WHY I NO LONGER
ALLOW HOME VISITS
We have all heard “if a breeder doesn’t allow you to visit, it’s a red flag”. Of course as a buyer you have to do your due diligence and I appreciate your dedication to finding and supporting responsible breeder.
Recently an individual hiding behind the safety of generic handle and private messages on an online public forum chose to go on a compain to defame my program because I feel strongly about keeping my dogs and my family safe and comfortable and do not allow visitors to my home. This has increased the number of visitors to my website, so I would like to address the concept of visiting the breeders home from the breeder’s perspective.
First, I have to ask you this: would you invite a complete stranger approaching you from a classified ad online to purchase a piece of jewelry, into your personal home and show them contents of your safes and drawers, combination to you locks or show them bank statements to your savings accounts?
As public we are advised by every police department to not buy or sell from inside your home to people you meet online and to always exercise extreme caution and meet in a public place. We meet in public places over a houseplant or a Knick Knack that costs $20 and it would raise serious red flags for a buyer to ask to come inside. You may believe that you are a safe person, however, how am I to know this without an extensive and invasive background check? To a crook a litter of puppies is an easy score and they would go very far into deception.
I used to be a breeder who felt that if you do not trust a buyer to invite them into your home, you should not be breeding. I used to have a very open door policy and puppy owners gathered at my home to pick up their puppies on go home days. It was lovely.
Than a story of a silver poodle SylverSmith Leonards Stolen Adventure aka Lenny taught many of us a lesson no breeder wants to experience. Lenny, along with her sister Vegas, were stolen from their breeder’s back yard by a prospective buyer who set up a visit date and never “showed up”.
A month later two poodle puppies fitting the description of the police report from Bristol, Virginia were brought into my friend’s grooming salon in Gilbert, SC. Though microchip comparison it was determined that the puppies in the salon were the puppies stolen from Virginia. As the person who brought the puppies in was a relative of the “prospective buyer” and was cooperative in returning them to the breeder, charges were never filed. Lenny was offered to the salon owner and myself as a reward for reuniting them with their breeder. Sandy, Lenny and Vegas were not the first puppies “found” by this individual and their story is not an isolated one. My rescue Kerry Blue terriers Piper and Boris had a similar story, in their case, they were stolen, starved and abused first, then sold for drug money. Their “flipper” was a smoothest talker I ever met. Very well spoken, knew all the dog breeder lingo and knew what questions to ask to get the breeder to trust him. He had a system to con breeders and all of the dogs he stole came from responsible show breeders with open heart and desire to share knowledge.
If you feel that I am overreaching and somehow these are isolated incidents, please see the stories below. Innocent breeders lost lives in hands of criminals.
First, I have to ask you this: would you invite a complete stranger approaching you from a classified ad online to purchase a piece of jewelry, into your personal home and show them contents of your safes and drawers, combination to you locks or show them bank statements to your savings accounts?
As public we are advised by every police department to not buy or sell from inside your home to people you meet online and to always exercise extreme caution and meet in a public place. We meet in public places over a houseplant or a Knick Knack that costs $20 and it would raise serious red flags for a buyer to ask to come inside. You may believe that you are a safe person, however, how am I to know this without an extensive and invasive background check? To a crook a litter of puppies is an easy score and they would go very far into deception.
I used to be a breeder who felt that if you do not trust a buyer to invite them into your home, you should not be breeding. I used to have a very open door policy and puppy owners gathered at my home to pick up their puppies on go home days. It was lovely.
Than a story of a silver poodle SylverSmith Leonards Stolen Adventure aka Lenny taught many of us a lesson no breeder wants to experience. Lenny, along with her sister Vegas, were stolen from their breeder’s back yard by a prospective buyer who set up a visit date and never “showed up”.
A month later two poodle puppies fitting the description of the police report from Bristol, Virginia were brought into my friend’s grooming salon in Gilbert, SC. Though microchip comparison it was determined that the puppies in the salon were the puppies stolen from Virginia. As the person who brought the puppies in was a relative of the “prospective buyer” and was cooperative in returning them to the breeder, charges were never filed. Lenny was offered to the salon owner and myself as a reward for reuniting them with their breeder. Sandy, Lenny and Vegas were not the first puppies “found” by this individual and their story is not an isolated one. My rescue Kerry Blue terriers Piper and Boris had a similar story, in their case, they were stolen, starved and abused first, then sold for drug money. Their “flipper” was a smoothest talker I ever met. Very well spoken, knew all the dog breeder lingo and knew what questions to ask to get the breeder to trust him. He had a system to con breeders and all of the dogs he stole came from responsible show breeders with open heart and desire to share knowledge.
If you feel that I am overreaching and somehow these are isolated incidents, please see the stories below. Innocent breeders lost lives in hands of criminals.
My dogs are my family but I am also a mother to two children. Their safety and comfort is my priority. They did not choose to do what I do. As their mother I have to be able to sleep at night not worrying if I made a judgement lapse and allowed a wrong person into my home.
What we can do to learn about “condition” of my puppies instead of a visit.
If you still want to judge me harshly based on this one aspect of my program that’s ok. At least I sleep tight knowing that did not let my dogs and my family down. Their safety and comfort is what is more important to me than selling a puppy.
What we can do to learn about “condition” of my puppies instead of a visit.
- Look over my Facebook page and Instagram. I post candids there, not just polished studio photos. You can see the condition of my puppies and how they are raised.
- You can interact with my puppy families on my Facebook page, and once you join the waitlist, you have access to a private Facebook group and there is a nice group there sharing their Moonrise pups
- You are welcome to meet me at the my vets office or at a dog show.
- We can have FaceTime or Zoom call.
- Once you have a puppy reservation, you are welcome to join us on the temperament assessments.
- I do not ship my puppies and you always meet your puppy in person before taking her home.
If you still want to judge me harshly based on this one aspect of my program that’s ok. At least I sleep tight knowing that did not let my dogs and my family down. Their safety and comfort is what is more important to me than selling a puppy.