[odie0]

Hi Everyone!

My husband and I have been doing a lot of research on breeds and have settled on finding a miniature schnauzer puppy. I have grown up with dogs my whole life, so it seemed natural to start our family with a little guy as well. Since I have never been the one to purchase a dog before, I want to do my due diligence and do careful research. I did not realize how easy/difficult it can be to find the right dog these days. There are so many people out there on the internet that I have found, many with some questionable practices.

I have come across a breeder that is about 3 hours away who has three litters that have been born in the last month.

I spoke with her on the phone today and discussed the following details:

-Three dams, ages 5, 3, 2 (the 5 year old is retiring)
-She breeds once per year
-She has done health tests on the dogs she breeds and has stayed away from any dogs that had/show signs of liver shunts and eye conditions
-She said none of her puppies or current dogs have had pancreatitis which is a common health issue
-She is an ex vet tech that has been breeding for 8 years
-She requires a $200 non refund. deposit, but has welcomed me to visit her home and meet the puppies and parents


I have received some e-mails for references that I can contact as well, so this decision is also dependent on that.

Please let me know what you all think? and if you have questions I could ask the references.

http://www.haughtonfarm.com

Thanks!

 

[ChaosIsAWeim]

I think you can find better than them. Why does she do nothing with her breeding dogs? No conformation, no earth dog, not even obedience/rally/agility/etc. They are also in bed with Nuvet, and to offer you a better contract just because you continue on nuvet is pretty shady to me.

What health tests do they do on their breeding dogs?

And three litters within a month is a lot, most good breeders only have maybe one or two a year if that. That in itself is a little red flag there.

It doesn't even look like they are apart of their local and national club either.

Also there are plenty of mini schnauzer breeders in TX

http://amsc.us/index.php?option=com_contact&Itemid=78#AMSC breeder referral list

 

[Curbside Prophet]

And three litters within a month is a lot, most good breeders only have maybe one or two a year if that. That in itself is a little red flag there.

Well, she did call her practice a "job". X(

 

[ChaosIsAWeim]

Well, she did call her practice a "job". X(

Yeah that is true, ugh.

 

[ChaosIsAWeim]

Checking their dogs on OFA, Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, basically a health tracking website for breeding dogs.

The first dog on their "standard mini" page is not on there, so either they have not done any tests on him or they did not send in the results and there for I would be worried about failed tests.

Second dog, same page, is not listed. The last two are not on there either.

Their white mini's page:

None are on there as well.

Please ask them what tests they have done, because there is no proof of it.

 

[KodiBarracuda]

I would look elsewhere, their contract confuses me a bit, I don't like the part with nuvet and I don't like that it says in a roundabout way "listen to the shot/booster schedule of your vet and we wont cover anything if you don't follow our shot schedule." So who's schedule should you follow?

I also don't like breeders that breed for rare colors and colors that aren't allowed in the show ring, here it is white Schnauzers.

They throw out that "I take pride in raising Champion Bloodlined Miniature Schnauzers" And whereas as far back as grandparents were "champions" (who knows of what though) none of the parents are finished!

 

[Bordermom]

Hi there, welcome!

The first thing I see as an issue is she breeds whites. Not classified as an accepted colour in the US or Canada. Which in itself is not a huge issue, if this breeder imported those dogs from quality stock and did show her other dogs, but she just breeds. The 'once per year' I'm guessing is refering to each dog once per year, she's got three right now or will very soon.

All to her own stud dog it would seem...

The retiring dog - is that the one up for adoption? I really dislike breeders who dump them when they're no longer producing pups.

For health tests, what has she had done? I did a quick check on a few of her dogs and they're not on OFA. According to the Canine Health Information Center, they should have CERF clearances on their eyes and OFA heart clearances done. As a start. Of course with little dog breeds health testing seems optional, but if you're going to pay for a dog, make sure the parents were tested (having run into that before!).

The health contract has a lot of 'loopholes', which I don't like. Like you have to provide proof that you took the dog to the vet within three days, they're not responsible for this, that or the other, and all you can get is a replacement puppy, no refunds. The nuvet vitamins are a big downer for me too, the breeder makes a nice profit off of insisting you use them.

Honestly she doesn't seem like the worst out there but have you checked the mini Schauzer club of America for other breeders?

 

[odie0]

Thanks for the feedback!
I did look at the link Chaos just sent me, but many of the links were either not in service, they only bred dogs for showing, or there was no website I could look at immediately.
I'm just struggling between people who seem "not bad" and those who seem seriously shady. I have seen some sites, where these families own 50 dogs and have several litters per month that are toy/rare/colours etc. that are just frightening.

 

[Keechak]

A breeder who breeds Mini Schnauzer for showing might be the way you want to go, they will have pet/companion puppies available in every litter since only a few puppies from a litter are ever show quality.