Extremely disappointed that after contacting 9 poodle breeders only 2 could be bothered replying.

What did you say when you contacted them?

When you emailed did you email more than one person in your mail.

I have in the past found that emails often end up in junk, which people rarely check, if they are addressed to multiple recipients.

I must say I do reply to all emails that I receive concerning my breed often searching out plans for litters of fellow breeders when I know I CANNOT HELP.

Breeders may be more likely to reply to mails where you give information about your family, circumstances and why the breed is of interest.

I can imagine that many Poodle breeders may be ultra careful/suspicious these days regarding genuine interest as so many are exploited for breeding crossbred litters.  As these crosses are unregsiterable (not being a breed) there is no way of knowing how often they are used for breeding, and bitches especially are more easily overbred.

The Kennel Club allows a maximum of 4 litters from any bitch, and unregistered pups are generally much cheaper than registered so not as appealing to exploiters, but strangely the crosses are often much higher priced than a litter of pet bred pups (meaning no serious breeding with health testing, trying to maintain the standard) of either parent breed.

Hi, I sent emails individually via the contact option on their page.
The 2 ladies that responded were very helpful.
I guess there are no litters available at the moment, but a reply stating this would allow me to discount that particular breeder.
I'll keep looking.
Thanks for your reponse :)

> I guess there are no litters available at the moment, but a reply stating this would allow me to discount that particular breeder.

Totally agree, and I think it very rude of people not to reply.  Even if it is only "Thank you for your interest, but unfortunately I am unable to help you at this time.", something that could be saved in drafts as a stock reply.

Personally I would add details of the national and/or regional breed clubs so hopefully helping people avoid bad breeders.

The reason I ask what you said in the message is that I often get messages saying “do you have any puppies and if so how much are they?” I do respond but many breeders wouldn’t.

It's too easy to ignore emails but I find this very rude.   Yes all too often breeders don't bother to reply unless they have a litter planned/available however.   I find phoning better - at least you know they have heard from you which you don't always with emails!!   I suppose you can just look at no reply as being 'their loss'.

I put about as much effort and time into my answer as people put into their enquiry.  If people say 'do you have a pup available and what price?', then I say 'Sorry, I don't have a pup available for you'. 

The important bit being 'for you'.  Because I may have pups available, for others... But I don't have a pup available for someone whose first question is about price and whose only criteria in looking for a pup, is that one is available.

If I get a detailed email about someone's family and why they want a pup and what they want to do with the pup, then I will reply and even if I say no, I will say it with equal detail... (in the hope they might learn something from what I say - but alas they rarely do, and just go and get one from elsewhere - ho hum).

> If I get a detailed email about someone's family and why they want a pup and what they want to do with the pup, then I will reply and even if I say no, I will say it with equal detail... (in the hope they might learn something from what I say - but alas they rarely do, and just go and get one from elsewhere - ho hum).

This is where networking with other breeders comes in, as I always like to pass on details of reliable breeders to such enquiries, that are eminently suitable, but who I cannot personally help.

I have often had such people come back to me to tell me about the pup they did get, and in fact later they had a puppy from me some years later.