The first time I met the breeder, she was selling red mini dachshunds on the roadside where merchants sometimes sold (red flag). We went to look at them and I held the red female. The breeder pointed out that "the little bump on her head, was a fire ant bite" I didn't think much about it, besides this was the first time I was ever gonna buy from a "breeder". The puppy was about 6 weeks old and there was no mother dog or reg. papers, sales agreement or anything professional present (that I saw), she was just going the sell those poor puppies to anyone who showed up and had the $250.
I didn't buy the puppy that day, she had sold them though, but we took a card and she was located in a nearby town and sold the breed I was looking for.
Months later in February a new litter was born. A black and tan female's she had a blk/tan male, female and a blk/tan dapple female. I put the $100 non refundable deposit on the $400 dapple girl and was very excited to get her. The only contact I had made with the breeder was email and the only time I personally met her (and asked little to no questions) was that first time, and I made the mistake of never visiting her farm where she raised and bred these dogs. The dapple was born Feb. 8th, 2004 and I put the deposit on the 17th, then a week litter the puppy, died. The breeder claimed: Since it was winter, though the kept their facilities warm and even heating lamps for the dogs (which were in a puppy cage, the mother and pups together whose papers got changed 2-3 times though a puppy eliminated 8-10 times) the mother of the litter, laid on them to keep them warm and suffocated the blk/tan boy and my dapple girl. I found it strange the mother would do that and didn't lay on the other female in her litter, but the breeder said that she could put our deposit on a pup from the next litter and we could have first pick of puppy.
I agreed and waited for the next litter to be born which was a blk/tan dapple named Pepperbox. She had been bred around the same time the other female was and was first scheduled to be bred with a male from another breeder named knight, then rescheduled for another male, then ultimately with Slingshot, which get this, was the breeder's mother's pet blk/tan piebald dachshund and actually a surprise gift from the breeder's own kennel a while back and she chose him to be the dad because: Her mother wanted to breed Slingshot (her pet) before she got him neutered. (Poor way to choose, no dog should be bred just to have some offspring or to make more money only to improve) Anyway, I didn't find any of that out until after Molly was born on March 3rd.
The breeder emailed me on the 4th in the morning and said Pepperbox had 1 female blk/tan female (molly) and would mail me the sales agreement with a note that said upon delivery of Molly, she would bring the puppy pack (written info) and registration papers. On her site: "All puppies are AKC registered, come with a pedigree, and a written info puppy packet with a toy." Well not for my dog, I noticed the leave-outs and emailed her concerning them. She had registered her with the Continental kennel and Universal kennel club (two unheard of to me clubs) because Pepper was registered with those (not to mention the lower price of registry and discount to register a litter) and Molly wouldn't come with a pedigree because her mother never got one for Slingshot (the pet that though I asked questions and requested a photo was never responded to) but she could mail me Pepperbox's pedigree (which she never did, just put it generally on her kennel's site and I had to print it out). Moving ahead a month, to April 27th, 2004, she delivered Molly by car (for $25) outside of our local Wal-Mart. We asked if she had been bathed and the breeder said she had just bathed her this morning with a dog baby powder scented shampoo (which Molly smelt of; time of delivery 11am) but as I held her my mother (standing beside me) noticed a large bug on Molly's leg and shooed it off, not thinking too much about it. We brought anxious to get home Molly home, made the intros and fed a huge appetite (who had her ribs a little too noticeable).
We made her vet appointment to get her first check-up for 5pm and the $350 puppy from a "breeder" had an ear infection (needed meds right away) needed her nails trimmed, she had a lot of small brown bugs on her face and body (found by us as well throughout the day), was otherwise pretty healthy. The next couple of days resulted in scratching being bathed in baby shampoo and medicated shampoo to kill the bugs, and even finding a red cut (looked like a scab from perhaps a shot, the breeder gave Molly the puppy shots at home, that was surrounded by bugs) got a skin scraping for demodex (came back negative, thank goodness) had a cough (prescribed medication) and diarrhea and upset stomach. But I loved her already too much to send her back to that "breeder" Every vet visit since, she's gotten prescribed antibiotics, steroids for her skin, gotten diagnosed with hypothyroidism and is now on thyroxin the rest of her life, got diagnosed with an overlong soft palate (not life threatening but is known to shorten life spans and is something dogs are born with, it's not developed) oh and allergies.
We still love Molly and are very grateful and thankful to have this little blessing but we do not like the kennel and would NEVER buy from them again! And WOULD NOT recommend them to anyone! And that's not even the end of this story, after we bought Molly from her, she changed the phone number, email address and now site URL and kennel name, she sold the mother (Pepperbox), and even moved from their farm in Rochelle, Tx to somewhere in Central Texas.
I'm not telling this story to bash the breeder, the only reason I am telling it is to help you be aware not to trust what everyone (even "trustworthy" breeders) says, do your homework and know WHO (the actual person, talk to them and visit their dogs personally, especially the mother of your new pup) you're buying from. Breeders can't guarantee even the two healthiest dogs' puppies will never get sick but they should not be breeding for a hobby, to make money, or just because "they love the breed" those are 3 lowsey reasons!!! I hope telling this story has helped you or will help you when you consider buying from a breeder anywhere. Watch for red flags, ask questions and be careful, it will save you the heartache.
