Where To Buy Your Puppy From

Went through our "Choosing a Breed" article and decided to purchase a German Shepherd puppy. Here is the next step, To know where to buy from. Here in Kuwait, there are plenty of choices. Let's take an overview of the choices you have:

• Friday Market

Friday market is known to all here in Kuwait. Talking about the pet section. It can only be described as a disaster! a horrible place in my opinion. The government should really invest a bit more to make it a better place. There, you can find all kind of pets from monkeys to dogs and cats. I strongly advice not to buy anything from there. Adapting a pet from local available organizations is much better. Rarely does a good breeder or dog owner show their puppies/dog in Friday market for sale.

• Advertisements

That includes newspapers, posts of advertisements in veterinary hospitals or in markets such as Sultan center. Here, you have a better chance to encounter a good breeder or dog owner. It's you who needs to confirm and check and then decide. You need to call, visit and physically check the puppies, parents and their place.

• Pet Stores

Pet stores are available in Kuwait and they import from abroad. Personally i would never buy from any of them. Why you would ask? Simply because i don't know the breeder, i didn't see the puppy parents and i have no idea about any thing other than what the pet store tells me which is (Will be imported from "X" country and the price is "Y" KD).

• Dog Shows

Here is the sad truth, local shows comes near to none. Still to be fair, PAWS - Kuwait is really doing a great work in organizing dog shows. If there is any local shows that I'm not aware of, Please Contact Us to add it in our Events page. In such shows you might encounter a good breeder if you ask around.

• Local Clubs

I noticed some kennels and dog training clubs. But not an "X" breed club. GSDCK is putting all its effort to be the only and trustworthy German Shepherd Dog club in Kuwait. On the other hand such training clubs here in Kuwait might have a breeding program or can refer you to local breeders they might know.

• Importing

Excluding the idea of importing through the pet stores covered above. Importing can be either going physically abroad and check by your self and import your puppy with you. Or, online. For the latter it could be a very bad idea if you don't know the breeder. otherwise it's the best idea. Cost is an issue here, it will cost you allot specially if it's a top quality bloodline puppy. On the other hand importing can be crucial if you are planning on breeding and need a really excellent top quality bloodline.

• Local Breeders

In my opinion this is the best idea if you could find a good local breeder. It will cost you less than importing and a very decent dog bloodline quality.

Overall it's the buyer responsibility to check on the breeder's quality and conformation to the standards and ethics before buying.You can always seek advice from veterinaries, dog trainers and clubs (i.e. GSDCK). You need to check if the breeder really takes care of his dogs and whether he knows what he's doing by asking him some questions. Mostly if not always, good breeders are the ones who start the questions. They might ask you about who lives with you, what hours you work, what kind of visitors you get, what your yard layout is like, what you are willing to spend, etc. A good breeder who cares will want to ensure that his or her puppy is going to the best home.

Below are some questions you can ask the breeder before buying a puppy:

• How long have you been breeding?
• What activities do you participate in with the dogs (shows, trials, real-world work, etc). You can ask for titles, achievements, etc of the puppy parents/history.
• What health problems have showed up in your bloodlines? (Depending on the breed, you may already know the answer. This can be considered as a test of the breeder's honesty/integrity. No bloodlines are 100% free from any sort of problem. You want a breeder who knows when/where problems popped up and how he is seeking to avoid that problem in the future.
• Ask about the pedigree of parents. The original pink/blue ones from SV.
• If all of the above information sounds like what you're looking for, then get some information on current/upcoming litters. How long is the waiting list? Price of pups? When do you need to give a deposit? Details on sales contract, health guarantee, spay/neuter (ask about it before you buy), limited registration, etc?

~By Abdulrahman A., Pic's from Kaykohl Land & Von Steinbach