Hi all

My partner and I have been researching extensively on King Charles Cavaliers, we've decided the breed is 100% for us and would love to have one join our little family next year! We are contacting a selection of good breeders currently to hopefully buy a pup in the summer next year.

We wondered what breeders may ask or look for when screening for potential new owners?

Thanks so much!

Becca and Pat

becca.lewis
:
Firstly well done for doing your research and being prepared to find a good breeder and wait for the right Puppy.
This is something a Breeder will ask you about and be keen to discuss your knowledge with you.

They will want to know your work commitments, what sort of environment you can offer a new addition and
whether you have had previous experience with a dog/puppy. If you plan to get involved with showing, working,
or agility etc and what your thoughts are on socialising the Puppy, training classes you would partake in,
your thoughts on health insurance, breeding, spaying/neutering and how you personally come across as
offering a forever home by visiting the litter at least twice over the 8/10 week waiting period before collection.

I am sure there will be lots of different vetting from individual breeders and further advice here on the Forum.
Hope this is of initial help and good luck with your search

One of the first things that puts me off is if a prospective new owner's first question is 'how much'.   I know it's relevant, maybe more so these days, but as is the case, if you have to ask, you may not be able to afford.

I'm afraid I go by meeting the people.  Seeing how they react to the puppy if very important much as it would depend on the age of the puppies when they first come to visit (and nobody came in before at least 5 weeks).   I had somebody in the breed come to see a litter I had, (not to buy, just look) and before I could blink, she'd reached over the whelping box and pulled one of the puppies up by her scruff.    I nearly died.   I couldn't get rid of her fast enough.   Also relevant is how parents control their kids too!

Yes there were the usual questions to be asked and answered, them of me too, but in general there were only a few occasions when I had to say no.

I have to say it's the one part of doing a litter that I hated....................

Firstly please get the breed name right, some people get upset if potential owners don't know the breed name.

They are Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, King Charles Spaniels are a separate breed

> Firstly please get the breed name right, some people get upset if potential owners don't know the breed name

IMO I can't believe that you would be rejected if not using a Breed's full title.  Many many other aspects of more importance
would be key.  Some Breeders even shorten the full breed name as an endearment...I refer to my Breeds as Labs & Cockers'
Key ho

It does help show your knowledge and research if u speak to breeder using the correct name to start with especially when in this case they are 2 different  breeds
I agree with Ann who was just giving the op the heads up to help

saying lab instead of labrador is a shortening and not a different breed .
I

I agree, I too have a breed which is so often miss-called  a BerMese mountain dog.  If puppy hunters do not even know the name I  seriously doubt they have any idea of the breeds traits. Not an encouraging start in my mind.

As Ann said you do need to get the breed name right as some are very similar, also the coat type. Don’t say long hair when it’s rough coat for example. All these things are easily found out before you speak to a breeder and if you get it wrong it does put you on the back foot. It’s not as simple as Hoggie seems to think. A Lab and a Labrador are exactly the same thing. Another example is a Parson Russell Terrier and a Jack Russell Terrier which are different breeds, but some call them long legged and short legged. And don’t ask for miniature if you aren’t 100% sure it actually exists. If you aren’t sure on anything then ask the breeder outright, it shows willingness to learn.

I send a 5 page questionnaire out to all potential owners asking questions including things like who is living in the household and their ages, occupations, how long the puppy will be left alone during the day. What are their plans for holidays, where will the dog sleep, do they have any other pets, ages, spayed/neutered, what research have they done on the breed and have they owned one before. Are they looking at any other breeds? If they are looking at something else completely at the other end of the spectrum it says to me that they don’t really know what they want. Do they own their own home, if not can they get a letter from their landlord giving permission for pets, what size is their garden, is it secure, what is their general lifestyle like. There are a few more questions but I can’t think of them off the top of my head - it’s been a long day!

The only way people can get on my waiting list is to fill the questionnaire in and send it back to me. If they can’t be bothered to do that then there is no way they are getting one of my puppies. Hope that helps.

Whoops sorry. Very dyslexic so it’s often difficult to type and re-read over to check for error! Hope that doesnt make you think I’m lazy!

becca.lewis> Whoops sorry. Very dyslexic so it’s often difficult to type and re-read over to check for error! Hope that doesnt make you think I’m lazy!

Don't be sorry becca...you're not lazy when you have already taken the process of buying a Puppy seriously.  We all have our wee problems (I know I do) but don't be scared to follow your heart - (which you have demonstrated) - and continue your quest to find the right Puppy for you The Forum is an advice line to many
not a compulsary way of thinking so my advice would be - take on all the points relevant to you and discard what's not.  We all have differing views

The easiest way is to call Cavaliers just Cavaliers as this is what most breeders call them
King Charles breeders tend to call their dogs Charlie's BTW,.  These are the right nicknames for the two breeds akin to lab for Labradors, etc

Might be good to check out the correct colour names for the breed for example brown & white is called Blenheim(these were originally Blenheim Spaniels) brown is called Ruby, black & brown is Black & tan & black, white & brown is a Tricolour. This does show the breeder that you know something about the breed.

It might sound a bit petty to discount someone on the basis of getting the name of the breed wrong, but it’s one way to screen out people who haven’t done basic research on the breed in question.

No doubt some good potential owners will get tripped up by this too (and no doubt some terrible ones may know the breed inside out and therefore “pass”), but anyone really good or really bad will hopefully out themselves with their answers to other questions.

I don’t think it’s terrible to expect people to know basic information even if it doesn’t seem important.

As a human example, I have a first name which has at least two forms, with my version being less popular (not unusual though) but easy to distinguish if you listen properly when I introduce myself. And it’s extremely tiresome to correct it when it’s mispronounced or misspelled pretty much every time I meet someone new!

It may seem petty to you, but to a responsible caring breeder, who is aiming to improve their chosen breed it's a bit naive to not know the correct name of the breed for example a White Highland Terrier-I knew a breeder of WHWTs who would put the phone down on calls asking about WHTs, she never had any problems finding good homes for the puppies she didn't keep.
It may seem minor error, but like asking about a colour of a breed in the wrong terminology again shows a lack of knowledge & research into the breed.
If I was thinking of buying a puppy of a breed I haven't owned or been involved with before I would do extensive research on all aspects of the breed, before even contacting or looking for a breeder

I was just thinking that when we meet a stranger who actually recognises my dog’s breed (not often, we get chihuahua cross a lot), there’s about a 50% chance they will mispronounce and ask “is he a pap-ill-on?” rather than “pap-ee-on”. That doesn’t bother me much because they’ve clearly read the name somewhere but just don’t know how to pronounce French.

Mind you, most papillon breeders I’ve spoken to pronounce phalène (drop eared papillon) incorrectly!

*My favourite so has been Chinese Crested Powderpuff, when he was a pup. This was from someone who actually owns a powderpuff!!

> I send a 5 page questionnaire out to all potential owners asking questions including things like who is living in the household and their ages,

Really?  5 pages .... even Rescues don't ask for that number of pages to be completed in their application forms   I ask all those kind of question when I meet the prospective owners, face to face.   Regardless of how they answer a form, I still need to meet them.

As for correct breed names - thankfully nobody ever asked me for a Hush Puppy but even if they did, that wouldn't stop be meeting them at least.

I dont think masajack was saying she didn't also need to meet people .just that using the form as a first contact enables her to decide who is totally unsuitable and who may turn out to be a good new owner so I likley to be invited to meet her and her dogs
Just want to point put to becca that the discussion on the importance of breed names is not aimed at her .
As she has explain it was a mistake when writing not ignorance. Easily done given how bad my trying is :)

Typing lol not trying ! :)

when I had weimaraners it was quite common for someone to come over to admire and then shyly ask just how do you say their name?  They were very interested in owning one usually and knew full well it would not go in their favour to not know how to say it!  (and then I'd wreck their plans by telling them just how much exercise a dog like that needs to avoid having the dog destroy their home)

It’s spaced out with loads of space for answers too Mamabas so not 5 pages of solid questions if you know what I mean

I use it to prescreen then go over their answers on the phone and when I meet them face to face. I’ve had a few who were complete no go’s just from the form.

Got used to people talking about my 'Alsatian' and daughters 'Rockweiler' !

>'Alsatian' and daughters 'Rockweiler'

Heading in the right direction though tatty-ead

I have certain criteria that are non-negotiable (with a few exceptions). They are:

- All the adults are not full-time workers outside the house from 9-5pm, and there is thought put in to who is going to look after the puppy with the puppy not having to be left alone for longer than an hour or so at first. This can increase to 4 hours when fully grown but that won't be possible at first.
- No kids under the age of 12yo.
- An interest in training - already looked into dog training classes in the area or watched them, learnt a bit about dog sports or showing etc. They don't need to want to make up the next obedience champion, but need to have a priority of raising a well-trained responsive dog.

And then the people who would go to the top of my list on top of those who meet the above criteria are:

- Those who intend to compete or work or show their dog and may already have done this with previous dogs, or are showing an intense interest in doing it with this dog.
- Those who demonstrate they plan to stay in touch beyond just collecting a puppy and see this as the start of a relationship with me - and those that want my input (they don't have to always do what I say, but they value my input).

onetwothreefour:

> - Those who demonstrate they plan to stay in touch beyond just collecting a puppy

Absolutely Agree and I find this the most rewarding part of being a Breeder.  The pics. emails, pupdates and often revisits makes it all worth while.