01/25/2025
This is a well written post aimed at puppy buyers.
Much of the content in this post is Border Collie specific, but most is relevant to any breed. Also, it is written from a UK approach, so keep in mind the organizations are not applicable to the US. Organizations and tests in the US have different names.
BUYER BEWARE! Today our breed expert looks at:
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BUYING A BC PUP
Getting a healthy, well bred and well raised Border collie puppy should ideally be a straightforward experience for any owner, but unfortunately so often it is not. And in fact a main reason I began breeding my own dogs – like many others, I am sure – was due to how hard I was finding it to get exactly the kind of collies I wanted elsewhere. In terms of breeding, health, temperament and the highest quality of earliest rearing, which I know from my own experience can make such a difference to how these dogs later turn out.
Many people are happy to leave this whole issue up to simple ‘luck’. In terms of where they get a dog from and how they later turn out. Which is fine as long as you only have good luck with a dog, but not quite so good if you don’t. And maybe, throughout my professional life, I have just met too many owners who had the less good luck with their dogs, as a result of where they got them from; the dogs with more serious health or behavioural issues. And it does tend to better concentrate the mind.
The world of dog breeding in general these days, alas, is one where many less scrupulous people operate – especially online – and where you can get punished very heavily for what you did not know, when you needed to know it. So I just hope this feature gives you some more valuable advice on how you should go about the mission of getting a really good collie pup.
GOOD AND LESS GOOD BREEDERS
First, be prepared to wait for the right puppy. There is always a temptation to get the nearest puppy or the cheapest puppy or the puppy that is soonest available. But none of these factors necessarily mean you are getting the best quality pup, and sometimes quite the reverse.
Conversely, the best breeders, who do everything right, aren’t always as easy to find as the less good ones who do everything less well, breed far more often, and constantly advertise their pups online. Good breeders tend to breed far less often and may also have waiting lists. If you see a breeder constantly advertising new litters online, and making a thing of offering ‘a wide range of colours’, as if they were selling shoes, rather than living, breathing creatures, that would certainly be a red flag for me.
There are people who see dogs purely as commodities, and their bodies simply things to exploit and make money out of. They don’t bother about things that may cost extra, and thus eat into their profit margins – like proper health screening, or the wealth of other costs involved in raising really good quality pups – everything from regular worming to optimum nutrition. Or take the time it requires, daily, to properly socialise them. We all know people like this exist. The question is why you would want to get your own dog from them.
WHAT IS A ‘QUALITY’ BREEDER?
We often hear people say that they got their pup from a ‘top quality breeder’ and something still went more seriously wrong with either their health or temperament. But actually it also depends on what is meant by ‘top quality’. Especially if this is only a description the breeder gave themselves. For a breeder can only be as ‘top quality’ as the quality of the dogs they produce.
Of course, it is still possible for a good breeder to do everything right, but just be really unlucky in how one or more of their puppies turn out, health or temperament wise, due to genetic or other factors they could not possibly have foreseen in advance. And it is important for owners to understand this. Not everything that goes wrong with a collie puppy can be predicted in advance by a breeder. But you do expect them to do everything in their power to try to prevent more serious issues arising if they can.
PRICES & PEDIGREES
When looking at any online ads for BC puppies, the first thing you might notice is that some are far more expensive than others. This is usually – but not always - because they are pedigree Border collies, which are always worth more. Not just because they have pedigrees, but also – hopefully- because the parents will have undergone more scrupulous health screening, which tends to be a more standard practice among better pedigree dog breeders. In general there is a lot more expense – including higher stud fees - involved in breeding pedigree dogs well.
So you should always find out what DNA health screens your would-be pup’s parents have had before buying. I have done a past post on the DNA ones that should be done, link here:
https://www.facebook.com/Collieology/photos/a.132270815015362/531932998382473/
Both parents should also be hip scored, with ideally a combined score of less than the breed average of 13. Breeders should also ideally do BAER hearing tests on their puppies.
If your pedigree pup’s parents have not had more thorough health screening of this kind then you would have to ask why. Especially given the massive impact it can have on the health of any pup if both their parents were carrying more serious conditions; some of which can require life-long medication or treatment or even be fatal. Also, ensure you see original copies of any health tests your would-be pup’s parents have had. Most good breeders will be happy to show them to you without you even asking.
PUREBRED V PEDIGREE
Sometimes people will advertise pups as ‘purebred’ – as opposed to pedigree - Border collies, which is a totally meaningless term. A dog is either a pedigree BC – which means it is registered with the relevant working dog governing body in your country (which is the ISDS in the UK) or relevant Kennel Club in your country and thus descends more undisputedly from pure BC stock - or it is not. Border collies in the UK can also be dual-registered with both the ISDS and KC, depending on their past breeding. There are so many dogs who may look like pedigree Border collies, but still can’t be officially classed as such without the right paperwork. Whether your dog is a pedigree Border collie or not might not matter one iota to you, but you should not pay extra for a ‘pedigree’ dog if you aren’t actually being sold one.
WHY NO REGISTRATION PAPERS?
Another thing to look out for in ads are breeders who say that the parents of their pups are KC registered, but the pups will not be. So given that registering pups with a Kennel Club is not that difficult an undertaking, the question you have to ask is why? A possibility is that one or both of the pups’ pedigree parents are ‘endorsed’; i.e. their original breeders instructed their relevant Kennel Club that these dogs should not be bred from, or have their offspring registered with a KC.
Endorsing can often be done more routinely by breeders to stop people breeding more indiscriminately from their dogs, or because the dogs in question carry a health defect they do not want carried on. Either way it looks more suspect. And puppies not registered with a KC are still not pedigree dogs.
Be wary too of breeders unable to give you the KC or working registration papers of your pup, when you buy them, to confirm their pedigree status, and say they will send them on to you later, as too often those papers never arrive. So it is a good idea, before buying a puppy, to at least see the registration numbers/papers of their parents, instead, and take a picture of them. You can then always check these out later with your relevant KC/working dog organisation if you want to. If they cannot or won’t produce these either, then you have to wonder if you are really buying a pedigree puppy.
SCAMS
Over and above the pointers already outlined, do be aware of how many less scrupulous breeders can now hide behind the greater anonymity provided by the internet and mobile phones. They can, for instance, send to you or post online any picture of a litter, or puppy, which may well not be the pups they are actually selling. They may also ask you for a deposit for a puppy before you have even visited them. This has now become a well known scam, and once they have your money you may never hear from them again.
So ALWAYS visit a breeder in person to meet both the mother of a pup you are interested in, and the pup themselves, plus the environment in which they are raised. Less scrupulous breeders will make all manner of excuses to stop you doing this, or suggest delivering a puppy to your door or meeting you somewhere halfway between your home and theirs – like a motorway service station. Either because the environment in which the pups were born and raised was pretty squalid, or because they are actually puppy brokers; i.e. people who sell on pups for other breeders, who may be puppy farmers or deal in illegally imported puppies from other countries.
We know of so many cases of people who got puppies on this basis; puppies who were either too young to leave home, or soon got sick or even died, whereafter the person who sold them never got in touch with them again.
BE WISE TO PRESSURE TACTICS
Sometimes if you show hesitation about not being able to visit a breeder in person, the same kind of people will use classic pressure tactics like, if you don’t buy the pup now someone else is interested and will buy them instead. It is nearly always a lie. See it for what it is. And if a breeder will not let you visit their home to see puppies, go no further - and simply walk away.
Good breeders also never talk about the price of their puppies first. They want to talk about YOU first instead and your home and lifestyle to see if you really are the best match for one of their dogs. Expect this kind of grilling. Do not be insulted by it and see it as a sign of their greater care and commitment towards their dogs’ welfare instead. Not everyone has a life or a home totally suitable for a Border collie.
CHANCE
This feature has mainly dealt with buying the best possible collie puppy, but still don’t forget the option of getting a rescue collie instead. This can also be a situation where ‘chance’ will play its part, to some degree, in terms of the dog you end up with via this route. But when the right dog comes across the right person, ready to give them that vital second chance at happiness, the results are often pretty magical. As I have seen time and time again.
©Carol Price/Collieology 2025
Carol Price collie books: In the UK from: https://performancedog.co.uk/?s=carol+price In the USA from: https://www.dogwise.com/ # and https://www.cleanrun.com/product/border_collies_a_breed_apart_book_1_secrets_of_the_working_mind/index.cfm In Canada from https://4mymerles.com/collections/books In Australia from: https://gameondogs.com.au/ And in the Netherlands and Belgium from: https://mediaboek.nl/border-collies-a-breed-apart-book-1.html
