05/13/2025
I feel the need to educate people a bit. I understand a pet buyers emphasis on wanting a specific color, however, as breeders we cannot control what each litter brings us.
For example my current litters SHOULD HAVE BEEN, all colors possible.
R***r (blue merle) x Drive (red tri) gave me 2 red merle males and a red tri female.
Thumper (black tri) x Rumor (red merle) gave me 2 black tri males, 2 red tri males and a red tri female.
So in TWO "All color" litters, not a single blue merle, and only 2 females!
As an ethical breeder, my goal is to build better dogs. I breed first and foremost for my own show program, it is also important that dogs of this quality go into other ethical show/breeding homes to help improve the breed, especially with all the poor type our there! ANY BREEDER who breeds purely for pets, is also breeding purely for profit, they do not care about the future of their breed at all.
Pet quality vs Show quality.....
Every purebred dog has a written breed standard, (a blue print if you will) of what the ideal example of each breed should be. Every ethical breeder, breeds their own interpretation of the breed standard, this is our passion, our art, our opus. While there is no such thing as perfection, our goal is to get as close to that as possible. Show quality puppies have surpassed not only multiple structural evaluations (I evaluate at 4, 6, and 8wk, then continue to evaluate my keepers as they develop), but also health evaluations, Eye CAER by a veterinary ophthalmologist, and a vet check. Movement and temperament are also evaluated, and finally s*x and color.
Pet puppies are puppies that for one reason or another do not pass the stringent evaluation process. They may have a mismarked color fault (ie..half white face, white ear, etc) which would prevent them from showing. They may also have a minor nototation on their eye exam, or something noted in their vet exam. These things will never prevent them from leading a normal life, but would again prevent them from being in a show/breeding program.
So that being said, when pet buyers sole emphasis is on the color of the puppy, it extremely limits their opportunity to get a really nice puppy from an ethical breeder.
At the end of the day, pet puppies are equally as well bred as the pick show puppy, they also have multiple generations of champions in their lineage, multiple generations of health tested dogs in their lineage, are socialized, vaccinated, dewormed, microchipped etc, just like all the others.
So shouldn't your first priority be health? Temperament? Buying from an ethical source vs a backyard breeder?
If you focus solely on color, you are missing out on the opportunity to own the best dog of your life. Is color really that important?
So my advice to pet buyers is....find your breeder, and be willing to wait however long it may take to get the color you desire, or be flexible and take the best pet puppy from the best breeder, regardless as to s*x/color.
****And one more thing****
When you get impatient and choose to buy a puppy from a backyard, irresponsible breeder because it is "the right color" you are setting yourself up for health issues, temperament issues due to poor genetics, and you are directly affecting the quality of the breed by supporting unethical breeders, as they continue to breed, as long as they continue to profit!!!!
