Is this a responsible breeder?

Question

Check out the link, give your opinion. I will add additional details as answers come in.

http://www.oregonchihuahuas.com/

Sorry I can't edit the website. Just take a quick tour of the sute and see what you think. Give reasons why you think they are a good or bad breeder.

This "breeder" has "been involved with Chihuahuas" for over 50 yr. Her mother was supposed to be a big time show breeder in the 50's. Her daughter have bred chihuahuas. Can't say whether she has bred chihuahuas before the last 5 yr or so. Is a self proclaimed "expert" on the breed. Breeds her dogs every cycle. The dog Candy is 7 yr old, add it up. She is hoping to have yet another litter by her before Christmas. The mother of the pup on the front page has had sevral c-sections, ine after the other. I am sure she still hasn't been spayed. Tell me what you think of her now.

The saddest thing is that even tho they claim to have 50 yr experience raissing chihuahuas, they haven;t learned anything along the way.

Answer 1

Red flags:

*No health clearances
*No champions...yet "show" links listed
*All females bred to ONE male
*Give FULL registration on all pups...except the ones that don't neet their "standards"...then NO papers.
*I hope "Candy" will be spayed ASAP. She just had a litter at nearly 7!!
*NOPE...just saw that they are expecting to have a litter from "Candy" and the resident male around CHRISTMAS!!! Poor "Candy". She just had a litter in MAY!!
*Breeding females every heat

This is so clearly a BYB. Just people breeding to make some money and have something to do. No real good though put into it.

Yeah, there was MENTION of all the champions in the pedigrees, but no pedigree anywhere to be found!!!

I think we all had it pegged before you told us anything. Nothing you have just said hasn't already been said here!!!!!
I think we can all smell a BYB a mile away!!!!

Answer 2

These are the things I thought were weird:

"We release our puppies after they receive their FIRST SHOTS AT EIGHT WEEKS OLD. We give full registration on our AKC papers after we determine that the puppy has exceeded our health and quality standards. On the rare occasion that the pup does not meet these standards, we will sell it with no papers at a lower price." -- oK... first shots at 8 weeks??? No, these should be SECOND shots. First shots at 6 weeks old, period. At least 2 shots by the time they reach 8 weeks. About the papers... what are their quality standards? If the dog is purebred there is no question about selling it with registration papers, either limited or full. Unless the dog really is a mut.

"Also, we offer our in-house male Magic for stud service. He is a black and white long coat with a pedigree of many champions." --Use only one male for any kind of female, she is not really worried about other females having diseases that can be transmitted to him and other females? And where is the pedigree on the website? If she claims that she MUST put it on the website for customers to look up.

"we still don't know if Tilly is "P-G" or not, but if she is, she is due at the end of this month." -- she should have taken her "P-G" dog to the vet for prenatal checkups, then she WOULD know for sure by now if the dog is pregnant or not!

"dewclaws removed " -- why??? None of my dogs have been dewclawed and they are perfect this way, and they are purebred as well.

"We will occasionally breed our females to an outside stud" -- no good at all. Who knows what kind of males they breed their females too???

Ok now... nowhere in this website she says "visitors/potential buyers are always welcome to visit our facilities, see the parents and their pups." She doesn't mention any health guarantee, health records, these are so important. She does not provide her home address, only a P.O. Box. That means she doesn't want anybody visiting until the day they come pick up their puppy after the 8th week: "Nothing gives us greater pleasure than seeing the day the new owners pick out their puppy ". Sure... the money gives them LOTS of pleasure. Also, they never have a evaluation and careful selection of potential buyers. What kind of home are they going to? Do they own/rent their home? Do they have well-behaved children? How long is the dog going to be left by himself per day? Do people have other pets? What will they do with their puppy when they go on vacation? -- questions like that should be asked before accepting any money for the puppy purchase.

Answer 3

I wouldn't buy from them. I don't know enough about chihuahuas to properly evaluate the quality of the dogs in the pictures, but there are some things that bother me.

Here are a few, I'm sure there's more if I look at the website more:
- They have links to dog shows, but from what I can see, none of the dogs have been shown.
- no pedigrees on the website
- "in-house stud" (It's find to have a stud-dog, but he shouldn't be where all your breeding comes from.) "We will occasionally breed our females to an outside stud" doesn't cut it for me.
- This sentence bothers me: "We give full registration on our AKC papers after we determine that the puppy has exceeded our health and quality standards." (All pets should be spayed/neutered and have limited registration, even if show-quality but sold to a pet home.)
- This sentence also bothers me: "On the rare occasion that the pup does not meet these standards, we will sell it with no papers at a lower price." (In my opinion, a breeder should NEVER sell a dog with no papers.)
- Sells puppies at 8 weeks. Most toy-breed dogs need to stay with their mother & litter mates for 12 weeks.

Answer 4

No.
They probably do care for the pups but they have no champion lines mentioned, no mission statement (as to why they breed), no pictures of the facility or dog area, they offer full registration (Breeders will RARELY do this, and if they do its only to show homes where there is potential of a champion line, or another reputable breeder) Breeders do this to maintain control of their lines.
Their Purchase Agreement is basically 'once the dog leaves here, you are on your own' - reputable breeders will guarantee their pups for at least a year.
This is just a middle of the road BYB.

Answer 5

I don't see anything on showing their dogs. Other breeders will put the pedigree up on the dog's bio so you can see. A list of accomplishments are also nice to see. They do sound like they know what they are doing, but I don't see any proof as to why their dogs are good for breeding of if there are really champion blood lines. Do they have a contract? Do they require anything for their puppy's new home?

Answer 6

There is no mention of showing the parents so they probably have not been evaluated by a judge to see if they are shining examples of the breed standard. There is also no mention of health certifications with known genetic flaws the breed may be prone to. I can go on. It sounds like a back yard breeder to me. Especially since they are talking about at least two more litters due.

Answer 7

'Nother red flag - They say that they have a female that was born in 2007, and will be bred in 2008. Dogs have to be two years old in order to get all the nesciery(sp?) Testing done.

Answer 8

Regardless of what it says on their website, you should go and actually check out the facilities and speak to other pet owners that have gotten pets/show dogs from them.
They didn't mention if they spayed the dogs that didn't meet the standards either....hmm....

Answer 9

1) don't see any listing of titles their dogs have won
2) sell everything on full registration
3) claim that most of their pups are of quality to be on a full registration
4) no listing of genetic health testing done & results
5) no pedigrees shown on site

A lot of red flags....I wouldn't say they were good breeders

Answer 10

2 more red flags would be that they "offer" their male to breed with any old female that plops thru the door.
Also, that they advertise pups to ship anywhere to homes unknown without limited registrations to boot.
Puppy Mill....................
Would you ship your kids to someone just because they had the cash? No one that is responsible would !