"many bad breeders who advertise with the kennel club too! and even by word of mouth believe it or not " oh ! i believe it jenny and I know what you are saying its not how big your purse is that should count but how big your heart is ... and why are some breeds so expensive I have never understood that ?

some good points Jenny ......but to breed a healthy litter requires health testing which isn't cheap I have said before i don't have a prob with free ads if thats the road people wish to choose ......i do agree that some breeders price over the top and pups from free ads can be cheaper but agree with mini you pay for what you get

agree SB ...........

I always advise against buying from pups advertised in the free papers and/or the online adverts. (For my particular breed especially)

All good breeders should have a waiting list for pups IMHO

I dont agree with BYB's and find they use this sort of site and come up with all these bloody stupid names like co*kapoo no kidding cocker x poodle
and charge like a wounded bull.
I dont bred that often only when I require another family member and I have a wating list for people who are willing to wait and I'm always up front about how long before I bred and the fact that she has to pass all her health checks before I use her, and there is also referals
so No I wouldn't use any

I think you have made some good points China ....although we have been going off track a bit on this thread...my personal opinion is a breeder you know is prob better
when i sell a pup i always make it totally clear that i am also selling a life time comitment as well ...we here are waiting to see if our first grandbabies are on the way pippa's daughter has been mated we will be there all the way with the litter as our comitment didn't end when she left the nest .....I just hope anyone who buys a pup from a breeder or the admart gets the same comitment thats all i hope for

Hi Charmed one, no there may be nothing ' wrong' with free adds as such....and some 'breeders' may choose to use them...that is their choice, but I think * 'good breeders' who breed for the right reasons would neither choose to or need to advertise in free ads.

As I said in my previous post the puppy farmers need an outlet to sell their puppies, after all they won't be using word of mouth or legitimate channels so where better than free adds, it gives them a chance to scrape every last penny from the sale of the puppies and people why buy a puppy on a whim to get a cheap puppy quickly. If I were a breeder I would not want any puppies of mine sold along side those in the free adds, neither would I recommend that anyone buys a dog or puppy from there...instead do lots of research, find a good breeder and be prepared to wait.

* i.e. IMO 'good breeders' are those who breed for the right reasons, these are people who do not breed to make money and only breed the occasional litter to maintain breed lines/improve the breed /produce a few healthy puppies for themselves and those who are prepare to wait for one of their puppies.

Added
NB, I am not referring to any one specific free newspaper or website, but the free advertising of puppies and dogs in general.

I also think that a good breeder should go by recommendations, obviously someone well known, with dogs that are admired, will have a waiting list much longer than the amount of pups they can produce... However I do think sometimes, in the rarer breeds, people might get pups left over from big litters because the supply outstrips the demand.... in this case I think it's ok to advertise, but if it was me I would rather do it through my breed club who have got waiting lists of their own, and can contact people. (I don't know if all breed clubs do this though...)

Jenny look at how much hipscoring or an emergency cesarean costs then that means the good breeders would go bankrupt pretty quick! Of course it depends on what sort of price you're talking about, I paid £650 for Archie and I consider it a bargain as for that amount of money I got a happy, fat, healthy puppy, with an excellent temperament, who had been well socialised and didn't really bat an eyelid at anything! (he had been riding in the car since he was about 6 weeks old and has never been carsick for example) With training he has turned out to be almost perfect and I'll be proud to live with him for the rest of his life... spread out over 15 years or so £650 is nothing....

I consider that I paid the breeder money not only to cover the costs of breeding, but also for the time and trouble she took to ensure all her puppies were well adjusted... You should have seen these little things at 6 weeks, my mum my sister and I came in and they all ran at us, not a single one out of the litter was scared or nervous at all!

Imagine if I had gone to the free ads for Archie.... I could have got any pup, with dodgy temperament or bad health problems, or I could have gotten an excellent quality pup.... but it's a lottery and you don't really know what you're getting!... it's a risk that I did as much as I could to minimize because a nervous dog with health problems is not something I wanted to go through again.

leos are a relatively rare breed that is now starting to grow in numbers,
the way to purchase any dog in mho is to contact the clubs of the breed,find out the info needed on that breed and then contact the breeders.
we got holly due to asking tobys breeder which lines would be compatable with tobys if we ever breed and she put us in the right direction.
then introduced us to hollys breeder at a club show for our names to go on her list.
some forms of advertising can be needed lets face it even if you planned a mating and put it on your own web site your still advertising a future litter.or using your breed club site.
what ever way breeders choose to use it is upto them to make sure the pups go to the right home and the right people.
so as for advertising rare breeds it isn't needed to advertise pups in a free paper, the internet can give possible owners the info needed for any breed.

sorry inca please dont be mad fo me disagreeing , but you dont always get what you pay for, when we got a pup we paid £500 for him and thats the right price for the breed and he had very bad health and to make it worse the person we got him from was recommended by a very good breeder and someone who shows and a big part of the showing world, so no you dont always get what you pay for and no you dont always get good dogs by going to the kennel club nor some good breeders.
We got leland from a free ads newspaper and he has been the best dog there is, there is nothing wrong with him at all and we even paid cheaper, if you know what you are looking for and know how to check a puppy right its amazing what you can find in a free ads newspaper or website.

but each to there own you cannot tell people what they can and cant do its their choice