Question
I am preparing to adopt a puppy. I have done a lot of research, and keep hearing about puppy mills and such. I am considering a Goldador (mixed-breed), and the breeders are relatively few and far between. So I cannot simply drive to them to check them out. This means I can only judge them by their online presence.
The breeder that I am currently leaning towards has a few things that make me wonder:
- They do not let you pick your own puppy. Instead, they will ask you questions, and try to choose a puppy that matches well.
- They are significantly more expensive than other breeders.
- Their website has no pictures of the dogs' living quarters.
- There are no online reviews of them, except for their own website.
Are any of these red flags?
They also have some things that make me trust them:
- They list the health details of each parent on their website.
- They require an application to adopt.
- They offer puppy training (at an additional cost).
What are some red flags I should keep an eye out for? What questions should I ask the breeder?
Answer
Any kind of "designer dog" cross with a high price tag is a huge red flag by itself. There are pretty much two types of "designer dog" crosses, the ones that breed two wildly different types of dogs together and the ones that breed two extremely similar types of dogs together.
The type that breeds two very different type of dog together may result in something useful (hypoallergenic labrador) but:
- The breeder needs to have a really good understanding of how traits are passed along, not just textbook biology but having seen a lot of puppies of both breeds and how their bloodlines contributed.
- There are going to be a lot of extra dogs produced that don't have the traits that the breeder is looking for--some will even have most of the traits the breeder was trying to get rid of--so there needs to be a really strong justification to end up with so many extra puppies (especially when there are already tons of dogs without homes).
- You need some way of knowing which traits you're getting, which often isn't apparent until the dog is grown, so if you're getting a puppy you have to know that you may end up with the opposite of what you wanted.
The type that breeds two very similar dogs together (this is your goldador) is just silly. In your case, golden retrievers and labrador retrievers are so similar that I would be seriously asking what the breeder was trying to get from the cross that they couldn't already find in purebred goldens or labs. Actually I looked at some breeder websites and...well, it was pretty easy since they mostly seemed to have all copied the exact same text.
- "Less prone to hip dysplasia" or other genetic problems. Not really, labs and goldens are both prone to the same genetic problems, so you don't automatically get that. You can reduce chances of it by breeding two dogs who have long family histories of being problem free...but you can do that with two purebred goldens or two purebred labs.
- "Sensitivity of a golden retriever". The personalities of goldens and labs varies more within each breed than it does between the breeds, you could easily find two sensitive-type purebred labs.
- "High physical tolerance of a labrador". Goldens are already high energy working dogs...just the same as labs.
Finally, they all seemed to be selling first generation golden x lab crosses, which means if they did come up with some wonderful trait it wouldn't be going back into the gene pool.
In summary, all dogs are good boys/girls but these particular dogs don't seem to have any justification for a higher price tag than getting a purebred lab or golden or even going to the shelter and getting a dog there.
Answered By - user3067860