Postby Yankee » Thu Dec 11, 2014 8:33 am
Some time ago, after Maggie died, I saw a site with the most beautiful goldens for sale. I wrote the guy asking when he might be breeding again as we weren’t quite ready. He wrote me early this week saying he had another litter if we were interested. (take a look at “newenglandgoldens.com”). He said he would set up an appointment time Thursday (today) for us to come see and “get” the puppy.
I was a little confused as to how he could have the third litter that I had seen on the site so quickly, so I sent a list of questions to him. His response (which includes one of my questions in the second sentence) was as follows.:
Good morning Bob
Let's start with this first before I wish to continue on doing any business engagement with you and your wife, as I am almost ready to cut this one loose.
Not to offend - but where do the puppies come from? -i.e., who's the breeder (name)? Where were they born? Why are they sold through you rather than by the breeder? I think what i'm really trying to ascertain is that they are really reputable pups and not from a puppy mill.
And yes, it does offend. It most certainly does. What if I were to ask you about your family background before doing business with you. From there what if I continued to question you on why they had you, was there any neglect or abuse in your family or simply why do you exist in the family? Do you see how sickening this can get to work with someone that has certain ideas in their head or preconceived notions? It's nasty isn't it? Makes my stomach turn.
Not one person over the years has ever been unsatisfied with the health, temperament and overall quality of our golden's. I think the champion pedigrees of our Goldens and our kennel speak for themselves. We have some of the best goldens in the world. The partnership with my breeder is a long standing relationship in which I have the utmost respect for her, the quality of our goldens, and the care for our kennel. She is the only one I work with, does not have a computer, internet, camera, e-mail, etc. I am also a trainer of the pups. We are one team. The rest of your questions on our internal operation are irrelevant to what I wish to engage conversation with you on. The respect I have for my partner, the care of our parents and kennel, why I do what I do in this role, etc. is something that I am simply too sensitive on to continue questions on in this area. Yes, we all know there are is a lot of unethical and uneducated people in the breeder industry. We are not one of them and yes, I can get easily offended when asked to defend my partner, myself or our service model or why I exist in this partnership. If you can accept this, I would be happy to answer questions specifically related to what pups I have available, appointment, etc.
Sincerely,
Craig.
In the meantime I called a vet in new Hampshire and asked if they knew anything about this guy, They did not,. I then called a breeder in the town next to his. The breeder had never heard of him either, though he said he had heard that there was a puppy mill breeder in that town (not necessarily him).
There is a breeder about 20 miles from us that I have known about, but not known, for years (she is listed as one of the top three breeders in the state). No puppies were available on her site. Because she shows so much, and is so active with goldens, I thought I’d have nothing to lose. I called her and she didn’t know anything about him either. We had a long talk about goldens in general.
I told the guy, based upon his response and my phone calls, to go pound sand. No puppy for us:(.
A few hours later I received a call from the breeder I had called here in CT (I hadn’t left my number, I guess she used caller id). She had called around, and found that he was considered a puppy mill and pointed out the clearances they didn’t have etc. She said he gets his puppies from upstate New York, and sells them out of a one room storefront next to a dance studio.
We talked some more, and then told me she had two puppies out of a recent litter that were available if we wanted one. (This is good because she has a waiting list and it looks like we just jumped right in). I asked if we need to go for an interview or fill out a questionnaire and she said she knew enough about us already from our coversations. Just send her a deposit. The puppy will be ready a week or two after Christmas