How A Puppy Is Chosen
Whether sold as a “pet“ or as a “show/breeding prospect”
your puppy has been bred from the best breeding stock available and is a product
of a great deal of care, research, hard work and love. He/she is a good
representative of the breed and is structurally and temperamentally sound. Your
puppy is suited to be a wonderful companion for show, obedience, agility or
therapy work. He/she has received lots of care and socialization from us. We
are very proud of the puppies we produce! Our hope is that you enjoy your puppy
as much as we enjoy your puppy’s parents. When this happens then we have
fulfilled a large part of our goals as breeders.
Most experienced breeders will work with you in choosing
the puppy you get, instead of letting you make the choice alone. This is NOT
because you are getting the “last pick” (which many people worry about), or
because we don’t care about what you want. It is because we care a great deal
that you get the kind of puppy that will make you happy, and that each puppy
goes into the right kind of home for that particular puppy, that we help make
the choice. Years of experience and the time spent watching them grow up gives
us a much better chance of matching puppies to the proper homes. If you want a
very quiet puppy, you might visit on the one day that the quietest one is being
a terror. Or if you want an extremely “spunky” puppy, you might visit on the
one day that the feistiest little munchkin in taking a loooooong snooze or has a
belly full of breakfast. I know it’s hard, but try to trust us! Tell us as
much as you can about what you want and your lifestyle, and let us do the best
we can in helping to choose the right puppy for you. Our experience is that you
will actually find that it is much easier for us to help choose the puppy for
you, than it is for you to make the decision for yourself.
The differences between pet quality and show quality
puppies are not usually obvious to the inexperienced eye. Sometimes there are no
differences, as most breeders usually have more pet homes than show homes
available for any given litter. And since the grading of puppies is an educated
guess, even the very experienced eye is not infallible. Sometimes the
difference is something about the bite, the way the puppy moves or stands, an
angle of the shoulder blade that we feel in our hands, or that indefinable
“something” that makes us guess/hope that “this one is a show puppy.” And
sometimes we’re wrong! In any case, if we want to keep something for ourselves
to show and/or breed, or if we have show homes available, we take our best shot
at picking the best candidates for the job. The rest of the puppies are really
the lucky ones! They are the ones that get to go home with you and lie on the
sofa and play ball with the kids instead of working for a living. This is why I
like to refer to pet dogs as companion dogs. That is there first and most
important job..... to be your companion, in your house and on your bed. They
have received the same careful breeding and raising, usually look just the same,
and sometimes when we see them six months or two years later we wish we’d kept
them....... It makes us very proud to have our puppy buyers come back with
beautiful dogs that fit the standard and are good representatives of the breed.
Limited
Registration vs. Full Registration
Responsible breeders sell puppies as pets on Limited
Registration and spay/neuter contracts. This is out of a sincere concern for the
overpopulation of pets and because we believe that breeding should not take
place “in a vacuum.” The dogs involved should have something to contribute to
the breed, perhaps have distinguished themselves in some way (in conformation,
obedience, agility or field work); and the people involved should have educated
themselves on the breed standard, health problems in Beagles in general and in
the various lines, and be very knowledgeable about raising puppies and in
finding and screening good homes for them. We take continuing responsibility
for what we produce, and hope that none of our puppies is ever accidentally or
carelessly bred.
Limited Registration is a tool offered by the American
Kennel Club for responsible breeders to protect their breeding programs and
their puppies. Limited Registration is just like “Regular Registration", except
that Limited Registration dogs may not be shown in conformation, and their
offspring may not be registered with the American Kennel Club. They may be shown
in obedience, agility, and hunting tests and can obtain titles in all of those
areas.
Limited Registration is reversible to “Full Registration",
but only by the breeder of your puppy. If you happen to join a dog club, start
going to shows and then get bit by the show bug; Or, perhaps you go to an
obedience class where experienced dog people see your dog and exclaim, “He’s
gorgeous! This dog must be shown and shared with the world!" We can of course
talk about changing the registration to a full registration. We’d like to see
your dog, talk to you about conformation classes and made sure you know what
you’re getting into if you think you want to even attempt to do this. Dog
showing is not for the faint of heart, or those with limited weekend time to
travel or money to spend. You should know by the time you have your puppy
spayed or neutered whether this show bug has bitten you, and we can consider
amending the contract; otherwise you will be expected to fulfill its terms and
spay and/or neuter your friendly companion.
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BAKERSTREET PERM. REG’D BEAGLES