To Recommend or Not - Page 2

Hi Dawn,

I think breeders in europe and I will say especially in germany are very honest. I've talked to breeders from germany and the way the laws are set up there is pretty strict. I mean you have to go through a lot of things to be able to breed your dogs. They have to go through numerous things with their dogs and it is hard work. They won't let you just breed like they do in america. I respect them for that and with having such strict laws and rules it is easier to find a good breeder because I highly doubt random people who just want to make money want to go through all those things just to breed dogs and make money. I mean that is my opinion and I think german breeders are pretty straight forward and very nice. I've never encountered a rude breeder from there and they will talk with you a long time and explain everything you want to know or have concerns with. The one thing I really do not like is the shipping - You waste a decent amount of money just for shipping and getting the dog here from over seas.

That is why I imported a pup from Germany!. No BS, as this post is and no DRAMA!! I would recommend the Breeder AGAIN and AGAIN!!

Just a comment you are no used to hear, and maybe this is the wrong place to make it. People who breed German Shepherds in Bolivia for more than 10 years are crazy or love the breed. There are others who "make money" but not with breeding but importing second class dogs from Argentina, because everybody "knows" here that imported dogs is so much better than the national ones, better in the sense that they are worth much money. So anybody who wants to make money with dogs, will not breed them but get second class from abroad and offer them here as finest quality. Anyway, less work and more money. I saw some commercial sites in US dedicated to importing dogs from Europe, this is no the same case, isn't it?

I think that unless you, or someone that you know, has a personal relationship with a breeder in Europe you have just as good a chance, if not better, of being ripped off by one.
While there are laws in Germany about the numbers of litters and other things, do you honestly believe that there are not ways around this?
Do you honestly believe that if I was a friend of one of the breed wardens that I couldn't bend the rules?
Do you honestly believe that they are sending you the best pup from a litter?
Were you born yesterday???

There are just as many horror stories coming from across the pond as there are here in the U.S.
How about one German importer (I am not picking on the Germans, I happen to be German) that constantly bragged to his friends at the Kneipe about how he "went to the pound to get dogs to send to (I won't name the kennel)".

You are correct about the story of the guy from Germany picking up left over dogs in Germany and sellng them to a breeder here. There are jerks all over the world selling dogs and people that want to believe they are getting the best.
But we all know the best ones stay in Germany. If is the same as if a breeder had a litter here and sold the best one and kept the last pick  for him/herself  to carry on their kennel name - dah.
None of us have a crystal ball and cannot see into the future,. It would be nice, in a perfect world, that all dogs had good hips, no health problems and lived to be 60 years old.....but reality is not quite so nice. There have been too many greedy people breeding crappy dogs to make money and they have brought all those bad genes into the pool. So now it really is a crap shoot if you get a good one or not.
I just can't stand to hear all the bs about good vs bad breeders here or in Germany. If you get a bad one, I am sorry. But if you get a good one then their praises are sung all over the place, until someone else comes up with a bad one from that same kennel.....then what? Is the kennel forever bad?

Hello,
maybe I am naive, but I truely believe that most breeders stay on an honest path. Yes, there are crooks all over the world, but for the majority, I like to assume they are honest. I for my part, and I only breed 1-2 litters a year, have my personal set rule of conduct that I will stick to - period. Wether one likes this or not, is for each individual to decide, and after all, they are my puppys - so I guess its perfectly fine, if I want to keep one of my pups, that I get to choose which one !!
One of my rules is - first come - first served ! You pick which one you like and that will be yours - period ! And it will not even cost you a dime more to have, what you think is the pick of the litter ! The mayor problem I see is, that peopel get their hopes up to high. We all encounter, breeder & buyer, the frustrating part that some things that we especially liked about a Pup, is not there anymore when this Pup matures. And yes, it's frustrating to raise a Pup a for a long time and bond with that Pup, to then have your dream ripped to pieces. One always has to stay realistic, not every Pup will go VA.

For the money part, a breeder that only breeds 1-2 maybe 3 litters a year, if done by the book and nothing goes wrong medical wise with the litter, yup, he may make a few extra $,(and that only if he has full, healthy litters) but most certainly not in the range of becoming wealthy after 4-5 years ! Most of these guys will just turn around and invest this money right back into their Hobby. I, for my part, know excatly that it will take me at least, if I dont spend again on kennels & dogs, 8-9 years to just recoupe what I invested the last 2 years. And yes, there are the bigshots, that have 6-8 breeding females, breeding 10 litters on their own kennel name, the wife has a kennel name aswell and breeds annother 8 litters........... yup, they will have different numbers ! Not necesserely a bad thing, but they useally have a different view on theire dealings, because they do that on a large scale and go through the alphabet noumerous times. But again, it is for the consumer to decide if he likes to buy from this or that breeder. Annother mayor role is communication between the partys involved - if there is a a language barrier to overcome, it will be difficult. My experience is, and I have a few only english speaking puppy buyers, that if there is not some kind of personal relation, they will back out. And this can only be achieved if all understand, and be understood, what is talked about.
Annother thing is, you hear more about the bad deals than about the good ones - and, a funny thing, we all tend to recall the bad deals more than the good ones.
Best Regards Ulli 
Oh, OGBS, yup it happens that the best Pup in a litter goes to the US, just did it with a female out of my last litter sired by Dux. She is in NC now, and it was not easy to part from her !