THE DOG CARE SERIES

HOW AND WHEN SHOULD YOU GET YOUR PUPPY

- Ashish Anthony*

WHERE SHOULD YOU GET YOUR PUPPY FROM

There are many different places to get your puppy, right from private owners, kennels, breeders, or pet stores. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

Private Owners: Private owners can give you much better information about the mother and puppies, but once you get the puppy, you are on your own as this will come under unorganized business. Since it is an unorganized business, there are no guarantees. Also, private owners do not go through the general breeding norms, which a reputable breeder definitely will.

Breeder: Things like selecting right parents, going through the routine of de-worming and vaccinating the mother before conception of puppies, looking at the genetics of parents, etc. – a breeder will look after and take care of these things. A breeder will also select which puppy to sell to whom and how much to set the price at. However, it is not likely that breeders will always have a litter, and they will stick to very few breeds (2 or 3 breeds maximum). This is because breeding is a very technical field, and breeders specialize in one or two breeds only.

Kennels: Kennels would have a larger number of puppies, some more organized than others, and they have a proper business set up with a spacious place for breeding, manpower, etc. Here you can find a wider variety, but due to the large number of pets kept in one area, there might be silent carriers or future infections. A lot of care is typically taken, with a lot of hygiene procedures enforced, but when large number of pets are together, this is unavoidable.