Puppy visit

Went with my neighbour today to look at collie x springer pups as she lost her old dog the same day I lost George.

We arrived at a bungalow which was a farm but was very close to the road---on Bodmin Moor. A lovely smooth collie greeted the car---followed by a chocolate springer type bitch---mum and dad.Then a small boy----followed by a good proportion of the 10 pups we had come to see. Nothing to stop them going onto the road,

They obviously spend all day running round the yard area along with kids on bikes, cats and chickens. They sleep in a cow shed all together. They were leaping off walls and being picked up by everyone and one managed to get some cat food---which had been put up high presumably to stop that happening.

The bitch was painfully thin and the pups were wormy.The owner said she hadn't done anything to them as she liked the new owners to do it.

My friends chose a pup and on the way home we went to Pets at Home and they saw the vet there who wormed, de flead and inoculated the pup as well as looking him over. He seems healthy.

It is an amazingly outgoing pup who chilled out on the back seat with us on the way home and apparently is not phased yet by anything it has met. Be interesting to see how he develops alongside my Ari who is not so outgoing.

rune

Gosh, I think I'd have given that place a wide birth.. Fancy letting a bitch with pups get painfully thin - I know they can lose condition, but that's really bad. Hope the pup's OK though.

My mum got her BC in similiar conditions, the poor pup was born in a hedge and nearly run over by a tractor on this big old farm

Her dog 'cassie' has turned out the most amazing dog, not frazed by anything , easily trained and a joy

I brought my mum a dog book expecting her to have lots of issues, but no 'cassie' is 12 yrs now and has always been a little sweetheart

Just goes to show you that sometimes the best dogs come from unlikely sources.

Sounds like this is one of the lucky ones, Rune - thanks to you x

I know exactly what you mean, but it can and does happen. Cosmo's mum was painfully thin when she had her pups, but she had suffered a torsion 2 days after her mating,died twice on the operating table and so had been presumed very much not pregnant. She was though...and had an exceptionally fit and healthy litter, but was painfully skinny and out of condition herself given all she had been through. She had to be fed VERY small amounts regularly still after trhe torsion, so bless her she did so well to raise the pups. She is now back on absolutely top form though.


Sooo I agree...but there can be times when mum is exceptionally thin I think?

Thats what I am hoping for this one,he is already well ahead of Ari in confidence.

rune

Once you are there its kind of too late!

You can only really check for obvious things wrong with the pups and the worms certainly were obvious (G)!


Eyes, ears and nose seemed OK.

They were certainly lively enough---they had to be to get out of the way of the bike.


rune

Sorry, but isn't this the sort of "breeder" that people always recommend on here to steer clear of? Especially if it's obvious the pups are full of worms?

It may be hard to walk away from but surely that's better than encouraging these people to breed again.

Anyway, just my thoughts and not meant to cause offence. I hope your friend enjoys the pup.

Dead right it is---unfortunately you don't know until you arrive---by which time it is very hard to walk away.After all the pups have to go somewhere.

I might have walked away---but it wouldn't have been the dog I wanted anyway.I wouldn't have walked away if it had been what I personally was looking for.

Real dilemma.

rune