I mated my bitch recently. I don't yet know if she is pregnant yet and if she isn't obviously won't have a problem. I have quite a long waiting list for puppies, however they are all pet homes. Some have been on the list for quite a long time. I have just been contacted by a person who wants a pup to show and who also competes in agility and obedience with her dogs.

This is the sort of home I would like for my dogs but if I let this person have a puppy then it almost certainly means letting down a person who has been waiting for a long time for a pup. I know I would be upset if it happened to me and so feel very mean if I do let someone down but I would like my puppy to go to a show/working home if possible rather than just a pet home.

Do other people priorities show homes or stick rigidly to they waiting lists?

The right home for each puppy is the most important thing.  You may find that the pet people cannot/will not wait and have gone elsewhere anyway.  I try and build a relationship with potential puppy owners long before pups arrive so I know who I am comfortable with and ultimately offer a puppy to.  I had a woman on my list who had been waiting for almost a year, kept her in very regular contact throughout.  When it came to coming to see the litter, then the timing wasn't right for her and she'd rather have a pup from a friend of hers' litter.  Just heard on the grapevine that she has done the same thing to another breeder...

It's early days for you, but do what you think is best for the pup in the long term.

I agree with Ells-Bells, you have to put each pup into the right home for it. As I say to all my potential owners, you wouldn't want a high drive pup in a couch potato lifestyle (over-exagerating a bit, but you know the meaning) so it is up to ME to make sure that the home is the right one. It doesn't mean that the people on your list aren't ood homes, it just means that it might not be the right home for your pup.

There is also no guarantee that you will get the correct ratio of dogs/bitches in the litter and some people may have to be let down anyway, so amyone on your list should be made aware that although they are on your list they may not be able to take a pup home. You also may only end up with one or two pups, or you could end up with a bakers dozen so may need all your potential homes ;-) Breeding is never easy. ;-)

I have 2 lists, one purely pet homes and the other show/breed homes, the pups are evaluated and offered to folk on the appropriate list.

Your pups future comes first, you are not building a 'brand'.

I dont keep a list, my pups are all individual and placed with the most appropriate owner.

We all have waiting lists and we all let people down, most of us will have more people on our vetted list than pups, than sexes wanted, than colours (if applicable) wanted.

Wait until the litter is born and if a dog is wanted for show, working, agility you'll need time to help the potential owner to choose the right pup so the whole litter should not be assigned until you can judge characters, build etc.

Some on the waiting list may well drop out anyway if the sex, colour, or amount of pups you have does not fit, it is never set in stone.

You are responsible for these lives and you make the right decision for your pup, if you have to let someone down it will feel uncomfortable for a little while but once your pup is homed it will be forgotten, you have to have a tough head on your shoulders to make the right decisions sometimes, pups first, always pups first. :-)

I tend to tell people that I want the most promising (show wise) of each sex to go to homes that may show (if I or the stud dog owner are not havng one), but other than that length of time on waiting list will count.

"Just a pet home" is probably the very best home for any dog as pet people don't get rid of the dog if it doesn't win or live up to expectations.

*Looks at my Crufts qualified Deerhound... who never went and hasn't shown since she knackered her knee up at 2 years old, wonder why she's still here given shes not earning her keep...*...

Thats a MASSIVE sweeping generalisation there G. Rets - and quite an offensive one too.

Back to the OP...

Your waiting list is not a queue, its not a first come, first served kind of thing - so home the pups to the people who will suit them best, and if that means that a pup goes to the show home that contacted you most recently, and a pup doesn't go to someone who has been waiting months... so be it.

You bred your bitch presumably to improve the breed and carry on her line - not to supply a demand, so if some people are disappointed well thats sad, but its a fact of life really! If they are a great home then they will understand, or they may be on someone elses list (or you can point them to someone else who may have pups soon) - if they kick up a fuss well they probably weren't such a great home anyway.

> "Just a pet home" is probably the very best home for any dog as pet people don't get rid of the dog if it doesn't win or live up to expectations.

If I had even the slightest inkling that was a possibility then the best looking home wouldn't get one of my pups. All my owners are carefully vetted including finding about previous dogs and what happened to them.  The only pups I have ever had back when things went wrong were both pet homes. the ones I have sent to show homes are still there.

> You bred your bitch presumably to improve the breed and carry on her line - not to supply a demand, so if some people are disappointed well thats sad, but its a fact of life really! If they are a great home then they will understand, or they may be on someone elses list (or you can point them to someone else who may have pups soon) - if they kick up a fuss well they probably weren't such a great home anyway.

I have bred because I want a puppy from this combination. Problem is I have built quite a relationship with most of the people on my list and I am satisfied they are all good homes and I don't think many are likely to drop out. If I hadn't got to know the prospective owners so well it wouldn't be such a problem.

I will be showing my puppy  but it would be great if another one could be shown too. I know this person will be an excellent home. I guess I will just have to hope I get a good sized litter.

>"Just a pet home" is probably the very best home for any dog as pet people don't get rid of the dog if it doesn't win or live up to expectations.>

5 Dals here, 1 almost 8 year bitch, didn't do well showing and couldn't have puppies, 1 almost 5 year dog, did well in ring but didn't love it now castrated, and one deaf dal who I wouldn't be without :-) my 2 other girls one has had puppies and one LOVES showing and does well NONE will ever be moved on EVER! ALL are equally important members of my family as is my rescue Mabel (collie cross) almost 11 years old.
Please don't generalise. :-(

One advantage of a show home is keeping in touch and seeing the puppy at shows, some pet homes you can't even get an up to date photo :-(
You pick the best home you can for any puppy whether its a show home or pet home "home" is the word
Paula x

Just a pet home" is probably the very best home for any dog as pet people don't get rid of the dog if it doesn't win or live up to expectations.

Ouch! G. Rets you've obviously experienced this happening, I have no doubt there are people like that and to be fair to you we probably do all know one or two like that. ;-) But most of us don't do that and never would so don't put everyone in the same basket. :-)

TBF the highest percentage of people to get rid of a pup are those who do not take into account what hard work it is, the minute the toilet training doesn't go to plan, the grooming, the play biting, the having to train and spend time bonding gets boring the pups and adolescents are out the door and moved on.

People who show and work their dogs are much more likely to train and care for the pup raising it properly and putting time and effort and a good bond into them, building good character and socialising properly, at least they generally understand dog behaviour and raise well balanced dogs, being in the dog world........... unfortunately a lot of pet owners don't have a clue about anything and it shows on their dogs behaviour and character, that I do see almost every day. :-( And it is getting worse.

There are good and bad on all sides of puppy ownership, it's down to people not what they will or won't do with a dog, it's why vetting has to be done so carefully.

Pet home here too G Rets.

Three champions....all pets! And all living in comfort in my home.
One 12.5 bitch produced me some winning dogs in the show ring..she didnt win......pet.
One 9.5 year old bitch won 1RCC but produced 2 champions....pet.
One 7.5 year old bitch, won little, produced 1 Uk Champion and 2 overseas champions...pet.

I could go on...and on....and ON

A very offensive comment that successful show breeders get rid of the very animals who produced their winning dogs.

> One advantage of a show home is keeping in touch and seeing the puppy at shows, some pet homes you can't even get an up to date photo :-(
>

Very much so, these are the ones you meet regularly, and continue to have a relationship with throughout their lives, and share in their triumphs and tribulations.  Your dogs and they recognise each other and have a great time reacquainting each time they meet.

Indeed, when you sell a pet you will probably never see that dog again, when you sell one for showing, you see it all the time.

House full of pets here too! Plenty that can never be shown for one reason or another, or bred from. I can't have them ALL in the bedroom at night, but when we go to bed at night, we take with us the 13 year old Champion who now is no good for showing again (or breeding, of course), the 2 year old current winner who hopefully will be good for breeding as well, the 6 month old pup who will never be a top winner but middle of the road and was acquired for new blood, and the 6 year old bitch who is no good for showing and who had to be spayed after managing just one live pup from two litters. We make no difference between them, they are all family.

Why  'just a pet home'? ! Why give priority/allow queue jumping to homes that may not be the most loving but will bring you kudos/accolades? I prefer my puppies to go to carefully chosen, loving, family homes. If, and this does not happen often , that home decides to show /work -well, so be it and I am delighted when I learn of their success. But I would never allow 'queue jumping' or any unfairness whatsoever in this respect. My puppies' welfare is more important than my ego.

> My puppies' welfare is more important than my ego.

As several posters on here have indicated going to a show home by no means compromises welfare, nor is it about ego.  The whole purpose of breeding is to benefit and hopefully improve a breed.  Not much chance tucked away in simply a pet home when an equally loving show or working home may be available. Or do you have another purpose for producing your puppies...........?

> Why  'just a pet home'? ! Why give priority/allow queue jumping to homes that may not be the most loving but will bring you kudos/accolades?

I couldn't give a *@?*( about Kudos or accolades. However I have spent a lot of time effort and money planning this litter. I have worked and shown my dogs to prove they are capable of doing a days work and still look like the breed. I have health tested, temperament tested, spent a lot of time studying pedigrees trying to work out which stud will complement my bitch the most and hopefully produce some puppies which will benefit the gene pool for years to come. I will be keeping a puppy to carry on my lines but with the best will in the world I have limited resources, I can't keep huge numbers of dogs.

Any puppy I sell will be going to a pet home. Although i breed and show I consider my dogs pets first and foremost. I don't think it is wrong to want my carefully planned puppy to go to a home where it can benefit the breed as well as being a loving companion. I want it to go where people can see it, where it may just be bred from in future to carry on the work I have been doing to promote the breed I love so that future generations can also enjoy the dogs I do.

A good pet home is  important but is essentially a dead end as far as continuing the breed is concerned. I am sure there are many happy healthy dogs which could help the ever decreasing gene pools but as they are just pets they are spayed and castrated and lost to the breed forever.

> with the best will in the world I have limited resources, I can't keep huge numbers of dogs.

> I don't think it is wrong to want my carefully planned puppy to go to a home where it can benefit the breed as well as being a loving companion. I want it to go where people can see it, where it may just be bred from in future to carry on the work I have been doing to promote the breed I love so that future generations can also enjoy the dogs I do.
>
> A good pet home is  important but is essentially a dead end as far as continuing the breed is concerned. I am sure there are many happy healthy dogs which could help the ever decreasing gene pools but as they are just pets they are spayed and castrated and lost to the breed forever.

Just how I feel, would in theory love to be in the position to keep a puppy from every litter, but those days are past where wealthy folk could keep extensive kennels with all the bloodlines they might need under their own roof, like Mr Rank's Great Danes.  Well actually I would not as I like to live with my dogs and that would make it all too impersonal..

But I would never allow 'queue jumping' or any unfairness whatsoever in this respect. My puppies' welfare is more important than my ego.

And that's why there should never, ever be such a thing as a queue -we are talking about living animals and not fashionable handbags. We as breeders are not shops or businesses. The BEST home in every respect is put first on the list, whether they have waited two years or two weeks.

> The BEST home in every respect is put first on the list, whether they have waited two years or two weeks.

Well this thread has achieved its objective, It has cleared my mind as to what I will do. The show home is a great pet home with the added bonus of wanting to show so if there is a suitable puppy then they will get it.

>A good pet home is  important but is essentially a dead end as far as continuing the breed is concerned. I am sure there are many happy healthy dogs which could help the ever decreasing gene pools but as they are just pets they are spayed and castrated and lost to the breed forever.

Absolutely right.

But I do know breeders who re-home dogs when they have finished breeding / showing in the basis they are doing the best thing for the dog because it will get individual attention etc etc If I think a puppy will not reach the potential I hoped for I have kept 2 and let one go at about 6 months. I did this once and knew the owner of the stud dog thought more of her show potential than I did so I found a pet home and was blasted a bit because she said why did I not ask her first. It was because all her dogs live outside and I knew that she passed them on when she had finished with them. Once they have passed this stage they stay with me for ever. They have given me so much.
In my breed which requires a lot of trimming and expertise which can take years to perfect, some people THINK and say they will show but drop out when they realise how hard it is so I am not fooled by that. Sometimes I think they say it because they think they will get a better puppy. Of course it is gut feeling but we always say that the lucky puppies go out to a perfect pet home and don't have to share attention as for example my 5 do although they all accept that of course because it is what they know.
Go with your gut instinct but I would feel guilty if I let someone down who had been waiting for a time.