am posting this now, and not when I have a bunch of actual puppy buyers around :D. But it’s the truth. My responsibility is to the BREED first. That’s why my first priority in placing puppies is the show owners, because they are the ones that will (if all goes well) use this dog to keep the breed going. It’s not that I like them better than I like you; it’s that I have to be extremely careful who I place with them so that they can make breeding decisions with the very best genetic material I can hand them. My second responsibility is to the PUPPY. I will place each puppy where I feel that it has the best chance of success and the optimal environment to thrive.

So while I do care, and I will try to take your preferences into account, do not expect to walk into my living room and put your hand in the box and pick whatever puppy you want. And do not expect to be given priority pick because you contacted me first; conversely, do not expect that because you came along late you somehow won’t get a good puppy. Sometimes the person who calls me when the puppies are seven and a half weeks old ends up with what I’d consider the “pick” for various reasons (sometimes because somebody called me up and said they’d gotten a puppy from someone else; see rule 4 above). I am going to try to do my absolute best to match puppies to owners as objectively as I can, not according to who called first.

When I was waiting for Clue, I think I initially called Betty Ann six months before she was born. I waited through two other litters, where Betty Ann thought she might have something for me but then in the end told me no. Then I waited until 8 weeks when she thought this one might really be the one, and then another two weeks until she made her final picks and sent me a puppy. I was about ready to vomit with the tension. I UNDERSTAND. But the rewards of waiting and being matched with the right puppy are greater than any frustration with having to sit with an empty couch for a few more months.

6) ONCE YOU GET YOUR PUPPY, THERE WILL ONLY BE THAT PUPPY IN THE WHOLE WORLD. If you’ve been sitting around with your fingers crossed saying “Please, Molly, please, Molly, I only love Molly,” and I say “I really think Moe is the one for you,” you’re probably going to feel disappointed. But take Moe and go sit on the couch, and put your finger in her mouth, and realize that she has a really cool white toe on one foot but none of the other feet have white toes, and let her try to find a treat in your pocket, and I guarantee you by the time you’re five minutes out of my driveway Moe will be YOUR puppy. And a year later you may remember that you thought Molly was so pretty, but Moe… well, Moe could practically run the Pentagon she’s so smart, and her face turned out MUCH more beautiful than Molly’s did. And so on.

7) PLEASE FINISH THE ENCOUNTER WITH ONE BREEDER BEFORE BEGINNING ONE WITH ANOTHER. If you end a conversation with me saying “Well, this just all sounds wonderful, and I’m going to talk it over with my wife and we’ll call you about getting on your waiting list,” and then you hang up and call the next person on your list, that’s not OK. If you don’t feel like you click with me, or you want to keep your options open, a very easy way to say it is to ask for the names and numbers of other breeders I recommend. That way I know we’re not “going steady,” and I won’t pencil you in on my list. If you are on my waiting list, and you decide that you don’t want to be anymore, call me AS SOON AS YOU KNOW and say “Joanna, I’m so sorry, but our life has gotten a little crazy and I need to be taken off the puppy list.” And I make sympathetic noises and take you off. If, then, you decide you want to get a different puppy, be my guest. Just keep me apprised and let me close off my commitment to you before you open it with another breeder.

…Which brings us to something that is super important and most puppy people don’t realize:

8 ) EVERY BREEDER KNOWS EVERY OTHER BREEDER. Now of course I don’t mean the bad breeders, but the show breeding community is VERY small and VERY close-knit. If you’ve been on my list for three months, I’ve kept in contact with you, I think you’re getting a puppy from me, I’m carefully considering which one to sell you, and finally I match you with a puppy when they’re eight weeks old, and THEN you e-mail me and say “Sorry, I got a puppy from Arizona, bye,” my instant reaction isn’t going to be “Oh noes!” My instant reaction is going to be “From Jill?” I probably e-mail Jill several times a year, if not several times a month, and I’m probably going to pick up the phone in the next sixty seconds and say, “Did you just sell a puppy to Horace Green from Topeka? Did you know that he put himself on my waiting list three months ago and has been saying all along how excited he is?” And two minutes after that she’ll get a call from Anne in Oregon and Anne will say “Did you just sell a puppy to Horace Green from Topeka? He’s been feeding me lines for eight weeks! I had a puppy ready to go to him next week!”

And we will take your name in vain, Horace Green from Topeka, and Jill will feel bad that she sold you a puppy, and oh the bad words we will say. And Horace Green from Topeka will be a topic of conversation at the next Nationals, and t-shirts will be made that say “DON’T BE A HORACE,” and someone will name their puppy Horrible Horace and everyone will get the joke and laugh.

In the end, “Be excellent to each other,” as Bill and Ted so correctly ordered us, is pretty much the paradigm to follow. If you err, err on the side of this being a relationship, not a transaction. Try to act the way you would with a good friend, not with an appliance salesman. And the ending will  be as happy for you as it is happy for us.

Borrowed from "Ruffly Speaking"

Puppy Buyer Etiquette (slightly) continued: Expressing Preferences

By Joanna Kimball

One of the comments on the earlier brought up a very good point: How about when you reeeeeeeeaaaaaalllly want a particular puppy in a litter?

I think this falls into two basic categories: When you NEED a particular puppy and when you have fallen in love with a particular puppy.

If I am looking to buy a puppy to show and breed, I am usually looking for something I don’t have eight of at home. So when I call up a breeder, or talk to them at a show, or e-mail them, I’ll say “I am keeping an eye out for a really wonderful black dog; are you planning a litter with Xerxes right now?” They immediately know that I’m not interested unless they have a black male show-potential puppy whose father is Xerxes. So they’ll send me away if they don’t get any males in the litter, or if they know Xerxes isn’t going to be used, or whatever. The flip side of being this specific, of course, is that I have to wait around until the puppies are all evaluated, and have the breeder or co-breeder pick their puppy or puppies, and then hope there’s a black show male left for me. 

Being this exacting works really well if you know and trust that breeder, so you know she’s not going to try to sell you a puppy that’s not actually competitive, and/or if the breeder already has a couple of Xerxes litters around. It’s even better if you can see the puppies in person; that’s why every Nationals is like a giant puppy-swapping party. You see a stunning brindle puppy in a golf cart, run over, say “Who is that gorgeous creature?” and hopefully things go from there; either you wrangle an introduction to the breeder or (just maybe) that particular puppy or her sister are for sale. 

When you’re getting your first show puppy, and I’m still in the throes of this (I have not been in the breed long enough to have ANYBODY offering to hold puppies for me, except maybe Kate – blows kisses to Bronte’s puppies – ) it’s probably wise to express fewer preferences to the very best breeder you can possibly rather than more preferences to a breeder who isn’t as good. One of my e-mails to a particular breeder basically went “I would be thrilled beyond belief to even be considered for this litter; I’m barely exaggerating when I say I’d like to take home your dog’s POOP.” I couldn’t have cared less about color, gender, amount of white, anything, because I was so excited about the potential of the litter and loved the two dogs involved so much. 

If you’re not going to be showing or breeding, I think it’s entirely appropriate to express a preference of gender, especially if you have a dog at home and he or she tends to get along better with one than the other. Just let us know if you can be flexible on that or if you MUST have a certain gender. 

It’s also more than fine to let us know that you like a certain “fault.” If you think fluffs are da bomb (and, wow, I do); if you think pinks are to die for; if you like the half-white heads or no white at all (which is not a fault but can be more difficult to show), please do express that. With those particular criteria, all of us love to have owners who not only will accept them but desperately want them, so if we don’t have one in a litter we’ll try to point you in the right direction to get, say, a fluffy white-headed merle puppy (and, oh my goodness, how gorgeous would THAT be). 

From there, you’re looking at color and at markings. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with expressing a preference to the breeder. Just realize that it’s not fair to the puppies for us to put markings (which are entirely superficial and have nothing to do with who the puppy IS) above personality and behavior and needs. For example, let’s say that you live in an urban environment and go for long walks every day; you have three kids and a Pointer. The litter you’re looking at has two brindle puppies with big wide blazes and one tri puppy with a little white squiggle. He’s kind of ugly, honestly. You may feel extremely disappointed, even angry, when you see those wide-blazed puppies go to other families and you get offered the ugly puppy. But if you’ve done your homework and chosen your breeder correctly, she’s giving you that puppy because he’s completely unflappable, adores kids, and has shown a remarkable ability to make friends with big dogs. Wide-blazed brindle #1 was very high-energy and went to a herding home. Wide-blazed brindle #2 showed more sensitivity to noise and would probably not enjoy the chaos of your house; she’s going to live with a retired couple who listen to NPR all day.

If you find that you absolutely cannot accept anything but one color or “look” of dog, please just let the breeder know immediately, and don’t get mad if you don’t get it. Ask your breeder to let you know as soon as possible if she thinks that the one puppy that meets your request won’t be available to you, and ask for a referral to another breeder in that case. Again, please don’t go get yourself on a bunch of waiting lists in the hopes that one breeder will give you a copper brindle with a wide blaze and one solid-colored leg, unless you tell ALL the breeders involved exactly what you’re doing and that you’re on everyone elses list. 

The theme here, as it was below, is to COMMUNICATE. Be honest, talk a LOT, keep up the calls and the e-mails, offer full disclosure. If you’ve been honest and fair with us and we can’t offer you your dream puppy, we’ll be more than happy to send you to the next breeder with a glowing recommendation. If we’ve been honest and fair with you, you shouldn’t feel concerned or ripped off. Just keep talking, talking, talking. Miscommunications and resentments build when one party thinks the other is keeping secrets or withholding crucial information – in other words, when one party is treating this like a commodity transaction (I’m sure she’s trying to rip me off, so I’m going to protect myself and get what I want) rather than a relationship (I’m sure she wants the best possible outcome, so I’m going to be as honest as I can). The most important thing to remember is that in order to thrive, the puppy is going to need both of you (good grief, I sound like a divorce lawyer, but it is almost like that), so do your best to reject any behavior that will cause the other person to leave the relationship.

Borrowed From "Ruffly Speaking" :