Welcome to the Forum Rakhsana
You are definitely doing the right thing in being very careful about choosing a breeder. Do have a look through the topics in the Breeding and the Puppy sections on the Front Page for information on what to look for in a breeder - questions to ask etc. Even recommendations should be checked out by you to make sure they do meet all the criteria and that you feel happy that you will have a long term relationship with the breeder in terms of always being able to go back to them for advice if needed and that they will be ‘a lifetime of the dog’ support to you.
I would like to clarify that there are two aspects to Kennel Club registration which are sometimes confused by people. KC registration on the Breed register is simply the means of registering pedigree puppies in a similar way that human babies are registered - there are no real checks on breeding health and welfare and certainly not on the breeders but a fee is paid and as long as certain minimal welfare requirements appear to be met then the pups will be registered.
The Assured Breeder Scheme (which you may have referred to?) is a Kennel Club scheme to try and ensure good practice in breeding. Members do pay an annual fee, are only allowed on the Scheme after a comprehensive home inspection by trained assessors and are subject to a minimum three yearly inspection subsequently. They are required to meet high welfare standards and appropriate health tests are mandatory or puppies will not be registered under the Scheme. For miniature schnauzers this is the eye screening and DNA testing of the parent dogs for MAC. Certain health test results (which includes the eye screening results and the DNA test for MAC) for any KC registered dog are publicly available on the Kennel Club website.
https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/about- ... -standard/
I would always recommend any puppy seeker to get the full KC names of the parent dogs of any puppies they are considering adopting and checking back on the KC website through the pedigree as this should not only give you health information but also numbers of litters a dog has had and a short pedigree which will give you links to information on other dogs further back in their lines. If you go into any litters previously bred you can also find all the registered puppies in those litters too and their Inbreeding Coefficient and health test results. It is a useful tool to independently check a lot of information about a breeder’s dogs rather than relying on just the breeder’s word or potentially fraudulent documentation.
https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search ... ts-finder/
Although puppy farmers and poor quality breeders may try to deceive puppy buyers, you can see through this by finding out as much as you can about them through social media, using the KC website to check their dogs details as outlined above and by talking to them in detail about how they raise their puppies. Often much stress is laid on the health tests and this is right but what is sometimes forgotten or thought unimportant is how the breeder raises their puppies. Check out the following links for more information on this which should give you pointers as to what to expect from a good breeder.
http://www.thepuppyplan.com/the-science ... DyWUC3fWfA
https://shoppuppyculture.com/pages/breeder
You must visit the home and see the mother dog with her puppies on at least one occasion before visiting to collect your puppy and keep in contact via social media, email etc. so you can see on-going how the puppies are developing. Many breeders have public or private Facebook pages where they post regular updates of the pups’ development with video clips and photos which should give an idea of how and where they are being raised. The more you know about good puppy rearing the more prepared you will be to assess the quality of the breeder and the standards of their puppy care. The early weeks in a puppy’s life can have a critical impact on their physical, mental and emotional health and future behaviour.
One of the problems you have mentioned in terms of the present times is the effect of the lockdown / pandemic which has had a significant effect on the number of puppies bred by responsible breeders and on the demand from the public for pups. This may mean a much longer wait for a puppy than in better times and the need to travel to find a good breeder. London has never been a good area for the best breeders and when we used to breed miniature schnauzers in the past we had two different families from London travel to Yorkshire for a puppy as they had been unimpressed with all local breeders, at that time. It is really important that you do have the opportunity to visit the home, talk face to face with breeders, meet their dogs and also as you say to talk freely with owners of dogs too. The best places to do this can be at major dog shows, Crufts (where they have a good ‘Discover Dogs’ section to meet dogs and their owners/ breeders, and the main Discover Dogs event. Many of these have been cancelled in the last year and there is still uncertainty over how many will go ahead later this year but, when they do restart, do take the opportunity to attend as many as possible - they can be really helpful.
Although you have asked for recommendations by DM which is fine, do be sure to carry out your own checks - not everyone looks for the same things from a breeder and may not be bothered about aspects which are important to you and even a good breeder may not be someone you feel comfortable with. It is vital you do have this trust and confidence in your new puppy’s breeder. Do also have a look at the Assured Breeder lists despite your uncertainty about them. They may not all 100% meet your expectations but they will all have been inspected, must comply with ABS requirements and can be removed from the lists if they fail to meet the Scheme standards and you can check them out yourself too.
https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search ... rest=False
Good luck in your search
