Reviews
The one that counts is the message that arrives a year later, when the novelty has gone and the dog is simply part of the household.
We were told before we visited that he would be the wrong dog for a house with nobody in it during the day, which is the opposite of what we expected to hear from somebody selling a puppy. We changed our working week instead of changing our minds, and eight months on that was clearly the right call.
What sold us was being asked what happens when we go on holiday. Nobody else asked. Every other breeder we spoke to wanted to know when we could pay.
I had never had a dog. I said so, expecting to be talked into the biggest puppy in the litter, and instead got a long email about which one would forgive a beginner. That is the puppy we have and she has forgiven a great deal.
The vaccination record came in a folder with the practice details on it and we were told to ring them ourselves and check. We did. It all matched. It should not be remarkable and it was.
Second dog from the same house, four years apart. Same honesty both times, including being told the second time that we should wait six months for the next litter rather than take one that would not have suited us.
We wanted a cream one and were told, politely and immediately, that the colour is not rare and that anybody charging extra for the word was charging us for a word. That set the tone for everything that followed.
We were asked how far we walk, honestly, not how far we intend to. The answer got us the quietest puppy of the litter rather than the one we had picked from a photograph. She was right and we were wrong.
Two video calls before we had paid anything, both times with the mother in the same room. On the second one we asked to see the whelping area and the phone just turned round.
The advice about introducing a puppy to an elderly dog was detailed, free and completely unprompted. Three pages of it. None of it was about selling us anything.
The price was on the website. It was the same price in the email, the same price in the agreement, and the same price on the day. I have bought a car with less consistency.
We were told our house was loud and busy and that this was a good thing for the puppy we were looking at. It was not flattery, it was just accurate, and he has never once been bothered by the noise.
We were put off for a year. Genuinely put off, told the current litter would not suit us and to wait. A year later they wrote to us first. Nobody does that if they are only in it for the money.
Checking us
Testimonials on a breeder's own site are chosen by that breeder and published by that breeder. That is worth something. It is worth a good deal less than people assume. So here is what we would do in your position, and we would rather you did it to us than skipped it.
None of that is modesty. A buyer who checks carefully is the buyer we want, because the same care is what the dog gets for the next fourteen years.
