Screening - Page 1

Much had been said here about screening potential customers by seller of the pups in way who is going to treat the pup well and who will not. . Like the breeder suppose to be a ethical police and should be also clairvoyant and should hire a "minority report" type psychic.   I am here to tell you that to tell to a  breeder  be it Kimbertal ( different thread)  or who ever:  You  should "better screen  buyers of their dogs. " is a bumper sticker BS. Cap out.

I have sold dogs to  poor and to rich, to people who cam here with $120 000 and beat up 30 years old Mazda. To people with  kids and old couples. Single married , young and old. You name it ,....and You got the picture.  Yes there may be warning signs but they are rare.  Most people sound good and i it is almost impossible to prequalifie them as a good dog person. 

 I have bad  experiences with people who were just wonderful and people who you would think suck were the best dog people.  

 To try to turn breeder into some clairvoyant moral and ethical police is a failure. The future treatment of the dog depends on the buyer and not as much on  the seller.  The only good screening point are compulsive dumpers. But short of that it is hard to pass judgment.  Well  personally I do my best but I ma not clairvoyant thus , and I am not ashamed to say it, I cry like a baby every time I  ship a pup to some one.

 How do you screen a buyer?

 prager hans

You ask for their veterinarians phone number to verify that they have kept and cared for their animals. 

This is not prying for medical information, just a simple verification. That is what rescues will do.

High volume breeders/sellers can't be so picky who they sell to. Doesn't matter who they are.

Homeowners or renters;  what type training do they do;  trainers and club names with witness verifications, kids, cats, fenced yards;  have to let you know if they move without fair as AKC requires that you keep records current of every pup you sell and where they are in terms of families/owners/breeders.  Neighbors and locations of how long they have lived in home;  Job status, kid status, school, work, play,  family interactions.  What will dog be used for?  family, protection, etc. etc.  Diet, vet checks, do you deliver puppy when possible?  Just a few... Nan

The nicest people can turn into the bastards from hell;  can you communicate with the people, will they listen to you?  If not, no sale.  Say bye, bye...  Nan

of course if you are only interested in the money and don't really care about what happens to the dog or if they are a good fit.  Then don't worry about it and just make up excuses on why its unnecessary or that there is no sense since people will lie to you about it anyway so why try.  Just sell the dog make a few extra bucks and don't worry about it.

Reggie

That's a tough question. When I was breeding, I'd ask the prospective buyer to come and see my dogs if they lived in the area. If they had kids, I'd want them to bring them along. Had to refuse one family a puppy because their kids were wild and out of control; tried to pick up a 6 week old puppy by its head.  Parents thought that was OK, I didn't. I never sold to inexperienced dog people with kids under 3 and even then it would depend on how the kids acted and their parents' attitudes. If I got the impression they felt the dog should take whatever the kids dished out, it was a no sale. My first criteria was how the dog would be treated and raised, not how many titles it could earn.

Show/breeding puppies were  usually sold to experienced breeders who wanted a specific pedigree. I knew most of them, good dog owners who would do right by the dog. However, they could be real pains with unrealistic expectations.  Didn't mistreat the dog, but didn't really bond with it either. They were quick to return a dog and ask for a refund if the dog didn't live up to ther expectations.

I always took back the dogs I bred, didn't always refund the purchase price depending.

@ Redggie,plenty are doing just that, take the money and don't sweat it.

Then there are those who claim they have strict guidelines, then you find out they sold a pup to someone who let a kennel full of dogs to be starved and deprived of water, some to death, younger ones to the brink of death. But those buyers can be masters of deceit, as many are...

Buyers can be more of a crap shoot than the puppies.....at least puppies have a pedigree which can be scrutinized...

Good dog owners truly are gifts, aren't they? I sit here looking at a dog that, in 3 1/2 years, had 8 homes. How sad is that?

I have been lucky being on the Screened side of the transaction. I have only purchased 3 dogs that all have been puppies. I have never had to provide anything other than $$. I would classify my self as a good dog owner, but there are def people i train with who's dogs have a better 'life' than my dogs. I am not big on Vets, i generally only do the puppy shots, Parvo, Distemper and on occasion bordetella and then XRays at 2 yrs

But one of the things i have learned from this forum is that there are many Types of GSDs and i really believe that most of the "want to be dog owners" of this word can not handle a true WL GSD. Most people and families really only want the shell of a GSD in terms of looks. Lets get honest here, most owners feel that taking their dog on a leashed walk is exercise. They like to hear that X many generations back their are Working or showing titles in the pedigree. EVERY non working GSD owner i have ever meet has explained to me that their dogs come from championship line .

I read a lot of "GSDs have gone to crap..." "such and such is responsible for killing off the GSD" type of postings on here, and sadly i agree (with my limited knowledge) with a lot of the opinions on here. but at the same hypocrytical moment I am glad there are these Shell GSDs that look beautiful but have the drive of a snail for most of the wold be owners out there to purchase, as i believe more people would surrender what several people on this board believe a "Real GSD" is.

Joan you are absolutely correct.  I know you are.  I do understand that there are con men on both sides of the coin.  There are also people breeding great quantities of dogs and truly believe they are doing the right thing.  Never will be convinced otherwise because in their minds the only reason people say anything against them is that they are either jealous of their success or jealous of their dogs.  They think every one else is trying to pull a con or usually they treat them as uneducated,  not as smart as they are or just these others just don't understand.

Some buyers have just enough knowledge to say what they think you want to hear and will try to feed you just the right information so that they can make the acquisition that  they want. 

I have not been a breeder nor will I be.  Do I own dogs that will be bred?  Yes but I won't be the breeder.  There are enough breeders out there producing the right kind of dogs with out me.  And I'm not so stuck on ego that I think I can produce something better then anyone else.  When I am in the market for my next dog I will be contacting a couple some ones to see what they might have up and coming.  My ole Doberman is still hanging on and has surprised us.  He has pulled through some tough ones that when we thought he wasn't going to make it.  And there has been some health problems in my family some real big scares that turned out to not be as serious as they could have been.  Not looking forward to my ole buddy leaving but when he does there is going to be a large hole that will have to be filled.