Quick question, if breeder says mum and dad kc registered but not puppies

[Mercythompson]

Because she wants them to be family pets, does that sounds like a scam?

Can see puppies with mum and both parents pedigree/registration.

[daisydotandgertie]

Sounds like a tight, shite breeder tbh.

You've not mentioned any health tests - what is the breed and what should they be tested for?

[Mercythompson]

West highland terrier

[Scuttlebutter]

The Kennel Club sets an age limit for bitches, and regulates the number of litters that can be registered against a bitch, as welfare measures. Breeders doing this are often either trying to squeeze a litter out of an older bitch or trying to get round the cap on the number of litters. Do you really want to be buying into that?

[Mercythompson]

Scuttlebutter no, which is why I asked.

[LoofahVanDross]

It would raise a red flag to me I'm afraid. I think the mum could have had several litters which have been unregistered, and that would be a no for me.

How much are they charging for a pup?

[Branleuse]

have you considered rescuing?

[tabulahrasa]

If the puppies were able to be KC registered, they would be, it only costs about £15 and is very straightforward to do.


There are lots of reasons puppies from KC registered dogs can't be registered - none of them are ones you want to be supporting.

[daisydotandgertie]

Walk away. It is not a good breeder.

There are lots of health conditions in Westies, some of which need to be tested for. Do a bit of research and contact the breed society to talk about what you are looking for. They are likely to know about good breeders within their breed.

[Mercythompson]

Loofa £465

Bran we have, are looking into it. Problem is age of our children, lots of rescues won't even consider us.

Tabula Thankyou, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

[SpicyBear]

Yes red flag as said below. If the breeder doesn't want them used for breeding they can endorse the registration so that any pups from the pups can't be KC reg. There is likely to be a more nefarious reason they are unregistered. Good breeders would register pet pups.

One possibility is her bitch is endorsed.

[Scuttlebutter]

And LOADS of rescues will happily consider families with children. Usually it's done sensibly on a dog by dog basis.

Rescues who'll rehome nationally that will look at families with young DC include Evesham greyhound and lurcher Rescue, Hope Rescue, many branches of Dogs Trust, Hounds First, Many Tears, the vast majority of greyhound/sighthound rescues, Scruples Whippet Rescue, the list goes on.

Have a look at Candy here - a gorgeous little terrier, only 8 months old, and child friendly, with Hope. They have lots of other dogs including puppies.

[Logarhythm]

Spicy bear we have come across that too - a breeder refusing to allow the pups to be used for breeding - is that a restrictive trade practice or what legitimate reason would they have to make such a demand.

[Floralnomad]

When I was looking at Westies 4 yrs ago they were from £800 upwards so that's cheap and probably for a reason ,if I were you I'd look elsewhere .

[tabulahrasa]

Good breeders often put an endorsement against breeding on a puppies pedigree, if the puppy isn't of sufficient quality to be bred from then it won't ever be lifted (a confirmation issue, mis markings or health reasons like umbilical hernias or a toy breed that's too small).

With other puppies breeders will lift the endorsement once a puppy has reached a certain level of either showing or working and has passed all the appropriate health tests.

It's to try and ensure that their puppies aren't bred indiscriminately when they shouldn't be.

[SpicyBear]

Yep what tabulah said. With the amount of terrible ill thought out breeding that goes on for cash, good breeders can use endorsements to try to ensure their lines are only bred to further the breed. I'm not saying it works, but it's the only mechanism there is.

[Logarhythm]

It does tend to keep the price high too doesn't it?

[Terrierterror]

Good breeders don't want their pups bred from because they care about the breed and don't want idiots looking at the dogs as a way to make money.

[SpicyBear]

Really excellent breeders aren't making large amounts of money from their pups. They will have spent large amounts of equipment, veterinary care and often travel (sometimes overseas) for a suitable mating. They don't tend to charge much if anything above backyard breeder rates because they prioritise finding good homes over profits. These breeders aren't using endorsements with a profit motive.

Unfortunately these breeders are the tiny minority of those pumping out kc reg pups so it's quite possible others use endorsements in that way.

[CastilianHhhhidalgo]

It's better to look for a good breeder, regardless of whether they have puppies on the ground or not, than to look for a litter that is currently available. Good breeders will usually have most, if not all, the pups spoken for long before they're ready to go to new homes and often before they're even born.

Both Champdogs and the KC site are good starting points to look for breeders.

This site shows what health tests should be done on westies prior to them being used for breeding. A good breeder should be very forthcoming with this information and be able to show you paperwork showing that the tests have been done and what the results were.

[Mercythompson]

Thank you all for posting. We are definitely not buying a puppy from that breeder. Will continue looking and search for a rescue westie aswell.

[SpicyBear]

If you are on Facebook and want to get an idea of the effort and work that goes into properly mating and raising a litter, look for a page called "Incredimal - Raising Fizz".

[Floralnomad]

Many Tears have a Westie pup called Jazz , she has a hernia and a heart murmur but that's not necessarily something to worry about . She looks incredibly cute !

[Mercythompson]

She sounds wonderful but unfortunately is too far away

[Floralnomad]

If you are interested it may be worth contacting them ,they have fosterers all over the country and IIRC they moved a pup from Wales to Sussex to meet a prospective adopter ,who was on MN , a couple of years ago.

[Scuttlebutter]

Mercy, most of the rescues I've listed offer national coverage. Typically, a dog may be in foster anywhere in the UK. They then use a network of volunteers such as myself to do things like homechecking and transport runs. When a dog has found its forever home, a transport run is organised to ensure it gets there, precisely because the location of the rescue itself, the foster home and the adopter may all geographically very different, but nobody wants that to get in the way of a successful adoption.