I was at the vets today and there was a lady in the waiting room with the most gorgeous little Fauve puppy.
As it was obviously such a nice puppy and they are not that common, I asked her if she was intending to show it. She told me that the puppy doesn't have a pedigree because the woman she bought it from had told her that it couldn't be registered as it's dam is under 2 years old and the kennel club does not allow registration from bitches under 2 years old. As you all know, this is not true. I then asked the owner if she at least had a pedigree form giving the puppy's parentage. She hasn't. She seemed surprised to learn that you can still have a pedigree even if the puppy is not registered. I find this all very suspicious. The woman who owned the dog was a first time dog owner and is not the target of my suspicions, but why would somebody breed a litter of puppies that are obviously an uncommon breed and not bother to register them or provide papers. I don't know a huge amount about Fauves I have to admit, but I do know a good dog when I see it, and this was a VERY nice Fauve. Unfortunately, she was called into the vet before I could ask her if she had seen the puppy's mother. Is this suspicious or what.

Possibly not, it could be that the pup had an obvious fault (maybe undershot?) and was sold for a pet price without papers. I know it sounds weird but pet owners can sometimes grasp the wrong end of the stick when being explained things. Unless you see her again in the vets we'll probably never know the full story.....

I agree, not being a very common breed and not that many breeders around it is very strange.  Even if the breeder thought the pup not up to standard and was worried about her breeding it, that is what endorsements are for isn't it?

I dare say the breeding bitch was under 12 months this being the real reason, or the pup has been sold on from another owner making a mistake and not wanting the original breeder to know, or even worse stolen.

I agree that owners don't always listen properly and get the wrong end of the stick, but to come out with '2 years and no papers' in the same sentence is quite worrying, either that or the breeder hasn't got a clue about what they are talking about which wouldn't be a first either!!!

Actually, my first thought was, is the puppy stolen. My second thought was, is the dam stolen.I've checked all the lost dog sites and I can't see any mention of a Fauve. Another explanation is that the dam or the puppy could have been brought into the country illegally. The puppy definately wasn't undershot, it had a beautiful head. My alarm bells were ringing simply because this is such an unusual breed to see without papers and the seller had lied to the purchaser. If it had been a Lab or a Springer or something like that, I wouldn't have given it another thought. As you say, unless I see her again, we'll never know. Unless of course there is a Fauvre breeder out there who may be able to shed some light on the mystery.