Its so annoying when people email about pups and are wasting my time completely.I was asked this morning through e mail when will you be having a litter,i love the website love the dogs ect ect,then asked where i live you give them an explanation and the contact number in EVERY e mail but they insist on mailing you only to decide thank you but nows not the right time for us to have a puppy!
the email i only recived today and tonight im told through e mail its not the right time for them.
why waste my time,or even if your not happy with where i live then just say so but dont waste my time.
Please tell me what people get out of asking you questions only to say thanx but no thanx (which by the wat can i say is fine if the pups are not what your looking for)but time wasting you tell a mile off.
anyone eles get this a lot or is there a way of stopping it,its so frustrating.
not the fact that people dont actually want a pup i searched all over before i found the right pup but plain time wasting is so flamin annoying!

They  might be trying to find out your address in order to steal the puppies - be careful.

I would say that as many as 3/4 of the enquiries are likely to be time wasters or unsuitable.

Depending on breed and availability probably more.

oh unsuitable ones i can cope with thats my choice but idiots i cant cope with.
i never thought that someone might be trying to steal them thank you for that.

Tamara, while you do have to be careful about who you are 'talking' to by e-mail.. please don't write them all off as timewasters.. the information you give them on the breed you have, is part of their research.. and bodes well for the future.. I would much rather have someone waste my time and say.. no thanks, its not the right time.. than them have a pup, and THEN realise its not the right time..

I have a lovely family on my waiting list for my next litter.. which began with emails nearly a year ago with my last litter.. after going through everything at length, right up until the mating, all was fine, then they decided to wait... timing was all wrong for them..

however, once litter was born, they asked to come visit puppies.. I agreed, knowing that they were not ready for a pup.. , they visited, and were lovely people, they wrote and thanked me for my valuable time.. and are now on my waiting list for this litter (fingers crossed there is one lol).. the time is now right for them

But.. even if they dont come back to you, your time and effort put into them, should hopefully ensure that they are prepared with more knowledge for a pup in the future, and at least you can hope that they will go to a responsible breeder, because you have given them your time and guidance ;-)

there are an awful lot of time wasters and from about 60 enquiries I have narrowed down about 5 as actually any good. I had a guy who contacted me about last litter but was just too late so went on this litters waiting list. I told him when she was mated, again when she was scanned in whelp, again when she whelped....every time got positive emails back saying how great and they would visit very soon bla bla......after over 20 emails about their love for the breed and how they would visit and how excited they were....not another word!!! This isnt the 1st time, Ive had 3 or 4 like this over the years. I have learned now, that if I have to contact them to remind them...then they are prob time wasters!!!

i have no problem with normal enquiries.or people saying im sorry but you dont have what im looking for but the e mail started this morning and then ended with me giving my address(well my area)and that was that.
i am happy to sit on the phone for hours i like to get all the info i need too b4 meeting people but i honestly think this person was just wasting my time
dont get me wrong ive turned down a few people actually quite suprising the way some people think when asking about puppies,one guy said you have dog for sale and i replied hello yes we hae a litter of puppies hello,,,to which he replied how much so i said im sorry i cannot help you its a really bad line and i hung up the phone!
oh im sure we've all had our fair share.
its just me letting off my steam i suppose :-)

> its just me letting off my steam i suppose

LOL! I can see that!

~ Great post Kay!

Well I thought that I had my pups sold well before they were born.  Guy seemed really nice etc, then e-mails me yesterday after he'd been sent photo's etc. of the pups to say he'd gone and got a Labradoodle, I'm not the only person of my breed that this has now happened to. 

Asked if both parents are hipscored seeing that this crosses worst score is double our breeds, he hasn't replied to it.  All the rubbish that the breeders of this cross are spouting is believed by many sadly.

For me, area isn't an issue with the dogs as my breed is so rare people know they have to travel and if anyone has just a 4 hour journey they're close by. However it is very much an issue with the cats, so I now put in giant red letters on my website the general area I live in, so that people know before contacting me. There is no way they can find me as we are not listed with BT and I haven't put the town or village, but I've put enough info for them to get a rough idea.

I had a lady phone me two years ago but still remember her , she kept me on the phone for over  2 hours wanting to know all about the breed and by her answers to me she had done her research , loved my web site and dogs bla bla bla .. I dont take names or ring people I tell them to contact me near the time I believe if they want a pup they will get back to you , this lady near enough begged me to take her details and ring her when they were born as she was so enthusiastic and I was completely taken in I took her name address and phone number ..pups born gave her a ring as promised her words were 'oh no thank you ' and put the phone down....I couldnt believe it after all she had put me through I remember every bit of that phone conversation and could kick myself for being taken in by her I even keep a book with names of people I have refused pups too her name is at the top of my list if she ever contacted me again.
Now if she had rung or emailed and said she had found apup elsewhere I would not have batted an eyelid it was the attitude that angered me.

I feel I have chosen well with all my babies new familes and have made good friends in the process . I must admit I have become hardened as time goes on and am very fussy one wrong word and your out! I think if they want a puppy from you they will keep in contact and prove themselves to be genuine.

As for travelling I ask to meet the whole family my last litter a family visited from Ireland at 4 wks and still didnt know if I was selling them a pup, I have puppies in the Highlands of Scotland and as far south as Southampton  if they dont want to travel they dont want my pup.. end of.

My OH had to go for an interview before the breeder would take our money for a deposit on an unborn pup. We live in Winchester and he went to Worcester to meet Andy. Another trip up to pick him out at about 5/6 weeks. Up to fetch him at 9weeks, I will travel wherever i can physically get to, to secure the right pup.

I dont like time wasters either. Generally if they email or ring and just want to know the price and arnt interested in anything else then thats a No-No for me.

If they seem genuine then I'll email them a pre-prepared email stating conditions of sale, details about the pups, all the gubbins to do with the pups (registration/worming/puppy packs etc), the rough area I live in (never full details, especially not with my breed being one of the 'popular' ones atm), I cover who I wont sell to etc and of course the price.
I put at the bottom for them to call me if they want more information or to find out more about the breed, or if they are interested.

That way everyone gets a 'blanket' response to begin with. That weeds out the wasters and then those who ring I can vet more thoroughly if they are interested. After that they go on the waiting list.

Obviously you still get those who seem dead keen, all prepared for taking on a pup, who have badgered you for months and then when the time comes they dont want a pup yet/already went and got one elsewhere.

But I dont lose sleep over them ;-)

oh i can relate to this lol,had a lurcher which i bred to a great racing greyhound,mother was saluki cross grey,got some one emailed me about a brindle pup.Wrote on my adv all the details on adult hight etc.They came to see the puppies,lol.Nearly ran back out when they saw size if parents,lol,the fella said to me i thought they would only be small like a whippet,lol.They just didnt have a clue,me i am a joker said oh i am sorry but i dont think you,ve read the full adv,i was right they only read lurcher pups for sale.Who has ever seen a greyhound standing about 22 to 23 inches or a saluki.Must breed small greys where they live,they wanted a pup in the end but i sent them empty handed and told them if you dont know what sizes the parents would be then its the wrong breed for you m8.

Surely, 'timewasters' are unsuitable owners who nearly slipped through the net? 

Could be worse, when I was looking for my last pup I emailed about 15 different places. I received two responses, neither particularly friendly tbh.

There was three breeds I was interested in, I knew what I wanted, and was looking for someone that could provide it.

The person I RANG was the only person I bought from, for once email proved to be too impersonal.

I must admit, when it comes to livestock I think the personal touch is better than email (and I live most of my life online)

> Surely, 'timewasters' are unsuitable owners who nearly slipped through the net?

I think thats a good point, if they dissapear after one phone call or e.mail then their probabaly not right for your precious pups anyway.

Just to echo what others say - i would rather someone change their mind about purchasing a pup, even at last minute - than feel bad about backing out, buying the pup and getting rid of it/not caring for it etc.
Although its more hassle, surely its better to be let down than have them take a puppy they dont really want?!

> Obviously you still get those who seem dead keen, all prepared for taking on a pup, who have badgered you for months and then when the time comes they dont want a pup yet/already went and got one elsewhere.

i have had 4 of those this time, all really keen, emailing, calling etc right up until last week when i rang them to arrange viewing...suddenly they have one already???  That to me is just plain rude!  It only takes a call to say they have changed their minds...their perogative after all.

But like you say...dont lose any sleep over them either :)

I give them a date from to ie 20th- 27th at the 4 wks stage of whatever month and ask them to contact me with thier prefered dates if they dont contact me I dont contact them so their names fall off the page!

as far as emails go when its an enquiry I ask them to ring me for a more in depth chat if they dont ring ...thier loss.