What do you look for in a breeder?

Sangmort

I think this subject has been brought up indirectly in the past 6 months. Everyone on this forum has grown immensely, and developed new opinions, new ideas, new theories & thoughts as they continue to grow in knowledge & experience. Furthermore, we have tons of new members, also with their own experiences / knowledge to contribute.

So...here's the question. If someone completely inexperienced in dogs approached you & asked for your advice in what they should look for in a [ insert specific nihon ken ] breeder, what would you, in your personal opinion, tell them?

Please include what breed you are "answering for" since, I think, most of us agree the "criteria" for breeders changes depending on the nihon ken.

I'm curious to see what each person sees as "criteria" for a breeder they would buy from.

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Some examples of criteria: [ to give you all some inspiration ]
Health Checks / Certs
Showing Titles [ AKC Titles, UKC Titles, etc. ]
Working Titles [ Shutzhund, etc. ]
Other Titles [ Canine Good Citizen, etc. ]
Working the Dogs [ hunting, tracking, etc. ]
Importing New Bloodlines
Friendliness of the Breeder
Type of Dog Food Fed to Pups & Breeding Stock
Temperament "Tests" Done on Puppies
Amount Socialization Done With Puppies
Amount Breeder Breeds [ too little, too much ]
Breeder's Facilities [ House, Outside Kennels, etc. ]
Breeder Breeds for Health
Breeder Breeds for Standard
Breeder Breeds for Temperament
Breeder Breeds for Working Drive
Other / Etc.

This is just a few examples of the many things to "look for" in a breeder.

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Obviously, no breeder is perfect, none of us are perfect, we're human. I'm just asking for a general idea of what you looked for in the breeder of your pup, or what you are looking for in the breeder for your future pup, NOT a "must-have-impossible-for-any-human-being-to-achieve" list.

There are no "wrong" answers, just your personal thoughts, advice, & experience. ~

white_bear

JA

Health Checks: thyroid, hips, eyes + information regarding the history of his dogs regarding AI
Showing Titles [ AKC Titles, UKC Titles, etc. ] - not extremely important
Working Titles [ Shutzhund, etc. ] - not important, although obedience is a plus (BH); however, very very rare
Other Titles [ Canine Good Citizen, etc. ] - LOL never heard of such titles - maybe Canine Best Cuddler?
Working the Dogs [ hunting, tracking, etc. ] - a plus, but not a main criterion; JA need good exercise though, long walks/hikes are important for his mental and physical wellbeing
Importing New Bloodlines - it depends on how good the breeder is - no good if he imports bad bloodlines but in linebreeding he should know his bloodlines very very very well
Friendliness of the Breeder - the most important thing
Type of Dog Food Fed to Pups & Breeding Stock - very important, the pup's wellbeing is based on this
Temperament "Tests" Done on Puppies - extremely important, but I would add temperament tests done on parents; most of the times temperament is lost for the sake of good looks and you can get a very aggressive akita
Amount Socialization Done With Puppies - extremely important, the first couple of months are crucial for the good mental development of the pup; the pup should stay with older dogs, meet new people, face new sounds, encounter different terrains and obstacles, enjoy being handled in any way, etc etc
Amount Breeder Breeds [ too little, too much ] - I think I would be wary if a breeder had more than 2 breeds, not necessarily how much it breeds (there are exceptions, however - see brad); usually a bitch should be bred once a year, she shouldn't have her first litter before reaching 18 months (the absolute minimum, breeders usually wait longer) and she should be retired after having 4-5 litters.
Breeder's Facilities [ House, Outside Kennels, etc. ] - the pups should be in contact with people for at least 4-5 hours a day; to my mind the best thing is (if they live outside) to bring them inside every day and just go on with your day - it will help them get used to what's going on inside the house (great for house training too)
Breeder Breeds for Health - absolute MUST, it's the most important aspect of breeding
Breeder Breeds for Standard - very important; if the standard is not met, how can we talk about a dog of this breed?
Breeder Breeds for Temperament - second most important after health
Breeder Breeds for Working Drive - JA are no longer used as working dogs but they should be able to do what they were originally designed to do; I would be extremely wary if a breeder does protective training with his JA or AA - let's leave guarding and protecting to dogs that were bred for this, Akita have powerful instincts, if you encourage their aggressive side you might discover you are no longer in control of your dog

I would add 3 important things - most important for me:
1. the breeder knows what's wrong with his dogs - if you don't know what's wrong, you can't fix it; the breeder should have a plan and hope to achieve smth with every breeding; as I said in an earlier post, you just don't put 2 dogs together and breed them for the sake of it
2. the breeder should be a beginner's best friend; it's so easy to screw a dog up if you don't know what you're doing
3. the connection between the breeder and the owner should last for the dog's lifetime and beyond

Sangmort

Oh wow! I wasn't expecting someone to go through the list one-by-one, I was just giving examples haha

Thanks for contributing Irina! ~

tjbart17

I'll give you what I looked for, and what I couldn't find at all for Kai.

Health Checks / Certs
Couldn't find all breeding stock having full hip, knee, eye cert's. There was an air of "kai's are healthy and that is that."

Showing Titles [ AKC Titles, UKC Titles, etc. ]
Kai's are only UKC. I wouldn't purchase one from a breeder who was actively trying to get Kai into AKC. Koda's family are champions, but that isn't why I bought him.

Other Titles [ Canine Good Citizen, etc. ]
I did ask about any past breedings and whether or not pups from the parents had received these. The answer was yes to Good Canine and Koda's brother is a therapy dog. This was a plus plus in my book on temperment of pups with this breeding pair.

Working the Dogs [ hunting, tracking, etc. ]
Well, Koda's dad is quite the varment hunter. Knew it, but it didn't discourage or encourage me to purchase him.

Importing New Bloodlines
TBA!

Friendliness of the Breeder
Yes! Yes! Yes! This was a very important thing for me! I liked my breeder right away.

Type of Dog Food Fed to Pups & Breeding Stock
This is actually something my breeder approached me with to make sure that I would have her pup on a good diet when he came home. So this was flipped.

Temperament "Tests" Done on Puppies
IMO this is crap a little. For temperment, I looked at previous breedings and the mother's ability to care for pups.

Amount Socialization Done With Puppies
This was important, and knowing that Koda would be born into a family with kids (I have a niece the same age as her daughter) was also important in order to fit into my lifestyle.

Amount Breeder Breeds [ too little, too much ]
Hmmm....overbreeding would be poor. I'm not sure if anyone is "overbreeding" Kai.

Breeder's Facilities [ House, Outside Kennels, etc. ]
This was very important as well. Now this is personal choice, but I wanted a pup that was not kenneled, but in the home. Personal preference, and not everyone would make that an important issue.

Breeder Breeds for Health
Ofcourse.

Breeder Breeds for Standard
Yes. This also goes for health.

Breeder Breeds for Temperament
Yes ofcourse.

Breeder Breeds for Working Drive
Other / Etc.
Not too important.

white_bear

"Oh wow! I wasn't expecting someone to go through the list one-by-one, I was just giving examples haha "

:-)) They were really good examples, if you went to all that trouble thinking about them, I thought it was only natural to answer all of them.

I have a question, what is UKC? I know AKC, I thought about what Tara was saying, but I gave up, I don't get it?! Why are kai ukc only?

It's so much easier over here, you know you've got FCI and that's who you should be listening to.

tjbart17

Oh the Kai politics in the US. The UKC is the United Kennel Club. We also have AKC in the US. Some American breders think that Kai should become a part of the AKC, where as others believe that the Kai breed in itself needs to be preserved and not entered into the AKC where they may be subject to exploitation. I personally agree with the latter, and therefore would not ever want to register my dog with the AKC.

Please everyone keep in mind that I have no personal issues with the AKC. My grandmother raised two children as a single mother breeding AKC dogs. I also attend AKC shows. I just don't think that it's a good fit for all breeds.

white_bear

Oh, that's so interesting! Thanks, Tara! So UKC and AKC are like mother ships and you can choose which one you affiliate to? I guess it's like TICA, FIFE and GCCF for cats. How interesting...