Buyer beware - puppy buyers do your homework before you buy - Page 2

I sort of feel there are more benefits to buying local. You get to see the parents, perhaps the grandparents as well. You can see health certificates and scores in person. You might have a chance to see the breeders dogs live in trials..... 

Hate to sound like a broken record (can y'all remember 'records'?), but in addition to Gusmanda being right,
this discussion bears out what I keep saying :  don't buy a puppy without doing your homework FIRST;
its too late to read advice in a breed book or on the 'Net once you already have the dog in front of you.
SchHBabe: very well raised and titled post!

Gusmanda,
Sadly, with all types of publishing programs, you might be
surprised at how easily some health certifications can be faked.

Buyers need to learn to do their research before the purchase of 
course, and one of those things to do is, VERIFY any health cert's
and/or working titles etc through the issuing organizations.
That includes working scorebooks etc!  

For the OP, this is yet another good thread on hopefully 
educating buyers before they purchase, perhaps an occasional
'bump' can keep it on the front page 

Sadly, with all types of publishing programs, you might be
surprised at how easily some health certifications can be faked.

Buyers need to learn to do their research before the purchase of 
course, and one of those things to do is, VERIFY any health cert's
and/or working titles etc through the issuing organizations.
That includes working scorebooks etc!

Good point, and even verifying hip scores and title score books seems to be easier when done locally. Would be nice if all countries had data online, seems like only Slovakia has it readily available. Verifying all ancestors have good hips is probably worth more than any sort of guarantee.

Heres one.  Dont blame buyers for getting taken and ending up with an expensive, sick dog.  Dishonest people are not welome among decent folk.  If someone sells a sick dog they need to own up to it and refund the purchase price if the problem is bad enough.  It dosnt matter if its a dog or an object if you sold something poor your buyer deserves a refund and an apology.

Gusmanda
In North America, it's pretty simple to verify almost
everything with a few quick phone calls. 

AKC will verify and/or confirm a dog is indeed registered,
whether it has sired/produced a litter, and/or said dog is indeed
owned by the person trying to sell you the dog. It's not so
much 'what' you ask AKC as it is 'how' you ask them.
Sometimes even googling a dog's name will bring up info.

You can confirm titles/scores with USCA and WDA over the
phone or via email, I would imagine DVG is the same.
Trial results are also often available through an online search,
not always, but sometimes.

The SV will also confirm trial results, a stamp etc on a dog
OFA should be able to confirm if a dog has been certified
through them as well. 

So, these things are do-able, it's a matter of a buyer looking
before they leap. Often times though, they start to look 'after'
the purchase. They also then pay more attention to the 
contract/guarantee etc. Thats when the regrets start to arise.

L:ife sometimes teaches us hard lessons, and we pay a price
to learn said lessons. With the availability of the internet now,
people really don't have too much in the way of an excuse for
not learning what to ask, who to ask etc before purchase.

Sometimes when we learn things the hard way, we learn it 
better 

I understand do your homework.  Out of the two dogs I own, one is as perfect as I hoped for the other not so much.  Granted I did a lot more homework on the 2nd one and got him as a puppy.  I did rely heavily on seeing the parents though I also tried my best to learn of the dogs lineage too.  The first part is easy.  You can spend time around a dog and get a good feel for it.  The second however, isn't so easy.  I know a dog isn't his/her pedigree, but I do feel it gives us or should give us a good idea of what to expect from the litter.  I live in a remote area and will have to travel to get my next puppy.  I may or may not have the opportunity to see both parents before hand.  I hope that I will at least have someone I trust close enough to go see them for me.  However, how do I first narrow down the LONG list of breeders. I have asked for referrals (not as easy a task as it might seem) and back tracked dogs that I've seen work and liked.  This has brought me to several great looking breeders.  Now the questions is which one...

Which breeder and which cross?

Things are further complicated by the fact that I've learned enough now to have a good idea of what I want in my next puppy but not enough about the lines to start picking them apart and understanding the traits of the individual dogs listed and what they "generally" pass on.  I have a hard time picking a puppy based just on its parents.  They both could have been the exception to their lines and how are we newbies to know.  I've seen it first hand with other less experienced buyers.  Problem seems to be though, that people want to tell you what dog to buy based on who's currently winning what titles and when I ask about where the dog came from I get blank stares.