When looking for a breeder, why are some things a turn-off?

Every breeder has his/her own thoughts on breeding as do the people who buy from them.The standard of not breeding after 4 yrs old is strange to me since some breeds are still maturing until 3-4 yrs old.I know a good many good breeders who breed beyond that young age.A dam in good health that produces well can be bred and care for pups at 7-8 yrs old.I have heard of older.Now this is not breeding every cycle.Some very reputable breeders have websites and do ship their pups.this is not a negative.A negative is if they misrepresent their pups.A prospective buyer needs to do their research of any breeder.It is also bS that one should never have to advertise.There again I have seen ads from show breeders.Word of mouth only goes so far.I know the breeder who had all the so called opinions on what is bad won't like my comments but this is the truth.

Also if you do the calculation of dog years ,http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm, to human ,breeding a 8 yr old dog is like a 45 yr old woman having a child,not unheard of and more woman have children later.So it is not a cruel thing.

Added;I should say any kind of advertisng is alright I think.In papers,ect you are letting prospective puppy buyers know what you have.Nothing wrong with that.Just because someone comes for a puppy doesn't mean you as a breeder have to sell it if you are not confortable with the person.

Well, I own a working breed. Some of the best representatives of my breed are over in europe. Although I personally would probably never ship a dog overseas simply because of the extreme expense, buying from a breeder in the future who ships dogs overseas will be almost impossible NOT to do! I very well may ship from out of state. In fact, I want my next dog to be a show quality APBT, and as of yet I've found NO breeders in Colorado. The one I'm seriously looking at is in Washington as of right now. Or the other one, I'm not sure where Roki Reds is located...

As to why 4 is the cut off, don't some b*tches breed at 5 or 6 easily? I mean, honestly, 5 or 6 or even 7 should NOT be decrepit and old for a healthy animal that should EASILY live until 14 or so, right? If there was a working b*tch that couldn't handle a litter at 5 or 6 years old, maybe I don't want puppies from her.... With a lifespan that long, 5 or 6 would be equivalent to a woman in her thirties. Hell, I don't plan on having kids until I'm 30+, but maybe I should just pop one out right now to be safe!

Face to face? Yes and no. When I get my APBT, it will probably be face to face. It will be my first show quality dog, after all *hopefully*

However, many working dog breeders commonly do phone only. The working world is surprisingly a small world, and it seems that EVERYBODY knows EVERYBODY, or they know someone that you know.

Despite what many people think - a majority of good breeders have websites AND ship pups.

Websites: yes no good breeder is going to use any junk two dollar bit site like Kijiji. That however does not stop them from having their own personal website to show off their dogs, give information about themselves post breeding plans etc.

Shipping: Anyone who says good breeders don't ship is full of it. How do they think foreign bred dogs get into this country? Better yet how breeds that DON'T exist in other countries get there? For my breed I can think of at least three established Kennels outside of North America, one in Germany and two down in Australia. they sure as heck didn't swim there. There are no breeders in my state and every breed I have talked to has had no issue with shipping a pup to me. Shipping by plane is faster and less stressful on a pup than a car ride.

Age to retire from breeding. Entirely depends on the breeder, the ***** and the breeding program. I have seen ***** bred for her last litter at 9. all the pups were healthy and she came through it just fine. And for number of litters it depends on what that ***** produces and again breeding program goals.

People who DON'T ship are "hobby" breeders 9 times out of 10 and I don't deal with them.

People can advertise on the internet if they have a professional, well laid out website.

The notion that females should be bred before 4 is stupid. Most dogs can be bred up until 8 years of age with no issues. Some giant breeds are "old" by the time they're 8, but anything larger than about 40lbs but smaller than about a Rottie is in the prime of their life at 6-8, and smaller dogs reach their prime even later. The BEST litters come from adult females who're 6-8 years old and have been bred before and produced good litters who've thus proven themselves to be worthy of a extraordinary stud. As far as somebody bringing you a scientific reason, they can't, none exists, wild dogs and wolves all have litters between their 2nd heat until 7 or 8 years of age routinely.

-edit- No I don't need a face to face meeting, I breed working dogs, I sell to working homes. These people, in general, are people who've had several working dogs before. Also my prices keep most "I want a big black sable DDR German 'Shepard' who's mean and very aggressive!" far at bay :)

A1: It's sometimes considered unhealthy for a ***** to have more than two litters. As for the younger than 4, I have also heard of a ***** being bred after that and as long as she is healthy, I see no problem with it.

A16: yeah, it's obvious that a breeder is a scam if it advertises on popular advertisement websites. But if they *do* have their own website, you can tell that it's probably a better breeder if it focuses more on their adult dogs and all of the titles they have won and what they do than about how cute their puppies are.

The shipping the person was probably referring to was breeders who will ship their dogs on an airplane or something like that. I don't think they meant meeting halfway

I have nothing against reputable breeders having websites. Especially when their websites show their facilities, show results, pedigrees, and the daily life of their dogs. Major turn-offs to me are:

- Breeding more than one breed.

- Dogs that aren't genetically tested.

- No Pet Contracts/Show Contracts/etc.

- Feeding cheap dog food (I prefer raw, or a high quality grain free kibble)

- A ridiculous amount of dogs.

- Kennel dogs (I prefer dogs be around family unless their working status makes them incapable of family life - ie. some protection dogs).

- If none of the dogs are titled - major turn off.

I'm sure there are other things, but these are the first things I notice. I am also not against shipping dogs. If done correctly, it is perfectly safe. However, I still think it is needed for the family to visit the pup before having it shipped to them.

-- Also, if they produce more than 2-3 litters per year.

Hmmm, well since you seem to have quoted my own answers, I guess I'll clear it up for you...

People will hear through word of mouth when a litter is going to become available. They don't need to advertise.

As my answer states, I still think a dog should be bred no older than 4. You already know my answers, so there's not much else to say. Not sure what you want to hear.

You dont have to listen to the advice given, but dont ***** when you get a sickly or psychotic dog