Re: Posh Pets

I had a beautiful cavalier king Charles spaniel called Queenie . I decided to mate her. I found a lady who had a crufts champion called Arlingmarne. The cost was £100 . Queenie had 5 pups , 4 boys and a girl . One boy died just after birth . I kept the girl and named her Lady . I vetted the buyers carefully , one couple had two boys . The buyers visited me on a regular basis before having the pups at 3 months old . Queenie and Lady both lived to be 16 , and the others had long life's too . I didn't want to mate Queenie again and she lived happily with her daughter all her life .

None of the other dogs were ever mated and we're truly loved .

The joy we had with the puppies before they left for their loving homes was wonderful , as each puppy left our house in the arms of their owners we all cried , Queenie followed us to the door then went back to each remaining puppy . She never grieved or appeared not to as she always had Lady by her side .

I have a painting of Queenie , Arlingmarne and their pups in my lounge painted from photos by a local artist , the likeness of each dog is clever , their personalities shine through . Wonderful memories

Re: Posh Pets

That's a lovely story Susan

I don't have dogs but it's the same with cats, I have a Maine Coon Rag Doll cross she is totally gorgeous. I didn't buy her my daft son bought her for his girlfriend who in turn abandoned her when their relationship ended. I took her and another cat they had because my sons job involved travel and he could not keep them.

The Maine Coon (sox) was very expensive £600 I remember the first time I took her to the vets he was very disapproving and said I would need to watch her health. So far she is ok though and has grown into a gorgeous cat, loved by all the children locally, she is more like a dog actually when my little grandson visits she follows him everywhere and chases him in his gocart she is such fun

I do watch her health though more than my other cats, I think the vet scared me a bit.

Re: Posh Pets

Maybe by breeding less litters and checking the background of buyers, there are breeders who do it but as I said they are the few.
Most are looking for the money and not the long term effects of their trade.

They cannot keep passing the buck to the buyers. They have to own their part of the problem.


oh and yes I do think there should be better and more control on who owns a dog in the first place.

Re: Posh Pets

I admit I never personally went to new owner's homes to check them out, but there are plenty of questions you can ask them, and you get a 'feel' for people as to suitability as well.
I always asked whether their garden was secure, how long would the pup be left for, had they got another dog and what was he like with puppies, age of children and so on . .

If someone enquired about a pup of mine and I didn't like the sound of them, I would tell a porkie and say they were all spoken for.
I also never sold a pup to anyone working full time.
Owners also had to sign a contract of sale, and part of that stated the pup was to be returned to me if they weren't happy, and not passed on to anyone else.

To me, those little ones have no say whatsoever in where they end up. Their future was in my hands so it was my responsibility to get the best for them. I would alwaysrather keep them than let them go to anyone I wasn't sure of.
If anyone didn't like my terms, they would have to buy elsewhere.

Re: Posh Pets

I have also been watching 'Ten Puppies and us' and I found myself getting really annoyed with that stupid woman with the golden retriever. In contrast, Jura, the Border Collie looks very happy in the Highlands.

Re: Posh Pets

The family bred Betty wanted to see her with our elderly retriever before they let us take her home. They also asked for photographic evidence we had a previous chihuahua and that she was walked with our bigger dogs. That seemed sensible to me. They were worried Mollie might be too rough or we'd be bag carrying Chihuahua owners. Simple things can make a big difference when seeking a new owner. If a family can do that so can a breeder IMO