Trying to find a Bouvier

[GraceLikeRain]

@Cat Tap;8426953

All these dogs were healthy and lived to be 10 to 13 years old. I am trusting the fact that the person I am dealing with now is selling me a healthy dog in order to keep her reputation. She and her partner do show, groom and board dogs.

Reputations are interesting things. Plenty of breeders have a bad reputation but it stays among other breeders and the buyers never hear the rumors. Others create a small bubble of breeders who all agree on unethical or low quality breeding practices. They then use their collective power to call everyone else ignorant or unreasonable if their practices are questioned.

There are some REALLY unethical breeders out there. Personally, I’d want to see a scanned hard copy of health testing, contact information for 2-3 buyers (recent, one that has an adult-aged, and another who has had a dog for 10+ years), contact information for their vet, and full vet records on the puppy.

A breeder willing to ship a puppy like this is probably the biggest warning sign I can think of unfortunately.

There are few things more exciting than getting a puppy and I really don’t want to seem unnecessarily negative or mean. I would just hate for you to end up with a puppy with an unstable personality or chronic health problems. Even if the breeder offers to take it back, most owners choose to handle failing health rather than return a beloved member of the family.

“Killer” sounds like an unusual exception (was he a late neuter by any chance?) but the vast majority of puppies can be accurately evaluated by the time they are ready to go home. I can remember meeting my boy’s litter at 12 weeks and their personalities then were 100% spot on.

Is the breeder asking you questions about your lifestyle, fencing, etc.? Has she called your vet or any references? A good breeder is really invested in where their puppies end up.

[Cat_Tap]

I am beginning to think that there is a distinct difference in the American vs Canadian mentality regarding trust in people or is it just a sign of the times. Why is everyone so negative? I am old, so I have had many associations with breeders, other Bouv owners over the years and as far as I can remember no one ever got “screwed” with a bad dog.

This breeder also assured me that if a dog doesn’t work out she will take it back with a full refund as she wants her dogs to have a good life.

[Cat_Tap]

GraceLikeRain Winston (killer) was neutered at 9 months. I just checked my records.

[Over_the_Hill]

Cat Tap, congratulations on your new puppy!!!

I have owned, shown, trained and bred Afghan Hounds(14), Borzoi(6), Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers (2), have owned and shown Irish Wolfhounds (6), Bouvier(1), have had GSD on the farm. By far, my favorite breed is the IW, but a close second is a Bouv…would love to own another.

I’m sure with all your previous experience you will enjoy life with your new dog.

[Cat_Tap]

Well the puppy arrived last night. He had an 8 hour car ride with lots of traffic and dense fog. I was really relieved once we got home. I didn’t have to drive all that way myself but was met part way.

He is a great puppy. 10 weeks old and already responds to “come”. He gets restless when he has to go to the bathroom and does his business outside. Like his toys and drags them all to his crate. He was a little upset when I first closed his gate for us to go to sleep. Never having crate trained before I wasn’t sure how to respond. I did let him out to play some more until he fell asleep on the floor. I then put him back into the crate where he slept quietly until 3 a.m. He cried when he woke up so I took him outside. He did his business and then went back into the crate and slept until 6:30 when I had to get up for barn chores.

It took him several attempts to negotiate the steps on my deck but figured it out quickly. He doesn’t have a name yet. I was thinking Bouguard (pronounced Bogard) or maybe Bentley. Don’t know yet.

I will post pictures if I ever figure out how.

[vxf111]

Sounds precious!

[Foxtrot_s]

I like Bently - spellable, pronouncable and classy, kinda like the car.