We are looking to aquire a male flat coat any time from 1st September.  We thought that we had found a good breeder unfortunately nothing came of the pregnancy.  I have contacted Shirley Johnson and been given a "number" however she has no litters on her books, only puppies that are available now.  We are looking for a family pet and are not intending to show the dog although we quite like the idea of training it up to working standard.  We have two children of 6 and 9 who are desperate for a four legged friend and have had contact with flat coats and know of their playful behaviour.  I do not work but do a lot of running and walking and would love a companion whilst the rest of the family are out.  Is anyone having a littler in the next month or two?  It would be lovely to have a home reared puppy.  Can anyone help?

Your best course of action is to meet up with some flatcoat folk first, make a few more contacts. Then in September contact Mrs Johnson again, and get the list of puppies available then. We do have a lot of puppies on the books at the moment, this is not likely to have changed by September, if anything it will be a longer list due to the puppies being born during the summer, so that breeders can keep them outside. 

The reason you are given a "number" is that if you need to go back to her you give her your number and she can find you instantly in her filing system.

Just because she has no litters available this week does not mean that there will not be any in September - it just means that breeders have not updated her.

If you are wanting to take delivery of the puppy in September that means it will be born in July.  It is very likely that some breeders who are expecting a litter next month will not have contacted Mrs Johnson yet.  Some breeders contact her before they are born but others like to see what they get before informing her.  It is therefore worthwhile contacting Mrs Johnson again in 2 or 3 weeks time.

As with any breed we can not dictate when our bitches come in to season much as we would like to.  I would have "liked" my bitch to have come in last November but she delayed by 6 weeks - you can't interfere with nature!  It is a case of weighing up priorities - is it more important to wait until September and then maybe have a longer wait because of availability or forego other things and have one sooner.

Becky

Thank you for your replies.  I have spoken to Shirley on numerous occasions and contacted my local flat coat area rep and we have all been to a training afternoon.  We are away until the end of August but are just very keen to get one as soon as possible after our return.  Having said that we are willing to wait for the right one!

Hello

I'm sure that Mrs Johnson will have told you, so am probably repeating her advice here.    You can have an enormous amount of fun working your flatcoat, but do choose the right breeding.   Most flatcoats will work to a greater or lesser degree, but some are much easier to train than others, so you don't want to make life harder than necessary!

Mrs Johnson is the one to advise you ( or any of us will, of course).    Hope to see you round the working tests next year with your baby!

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats