Finding a Reputable Bull Terrier Breeder
BulliesofNC
Richlands, NC
What to Look For From a Reputable Bull Terrier Breeder:
Here’s a subject that will be answered differently by every breeder. For some breeders it’s a touchy subject especially if they’re not exactly
breeding appropriately. For many breeders the things I plan on bringing
up here will be very much disliked because too many breeders are
breeding to make a profit without even reporting their income to good
old Uncle Sam. However, for those looking for authentic qualities in
their pursuit to find professional and reputable Bull Terrier Breeders
this article is guaranteed to point out key aspects to take into
consideration when trying to determine if the breeder they found is
truly breeding appropriately, legally, and for the good of the breed not
their wallet.
(1) Every Breeder Should Offer The Following Items With The Sale Of A Puppy:
- AKC Registration Papers
- AKC Four Generation Litter Pedigree
- 2 Year Health Guarantee
- Sales Receipt (Contract of individual breeder policies for the puppy)
- Puppy Information Package
- Annotation of Puppy Food and schedule of feeding
- Copy of the Health Tests and Vaccinations from the puppies 1st set of shots from an actual Veterinarian not Breeder.
It is very important that puppies are tested for known genetic disorders
within the breed. It’s obvious that not all of these tests can be
conducted on a 6 – 8 week old puppy so it’s very important to know the
overall health of the breeding sire and dam as well as the tests
conducted to all the breeder’s adult dogs. Some of the more popular
disorders associated with Bull Terriers are:
- Deafness
– A BAER Test is utilized for checking to see if there is any hearing
impairment. Unfortunately many veterinarians do not offer this testing
due to lack of testing equipment. Additionally other veterinarians will
mandate the puppy to be at least 6 months old before attempting to get
an accurate reading based on their growth and development. - Skin Allergies
– Intradermal allergy tests is a specific test utilized to test dogs to
see if they have any allergic reactions which cause skin problems and
itching. This is an extensive test averaging 1 hour at which time the
dog is sedated and receives 60 injections made into the skin. The price
of this test is $250. It is not a recommendation to have this test
conducted on puppies simply to provide verified proof that each puppy
from the litter is free from skin disorders. However, it is a good idea
to thoroughly look over both parents of the litter to ensure they show
no signs of allergies or skin problems. Most skin allergies in Bull
Terriers are caused from food and improper diet. My experience is that
foods containing high volumes of grain can trigger allergies in some
dogs. We have rescued a few Bull Terriers that had serious skin
allergies that we learned were caused from the food they were eating.
After putting these dogs on a no grain diet and supplementing their food
with a couple squirts of salmon oil it cured their skin conditions
within a few short weeks. Obviously this may not be the answer to all
allergies and intradermal allergy testing may be warranted for some dogs
where proper diet isn’t the cause.
Some may suggest Serum-Based
tests for allergy problems which is a simple blood test. However, this
test does not require any expertise and has the disadvantage of
resulting in false positives which can cause treatment for an allergy
that doesn’t exist. - Kidney – A complete blood
chemistry profile test including a blood count is the only way of
accurately testing for kidney problems. The most common test for kidney
disease is called Creatinine Test. Kidney disease is often a hereditary
factor for kidney problems within Bull Terriers. A urinalysis test is
another practice used for determining kidney problems. Similar to
Allergy Testing, a proper and professional Kidney test is not a simple
procedure. A common sign of kidney problems within a puppy is drinking
excessive water as well as dehydration, vomiting, and diarrhea. - Liver
– When conducting blood tests for genetic disorders it is important to
test for Portosystemic Shunts to ensure there are no liver problems.
There are a few types of shunts but Congenital Shunts can be found at
birth. It is recommended that a bile acid test be run before and after
eating to determine if liver shunt is detected. - Heart–
During a puppies health check a veterinarian will let you know if they
detect a heart problem. Heart mummers and weak heart rhythms will be
indicators to a veterinarian that further tests are required for
diagnosing heart disease. If a concern is apparent it is recommended to
have an x-ray conducted. In the event abnormalities are found it will
then be necessary to conduct a proBNP Test and/or EKG.The above listed
ailments are the ones most prone to the Bull Terrier breed. The most
important factor when health checking a litter of puppies is finding a
veterinarian who is familiar with the Bull Terrier breed and thoroughly
tests them for known disorders and medical ailments.
*Note
– Not all Veterinarians will accept the word of a breeder that
appropriate shots were conducted and that their vaccinations were kept
at appropriate temperatures and not expired. Many Vets will require the
puppy to have all his or her shots retaken unless proof that the
vaccinations were administered by a certified Veterinarian. All puppies
should be health tested at the age of 6 weeks and if they are having
specific testing conducting it wouldn't make any sense not to have the
particular veterinarian conduct the required vaccinations that are
needed vice save a few bucks and conduct the shots themselves knowing
most Vets won't warrant the validity of the breeder conducting the shots
properly and appropriately. Veterinarians have a medical license at
risk when they "assume" that the breeder conducted required vaccinations
they are putting their own license in jeopardy if that puppy's future
health is compromised. Sorry, but if I were a Vet receiving a puppy that
the owner said "Yes, my puppy had his first set of shots by the breeder
and they annotated it right here on a piece of paper" I don't think I'd
be willing to accept that statement with confidence unless they had a
medical license themselves.
(2) What To Look For From A Reputable Breeder:
- A
well organized and informative website that provides answers to most
every question that a consumer looking to purchase a puppy would want to
know. - Puppy Purchase Application. A good breeder will care
deeply about their dogs and want to ensure their puppies are going to
appropriate homes. Breeders usually have some type of application form
to fill out prior to accepting a deposit. - Photos of their Kennel facilities. Don’t believe the breeders who tell you all their dogs stay inside their homes unless they authentically
have only 2 or 3 dogs. Most breeders won’t post any pictures of their
dogs living areas or kennels because they know many would consider them
to be poor and provide the consumer with the “Backyard Breeder or Puppy
Mill†image. - A reputable breeder will invite you to their kennel
to show off their dogs and proudly display the health of the dogs and
their living conditions. - Plenty of Photos of their adults along
with a description about them. Is there a good mix of colored Bull
Terriers? Breeding too many white to white bullies can cause genetic
disorders. - An actual four generation AKC pedigree for each dog.
Don’t be fooled by breeders who build their own pedigrees. A scanned
copy of the AKC 4 generation pedigree eliminates any doubts of
inappropriate editing and false advertisement. Nothing beats the
original document! - An actual AKC DNA Certificate for all Studs.
Most people don’t realize the importance of conducting DNA tests on
their breeding dogs. It’s one thing to claim the dog to be of the
pedigree listed on his AKC papers and another to prove it. - Referrals
- It’s always good to receive a referral from other people who have
purchased a puppy from the breeder. Many breeders will include feedback
from customers on their website. - A thorough explanation of their Health Guarantee should be depicted on their website.
- A
reputable and experienced breeder will have all the confidence in the
world with the health and well being of the puppies born from each of
their litters. You can judge their confidence as a breeder often by when
they advertise their puppies. Many will wait until they are 4 weeks of
age before advertising them because they fear one or more might die.
That's a serious flaw right there. If a breeder has so much concern
about a puppy dieing that they don't wish to advertise their puppies
until they are older, bigger, and healthier than they are in fear of
being embarrassed or looked down on for the proper care and devotion it
requires to whelp a litter of Bull Terriers. Yes, puppies can pass away
no matter who the breeder is but make no mistake about it - it would be a
rare occasion that one would die if the litter was being looked after
with experience and dedication. With this said, if a litter of 6 was
born today there shouldn't be any fear to let people know about the 6
puppies born that day and eight weeks later feel proud to show off the
same healthy 6 puppies. - A reputable breeder will provide rescue
service for the type of dog they breed and devote towards placing those
dogs in homes where they’ll be taken care of and loved. If they can't
provide rescue in their area for the type of dog they breed they
shouldn't even be breeding. - *A
reputable breeder has no need to advertise their puppies through second
source fly by night websites that advertise all breeds of puppies.
Google "Bull Terrier Puppies" or "Bull Terrier Breeders" and you will
find several companies allowing any breeder to advertise on their
website for a few bucks. Many of these companies have excellent search
engine rankings which attract new breeders, puppy mills, and
non-reputable backyard breeders. These companies could care less about
the quality of puppies the breeders are selling. The more traffic to
their site the more money they gain. Truth is, you should be able to
find a reputable breeders' website solely by your search query. Breeders
who have been around for a few years will have established placement in
search engines if their website drives in enough traffic and will not
be forced to conduct payments to advertise through alternate companies
in order to be found by the public. - Common sense will tell you
that any breeder of merit and reputation will most likely have a waiting
list for one of their puppies due to a high volume of personnel seeking
a puppy from their bloodline. Most reputable breeders have their litter
of puppies spoken for the day they are born. Don't be fooled by those
breeders claiming that they wanted to wait until their litter of puppies
was 12-16 weeks old so they could pick out the best puppy for
themselves for show or future breeding purposes. In some cases a breeder
may very well actually wait this long to pick out a puppy for show
purposes but that doesn't mean they don't have people standing in line
to claim ownership to the remaining puppies. In short, if a breeder has
puppies available for purchase after they are 8 weeks of age chances are
there aren't very many people interested in their puppies and/or they
have no reputation as a quality breeder.
(3) Hobby Breeders / Private Breeders?
There
are many reputable Hobby and/or Private Breeders. Lets face it, some
people only desire to have between 1 - 3 dogs. Small scaled breeders
like to take on the name "Hobby" breeder vice calling themselves a dog
breeder. Others who realize they have no reputation or known bloodline
of their own will call themselves a "Private" breeder. Many Hobby or
Private breeders do not have websites to show off their dogs or
advertise their puppies. They rely on word of mouth, club members they
are associated with, local advertising, or social networks like
Facebook. There's nothing wrong at all about being a small scaled hobby
breeder especially if they are breeding appropriately and
professionally. However, there's still many small hobby breeders that
are breeding just to make a few bucks with the few dogs they own and
others who don't need to own many dogs because they sell their puppies
under co-ownership contracts keeping them in the financial loop for all
future breeding on every puppy they sold.
It's fairly common for
many hobby or private breeders to ridicule any larger scaled breeder by
calling them a puppy mill regardless of the quality of dogs they produce
or reputation they have. I assume by criticizing other breeders it
works as an attempt to present themselves as a better breeder who's more
focused on the 2 0r 3 dogs they own and breed. Often it's these
breeders who are co-owned to multiple dogs they have sold other people
which are living with other families thus relinquishing the burden of
caring for the dogs but expecting financial rewards if and when they
decide to breed their dog. Kind of a monopoly, huh?
Many club
members follow some of the same guidelines and policies when selling
their puppies. It is very important to ask the breeder to view their
Puppy Sales Contract so you are aware of the breeders intent and future
claim on a puppy that may not be all yours. Many of these breeders
require you to fill out a 10 page resume for one of their puppies and
then get you scheduled in for a 24 interview as though the criteria to
own one of their dogs is so intense that only a few very lucky people
will have the opportunity to own one of their puppies. Here's some of
the policies you will stand a good chance of seeing:
- Puppy sales contracts mandate that the puppy be neutered or spayed regardless what your feelings are on this subject.
- All
puppies are sold with limited registration preventing you from showing,
breeding, or participating in any AKC competitive event. - Puppies
that are sold with Full Registration are contracted with "Co-Ownership"
meaning the breeder owns the puppy just as much as you do. By putting
their name as a Co-Owner they know you can't breed or show without their
consent and signature. - Many Hobby breeders will even have
contracts dictating policies which must be followed that include showing
the puppy and finishing him or her to champion within a certain time
frame. Becoming a member of their Club. Breeding the dog to the desired
mate they choose and claiming ownership to the pick of the litter from all future litters.
In
other words, some of the contracts you may find are solely written to
benefit the breeder for future financial gain on a puppy they sold you,
they co-own, and they control. Yes, you might be raising the puppy and
feel proud to own the puppy from some "show" breeder who only claims to
own 2 or 3 dogs but they control the breeding and profits of a dog you
think is yours because you have it in your possession and conducting all
the care and training for the dog. Truth is, you may be just leasing a
dog from the breeder who all along has high hopes that you will abide by
their contract, finish the dog as a champion at shows, breed the dog to
mate of their choice, and retain a puppy or puppies from the litter so
they can start the process all over again. This keeps them with finances
coming in year after year while only maintaining a couple dogs in their
home.
(4) Corrupt or Honest?
Here’s
something that many people never even think about. Is the breeder
selling puppies without accounting for the income? Is it bad thing if a
breeder sells their puppies and doesn’t claim the income when tax time
comes? I guess if the breeder rarely had a litter or if the cost of the
puppies were relatively cheap it could be considered “under the tableâ€
income much like the kid selling lemonade in front of his house for 25
cents. However, it doesn’t take a genius to realize a breeders’ income
from a litter of 8 puppies selling for $1500 per puppy. Let’s say that
breeder only had two litters the entire year. That would equate to
$24,000 which in all reality is about what some people make annually
working full time. The truth is, any breeder charging money for a puppy
should be claiming this and if they are, is it a business? Does the pet
store charge tax on a puppy they sell and do they pay taxes on the sales
of their pets? Actually many states do not require breeders to have a
business license. However, claiming the income during tax time is a
different story. Just because a breeder doesn’t have an actual business
because the state doesn’t deem it necessary doesn’t mean they can pocket
the sales of their puppies without having to pay taxes on them.
However, MANY breeders do and still charge high prices on their puppies without any concern.
Many
breeders will shun the idea of having a “breeding business†and try
their best to say anybody that has a breeding business is only trying to
make money by breeding dogs without any care of breeding healthy
quality puppies or they will associate them as a "Puppy Miller" breeding
unhealthy dogs for profit only. In all actuality the opposite is true
because if it was all about making the most money the way to do it would
be to simply pocket the entire amount of money through the sale of
every puppy, stud service, etc. Any way you slice it, if you’re selling
puppies you have to be legal and pay Uncle Sam for your earnings
regardless of how many litters you have a year.
Here’s a funny note –
Most breeders would be mad that I brought this subject up because they
are opposed of the reality behind legally selling puppies and do not
feel it should be considered a small business. However, they’ll be the
first to give you their business card when they sell you a puppy. Odd
how that works.
Now your "Hobby" breeders who hate me bringing
this subject up will attempt to stand their ground by saying they don't
make any money off the sales of their puppy. What they convince
themselves is that for all the food, supplements, medical, and other
supplies they purchase for their dogs the amount doesn't equate to
amount made from the sale of their puppies. Truthfully though, even if
they didn't breed their dog or dogs they'd still have those expenses.
That comes with the responsibilities of raising any dog. Others will
talk about the huge finances they've invested showing their dogs.
Showing your dog is an option not a requirement. It's a hobby and
something that they choose to do. Yes, we show our dogs too but we don't
use that as a crutch to the expenses involved in breeding. There are
many people who show their dog who are not breeders and there are many
breeders who don't show their dogs at all. Understand this, you could
take your dog for a 3 hour hike through the woods having a world of fun
and watch him come home with a stick in mouth and chances are he'd have a
better time doing that than he would getting placed in a travel kennel
and driving for hours to a show only to trot around a small ring and
come home with a ribbon. For those breeders reading this and getting
angry, stop fooling yourself and others on the amount of finances
involved on breeding properly and professionally. If you're "selling"
your puppies you are making money. At least do it legally like others
are instead of coming up with excuses as to why you have no tax
identification number and think it's ok to pocket the sales of your puppies.
If
you want to test integrity and values ask the breeder if they are
licensed and insured by the state to sell puppies and whether they are
claiming the income earned from the advertised litter. I’ll bet you most
will say they don’t have to do that if they’re a private breeder. Then
again that private home breeder may very well be selling 9 champion
puppies at $4000 for each puppy. Nothing wrong with pocketing $36,000
without paying taxes, right?
*** Please note,
these are my views and opinions. We know where we stand as breeders and
pride ourselves on our breeding practices and honesty. The above
information was not written as a tool to gain popularity for us. We
don’t have very many litters available each year and when we do they are
usually sold the day they are born. The constant volume of personnel on
our waiting list is an indicator of our popularity and reputation. With
this said, we have no need to put coerce people into purchasing a puppy
from us. The intent of this documentation was to provide people with
knowledge to make an educated decision while in the pursuit to find a
top quality Bull Terrier puppy from a reputable breeder. Please feel
free to build yourself a questionnaire from the topics listed above and
present it to any breeder you research in your pursuit for a Bull
Terrier puppy. ***
Comments
I've have that article on my website for a long time now. From time to time I post it on social networks like i did today. It never fails though, I get tons of other breeders disagreeing with so much that's depicted in the article. I think mostly to stick up for some of the things they aren't doing and mostly to defend themselves.
The fact is, when you're doing things right you never have to worry about others.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
:O
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com