OK, stick with it, this is one for the breeding board as it is a question for those breeders who have a web site. Lots of you do, I know 'cause I've been having a look :-D

I guess what I'd like to know is why you decided to have a web site, what you think you get out of having one ... was it to showcase your own dogs? To get potential puppy owners? To share information with prospective/new buyers?  I'm just curious.

I've been thinking about a website for a while, I have various other things going on on the internet, some to do with my dogs and others not about dogs. I guess I was thinking of one in terms as a reference point to let people know what my dogs are up to, to learn more about my dogs and as a base place for information for pup owners to come to. I wasn't thinking of it as a place to tout for puppy orders - most of my past & existing enquiries have gone through myself AND my breeder friend/mentor ... I'm very protective of my dogs and terrified of getting it wrong!! My interests elsewhere on the web connected to my dogs, we are completely in cognito - dogs and me! I have a kennel name and have been sitting on the web domain with that name for a number of years ... still it's just sitting there being paid for but not doing anything.

I've seen some absolutely cracking sites that are a real showcase for the dogs, have lots of really useful information about the breed/dogs in general and who also publicly show information about current or planned litters.

I look forward to reading any comments as to why you've gone for a web site. :-)

Just a way of showing off my dogs :-) , explaining about the breed (history, temperament, the training needed), how to find a good breeder etc.... It also doubles up as my horse website too (well, they have their own page)

To be honest with you , other people i knew had web sites and i was at home bored at the time so thought i would give it a go  , for me it was as simple as that .

Mine has info , pictures , links to friends sites and also sites that i think may be of use to others .I have a rememberance page for my dally and a page for each of my dogs , with some info and pictures . One thing i looked for on the net when i got my dogs was a weight chart so i could compare with others , i only ever found one or two , so i have my dogs weight and ages listed from about 8 weeks old to two years old .

It's nice to be able to show off my dogs as i love them loads :0) , and even better when someone leaves a comment saying how much they like them

> To be honest with you , other people i knew had web sites and i was at home bored at the time so thought i would give it a go  , for me it was as simple as that .

Lol.... if I'm honest, thats what started mine..... boredom.... It also explains why I've done 2 more too.... One more of my own, then 1 for someone else.... I actually enjoyed doing them.

I've had my cat website for 12 years now, the dog one for about 6 I think. (Before I had a separate dog website, my dogs all had their own pages on my cat website.) Apart from showing off my animals, having a page for any kittens/puppies available, a page for show news and similar, I explain a lot about my animals -even have long pages of stories about some of the cats. For the dogs the page starts with puppy photos of the dog and then continues. Turned out I had a big following for my page about my old Cavalier Rufus who died last year -lots of people checking in regularly just to see how he was doing, waiting for the next birthday when he would be pictured with his birthday cake etc. I had no idea until I was contacted by somebody who told me!  Oh and I have pages for photos of animals I've bred that the new owners have sent me, showing them in their new homes.

99 % of my buyers find me from my websites and most of them say they came to me "because it's obvious you care about your animals". I.e. I must have managed to get across that they're not just objects to win prizes with, they are also much loved pets.  I have oldies and "useless" animals that aren't good enough for showing or breeding and I proudly display them as well. When I have puppies I start from birth and add one page of photos per week until they go to their new homes, so the buyers can follow the way the pups grow and get to see what they do, how they are reared etc. For instance I stuck a photo of my husband asleep with several pups in bed with him at Christmas LOL on my website -hubby wasn't entirely impressed but I liked it and it showed this time we didn't kennel the pups and they truly were with us all the time. :)

I've had my website for about 5 years now, even before I started showing. I've never bred so I can only think I must have started it to "show off" my beautiful dogs :-)
Now I use it to update their showing wins etc and I also have links to friends, breed clubs and my dogs parents websites too.
Was thinking that I must give it a "face lift" pretty soon :-)
Paula xxx

My ISP offered free web-space and I thought great I can show off my girls who I am very proud of.

A way of showing off photos of them and their relatives.

Brag on theri achivements.

After that I thought I had best do some educational links regarding the breed, etc etc.

I also thought what do I like to see about my breed on the web.

Before Facebook, Multiply etc it was a way of keeping up with and letting puppy owners keep up with how relatives and littermates are doing.

My website originally started before I was into the breed.  I'm from Canada and moved to the UK to get married and it was a way to keep in touch and keep people up to date with us and what we were doing.  When we then got into our breed it became more about the dogs than about us, and once we got our Affix, then the website really did become more a 'dog' site than an 'us' site, but it's still a mix.  Hubby also does some photography so it's a way to get that out there.  I don't use it to 'advertise' for litters, but I do have a puppies page.  Though I've bred one litter (with a 2nd planned for this year) I do get a lot of enquiries which I can then pre-screen and pass on to others.  It's a contact point for people looking for the breed.

I have just changed hosts, and updated the format - I now need to update the content and one of the things I want to do is to get some more 'breed specific' information.  I do have a lot of 'show' information.  I love my girls and while they'll never be Champions I enjoy their achievements and because I have friends in different countries it was nice to provide information about how our shows work over here.

I have a links page with breeders from different countries, doggie shopping stuff, photography/art sites dedicated to animals, breed related and general dog boards/lists you name it it's there.

Feel free to check it out.  I got a lot of my inspiration from others, from things that I liked, or saw what I didn't, and just went from there.  And these days with so many simple web building sites it's even easier than it was when I started.  I originally used a freebie site, then paid a friend to build my site which I maintained.  I've now moved to a Wordpress blog which I've turned into a website and is SOOO easy to do, and one of the things I love about it is I can change the look of it with the click of a button without having to change content.

Good luck and have fun if you decide to go for it.

From a puppy buyers/owners perspective:

I found websites a great way to get a feel for the type of breeder out there and to see photographs of the dogs.  I had met the breed a few times at Crufts and just before we started seriously looking I had identified the type of dog I preferred.  We met the breeder at Discover Dogs but I wasn't sure if I'd remembered her name correctly but as soon as I got home I was able to find her website and give her a call. 

Nowadays I like to watch the progress of later litters (photos posted daily) and I regularly check the results, news and photographs of my dogs relatives (and to remind myself of some of our own results and crits).  My latest puppy is currently on the home page - looking gorgeous - and it's really helpful to see how his brothers and sisters are doing.  Before we chose either of my two dogs from this breeder we used their website as a research tool to review puppy pics with the photos of the adult it grew into, compare heads, look at sizes, coats etc.  It's also very helpful to see the puppy pics of adults that you know.  My breeder played a huge part in helping me choose both of my dogs but I hope I was a little better informed each time after revising! :)

I also like to look at the websites of people in the breed that I meet at shows to see what's going on in their dogs lives.  It's interesting to see who has puppies that may be in the ring with mine in a few months!

We've had our website for about 15 years, we've been showing dogs for over 20 years.  We are very proud of all of our dogs.  Ours is divided up into pages for the boys and girls, a bit about us, their show placings, some of their show critiques (can't be bothered to do them all), links to the 2 breed clubs, dog press, rescue etc.