A friend of mine has a litter, and she has been asking questions to potential new owners over the phone. One person who answered some of her questions, but then got annoyed and wouldn't anymore, because she said she had had dogs all her life and these questions needn't be asked of her. My feelings are, (as i have never bred dogs) if she can't answer the questions she can't have a puppy. But my friends feelings are the lady seems so nice.

So what do you think?

I'd agree with you; your friend has never met this woman so needs to know all about her before entrusting one of her precious babies to her. The woman might well have had dogs all her life, but who knows how well they were treated? Only by asking questions can a breeder learn about a stranger - if this woman can't understand that then I would question whether she was empathic enough to have a dog, however nice she might seem over the phone.

I agree with you, I have had dogs all my life...I have never lived in a house without dogs.  With one of my dogs I was asked over the phone a whole list of questions before I could even go and see the pups.  It did seem like a bit of an interview lol but I was happy to answer as this person was hopefully going to entrust me with one of her pups.  I did get my pup from that litter and coming up to 5 years later we are still good friends and visit regularly.  So yes no-one should think they should be exempt!

Maybe this lady has never got a pup from a decent breeder before or from one who she doesn't know personally etc. We just don't know and to just assume the worst case scenario can lead us down a slippery slope. There is one thing for having a good telephone manner, one thing being asked questions etc, but if you aren't expecting it and the person asking doesn't explain why they are asking these questions then they may come across as rather probing to say the least and this can get some people's backs up.
I think meeting someone in person is better and then you can make a judgement on them and how they are with you and your dogs. Anyone can say what they like over the phone, in person you have facial expressions and body language to watch for as well as words..

Thank you. I'm going to tell her read this.

Yes I'd probably get the hump if I was asked the questions I usually ask...but hey ho......Id have to do my best or not get one..... the pup is more important in this case than the person.

I also think it is how the questions are asked, if you are naturally talking to someone you steer that conversation and ask all the questions needed for the first stage of interview often without them even knowing you are doing it, you get to know what you want, but in a natural conversation. If someone was just reading block questions and it actually felt more like a quiz test it could very well lead to someone saying "These questions don't need to be asked" and could feel very awkward and off putting for people, the fact that the lady said this, it must have felt that way.

You can get away with block questions better via e-mail or as some breeders do in sending out questionairs, but I feel on the phone you have to be far more natural, the fact that your friend still liked the woman just says to me that she is not very good at her interview techniques as she allowed the lady to stop the questions.

She needs to meet her, look her in the eye and talk further, I wouldn't write off the woman completely as I feel your friend just didn't interview very well on the phone. :-)

> if you are naturally talking to someone you steer that conversation and ask all the questions needed for the first stage of interview often without them even knowing you are doing it, you get to know what you want, but in a natural conversation.

That is exactly what I do.  Not only does it make for a civil exchange but you are far more likely to escape being given the "correct" answer just because it is obvious that is the one you want.
If the lady was still interested and seemed otherwise a good option I would be inclined to examine how I was coming across and consider going through things again.

When I went to look at Storm's litter, I had a proper interview! And that was after a chat on the phone. I found it reassuring, I'd be suspicious of any breeder who didn't ask questions and grill me first, as I would think she didn't care about her pups and that would raise other concerns for me. Both of my pups breeders are interested in how they're doing, my collie is 9 and I still hear from his breeder and update her.

That is exactly what I do.

Me too. I stopped asking millions of questions as I found it far more useful to simply ask people to tell me a bit about themselves and their dog experience -I got a LOT more info that way, it was informal and it didn't feel like an interrogation. Questions can often be answered with even one word (necessitating even more questions), when asking people to tell me about themselves most are very happy to do so and you get lots of stories of previous dogs etc. :)

Marianne, you responded exactly as I was going to. I find that if you ask someone to tell you about their experience, they will willingly tell all! I found it really easy then to probe further when certain things are touched upon, and even ask direct questions. If the conversation is kept light and friendly, nobody's back needs to go up.

> One person who answered some of her questions, but then got annoyed and wouldn't anymore, because she said she had had dogs all her life and these questions needn't be asked of her

If you are really keen to have a puppy you'd do everything you could to reassure the breeder that you were a good enough owner.  IF you felt confident enough with your dog experience you'd move things around a bit so that you were telling the breeder more about you, rather than just waiting for questions.

The breeder might have been a bit clumsy in her questions but a prospective puppy owner that risked alienating the very person she ought to be impressing is perhaps not ideal.  She might be a great dog person but might turn out to be the sort of owner that takes a pup and then fails to stay in touch.

Your friend needs to make up her own mind but it's worth suggesting she looks at the long term relationship she might want with her puppy owners :)

> She might be a great dog person but might turn out to be the sort of owner that takes a pup and then fails to stay in touch

Yes she might, particularly if she had an underlying feeling of annoyance about the nature of the questioning.

I thought Carrington put it well here:

I also think it is how the questions are asked, if you are naturally talking to someone you steer that conversation and ask all the questions needed for the first stage of interview often without them even knowing you are doing it, you get to know what you want, but in a natural conversation. If someone was just reading block questions and it actually felt more like a quiz test it could very well lead to someone saying "These questions don't need to be asked" and could feel very awkward and off putting for people, the fact that the lady said this, it must have felt that way.

It's not always easy to get it just right and probably we improve with practice!