01 Mar Finding A Bernese Puppy…
Having done all you can to educate yourself and decided that a Bernese is for you then you will need to set about locating a puppy. At times there are few litters to find and it can be difficult, especially for the beginner, to locate a puppy. This is where the contacts you may have already made through the above information gathering could come in useful.
Club events and general shows are good sources of “gossip” regarding who has litters at the moment, breed club secretaries often hear of matings and whelpings and if you have made a ‘local contact’ who is active in the breed, they will probably prove of most use as, even if not breeding themselves, they will be able to suggest the most likely sources of puppies for you.
All sources of information should be evaluated but especially Social Media and the internet where people can post whatever information they like with no checks on its accuracy and some legitimate looking sites may not be as they appear. For example sometimes sites and posts appearing to be from ‘one off’ breeders are actually a front for a ‘puppy farm’. This is probably the online equivalent of a home appearing to be a family home with a litter in situ but actually being a rented address solely for the purpose presenting puppies as being ‘home’ bred. Yes, just like the rest of human activity some people will tell lies to make money in the dog world.
Contrary to the mistake many people make, any BMD puppy is not the same as another. There are many factors in background of animals, breeding selection, health testing, initial puppy rearing that can give an idea of the likely ‘quality’ of your puppy or will affect your puppy’s future life with you. It is entirely true that there can never be absolute guarantees that everything will be fine with any animal but you can, and should, do what you can to increase the chances of things being well.
You can seek out local breeders and owners to find out about the breed and these contacts may be good sources of puppy information for you. Some breeders may welcome to visit baby puppies to learn more and gain experience of looking at a litter.
Many breed clubs and official bodies have policies of not recommending any individual breeders as they cannot make any guarantees about them or their puppies and people will understandably, no matter what qualifiers the club issues to go along with the information, take any such referral as a recommendation from the club.
Kennel Club registration is sometimes taken as a sign of quality and good ethics and standards but this is not necessarily the case, there are no checks on dogs registered at the Kennel Club. The Kennel Club endorse breeders via their Assured Breeder Scheme but that too has inevitable flaws and relies on a lot of trust to mean what it sometimes claims to mean. The ABS does mean that breeders have undertaken the health checks recommended for their breed but there is no standard applied to the decisions taken after doing the checks and, as you can read elsewhere on this web site**, this would be a virtually impossible thing to insist on in any meaningful way. ABS breeders, have their premises inspected by KC inspectors but this is one visit every 3 years. Since the licensing law changes following the updates to the Animal Health Act 2018, many ABS breeders are also local authority licensed breeders and will have further premises inspections but again only periodically. As part of these inspections practices and record keeping will be checked but sadly none of this can provide any guarantee of puppy quality.
Whilst health and physical appearance and other characteristics are important, your dog has to be part of your family and the prime concern, for you and any breeder, should always be TEMPERAMENT. The stud dog’s influence should not be forgotten, you may be able to see him and talk to his owners at a show or event. Ask if the bitch has a good disposition and is not aggressive or nervous. When you visit make sure you can see the bitch with the puppies, most bitches with good temperaments are completely tolerant of visitors after the first few weeks, or even from the beginning in some cases. If you are not happy with anything you see or answers you hear then do not commit yourself until you have taken further advice, it is better, for you and the dog, to wait for the right puppy than rush in and make a mistake.
It can be rather a trial to find your first Bernese but most people feel it is worth the wait when they become part of the Bernese community and have their puppy to enjoy.
** for example see explanation for point 15.3 in the club constitution