Choosing puppy

[Janerb]

I’m going to visit my potential new puppy next week. She is a salt & pepper mini. Any tips would be appreciated on how to check her over. The breeder I am buying from does vet checks and eye checks btw. Cheers!

[zeta1454]

Hi Jane - hopefully you already have plenty of details about your puppy and her parents / pedigree etc. You should have a copy of the parent dogs eye certificates to show the results of the eye examinations and a health test pedigree would also be good. You should also have confirmation that the parent dogs have been DNA tested for MAC * If you are in the U.K. you can check online as regards the results of some health tests through the Kennel Club using a search under the KC registered names of the parents.

* http://www.theminiatureschnauzerclub.co ... mplex-mac/

As regards ‘checking her over’ I would say that this does to some extent depend how old she is when you see her. If she is 4+ weeks old you want to see her playing with her siblings, interacting with her mother, self confident with you and other people. Younger than that there is a possibility that she may be sleeping more and not so active at the time of your visit but she should still be happy and relaxed around her mother, siblings and people visiting. You will want to see where the puppies are during the day and at night e.g. playpen / crate and that they are being raised in the home environment. Ask the breeder about any enrichment activities they are doing with puppies and also, if they have not yet had their eye screening, when that will done. The whole litter of puppies will be eye screened at the same time and you should get a copy certificate of the litter screening with the results including your puppy,

Vet checks before a puppy leaves for their new home will cover the general health of the puppy on the day of examination and the breeder should provide a copy of the report to confirm no obvious defects / health concerns. If you are in the U.K. you should also be getting a copy of the microchip details to transfer into your name when you pick up the puppy as all puppies must now be microchipped in the name of the breeder initially.

Some years ago, I posted this topic which may give you some idea of the development of the puppies in the early weeks at the breeder’s home and the expectations of what to look for when you visit a breeder to see their puppies:

viewtopic.php?p=283063&hilit=8+weeks#p283063

[Janerb]

Thanks so much - really helpful