For all you experieced breeders - have any of you lost contact with any of your puppies' new owners - not immediately, but after a year or two? And if so, how did you cope with it?

Hi Carene, I'm not a breeder in any way, shape or form, so perhaps shouldn't be replying to this post... however I'd just like to say that I'm the opposite side of the coin.. have tried contacting my girls breeder many many times.... firstly just to let them know how she's doing and secondly to try and find some/any of my girls siblings.... to no avail!!
I have managed to find one of her brothers through my own enquiries.. so will be writing to his owners to see how he's getting on.....
What I can say is, it must be very frustrating..... like not knowing how one of children are???  Would you agree??

Yes, several. :( I still send Christmas cards, but get no response. :(

Unfortunately this is bound to happen and you have to acept that not all new owners wish to stay in touch.  I always hope that with al the stuff I have given them with my address on that should the need ocdcur they can get in touch with me.  I stamp my address inside the puppy care book, receipts,d the pedigree etc etc.

I've owned three very different breeds of dog, all from reputable breeders.  Apart from a 'how's he settled in ?' phone call a day or two after collection, none of the breeders have bothered to keep in touch.
So it works (or doesn't :) ) both ways.

Our first 2 are from the same breeder who I see more of now that I show and he kept in touch alot when we first had Chloe but i'm guessing he felt confident to leave us to get on with it with Kayla. Its nice to catch up with him at shows and I drop him an email if Kayla has done anything at shows.

Idõ's breeders, on the other hand, are probably sick of the sight of me :D We are always in touch via email or the phone and we've already stayed over at their house for quite a few shows....actually am off there on Friday as we are going to WKC together!

I think its inevitable that breeders won't be in constant touch with all puppy owners, if the breeder shows and works their dogs and the puppy owner had no interest in either then the chances are that they won't see much of each other but as long as you know your pups are loved and well cared for and that you still maintain contact with at least some of the pups then you should be happy.

JMO

Emily :)

My three cavaliers areall from the same breeders who were in regular contact until the father of the youngest was PTS with SHM (his owners have been very very supportive)since then nothing no contact to acknowledgement of our dogs & they have got rid of all but two old dogs & stopped showing(but not judging)I was shocked at first & very very upset when they didn't even acknowledge that we had lost one of the dogs suddenly, but now realise that they were mainly interested in selling us the dogs & not the dogs themselves-which is even more upsetting to me

On the other hand Roy's breeder is in regular contact & can't wait to see the disc of photographs I am compiling for him of his life here

The breeders of my other collies were always in contact & one would call round on regular basis to see "his" dog he was very proud of each & every dog he bred & had hundreds of letters & photographs of them(edited to add he didn't breed hundreds of dogs tho')

Same goes for the breeders of the GSDs especially the German imports whose breeders were in contact(one has now passed away,but his widow still keeps in contact)&one still rings & writes at least once a month

I must say we are very lucky because our breeders are brilliant especially Jo who gave us our lovely Ronnie.
She is always at the end of the phone with help and advise and has even taken him for us when we went on holiday!
Now that is customer service!! :D :D

I had an owner ring me the other day, they have not been in touch since the day they collected the pup nearly five years ago and were very short with me on the occasions I contacted them.  They now need to rehome the bitch and want help.  Of course I will help and purely by coincidence do have a potential home lined up for her to go straight into but it would be nice to have heard from them in the meantime.

Three of my dogs came from the same breeder and another from a different breeder, we are always in contact, and meet up at shows.  I am also lucky that I am still in contact with all my pups owners, 2 are still local and see them often, one weekly as he comes to my training classes :)  I got a lovely surpise a couple of weeks ago, after an e-mail and update of photos of Dino, I e-mailed back and said that I was going to an open show in their area (about 50 miles away from them) and when I was at the show, they turned up and told me someone was waiting in the car to see me.  It was Dino :D  apart from photos this was the 1st time I had seen him since he was 8 weeks old. :D :D  Also just had one of my 'babies' back for her annual holiday :)

Kerioak, I think I too will have one like this!!!

I heard from them about 4 months ago complaining because their now grown up dog was chasing people and cyclists, advised them to meet up with myself and the stud dog owner to do some training, but never heard from them again.  I keep on expecting another e-mail or phone call with a complaint and wonder what the next one will be.

I just hope that I'm wrong and don't end up in the same situation but you know when you just have one of those feelings!

Have been lucky with the rest of my pups new owners over the years so I can't complain and get to see many of them on numerous occassions so it's not all bad thankfully :d

One of my dogs' breeders is virtually my best friend now, one I email her friend occasionally cos it's easier than phoning, and the third I never hear from unless I occasionally phone her. The one who is my friend now is wonderful for advice and chats, and sends out a yearly newsletter to all her puppy owners. I'll do that if I ever have puppies!

I find people do keep regularly at first then gradually once a year.  My oldest litter is only nearly 4 years but they always get cards and a newsletter and some reply some dont.  Its human nature.  I also have my website now and a lot of them keep up with our latest wins.

my TT's breeder is fantastic she emails me every week to see how lil is getting on and i know that i can ring her and also email if i am worried about something i send her monthly pictures of lil to keep her updated and she is goes to all the shows i go to

she is a true friend who truely cares about all her pups not just the show pups

g