How to Tell If a Dog Breeder Is Legit

Three things separate a good breeder from a bad one faster than anything else. Breed specific health testing with results you can look up, meeting the mother in the home where the puppies were raised, and a waitlist. If a breeder has all three, you are probably fine. If any one is missing, keep looking, because the price of a badly bred dog is paid over the next twelve years and not at pickup.

Here is the full checklist I give clients.

Health testing, specifically

Vet checked is not health testing. A vet check confirms the puppy does not currently have an infection. Health testing means the parents were screened for the genetic conditions that run in that breed, before they were bred.

• Hips and elbows. OFA or PennHIP certification on both parents for any medium or large breed. You should be able to search the results yourself on the OFA website by the dog's registered name.
• Eyes. An annual ophthalmologist exam, not a regular vet looking with a light.
• Heart. Cardiologist evaluation, required in a number of breeds.
• Breed specific DNA panels. Every breed has its own list. Look up your breed's parent club recommendations before you call anyone.

Ask for the registered names of both parents and check the results yourself. A breeder who gets defensive about that question has told you everything you need to know.

Meeting the mother and the setup

See the mother, in the place the puppies live, in person or at minimum on a live video call where you can see the room. Not photos, not a video they filmed earlier.

The mother should be friendly, in good condition, and comfortable with you being near her puppies. A mother who is fearful or aggressive is either poorly socialized herself or in a bad situation, and either way you are looking at a temperament risk. Puppies raised in a home should be around household noise. Kennel raised puppies from a serious working breeder can also be fine, but you want to see enrichment and handling, not a row of runs.

The red flags

• Multiple breeds available. Three or four breeds with puppies available now is a volume operation.
• Puppies always in stock. A good breeder has one or two litters a year and a waitlist.
• Will meet you in a parking lot. Never. You go to where the puppies were raised or you do not buy.
• Ready to go at six weeks. Eight weeks minimum, and many good breeders hold until nine or ten. Early separation costs bite inhibition and social skills.
• Payment by wire or app only, with a deposit before you have talked. Standard scam pattern.
• They do not ask you anything. A breeder who does not interview you does not care where the puppy ends up.
• Rare colors at a premium. Merle in breeds where it does not occur naturally, silver, and other novelty colors usually signal that the priority is marketing rather than health.

The questions to ask

1. What health testing did you do on both parents, and what are their registered names? You are going to verify.
2. Why did you breed this pairing? You want a real answer about temperament, structure, or working ability. Because people wanted puppies is not one.
3. What do you do for socialization between three and eight weeks? You want to hear about surfaces, sounds, handling, and car rides.
4. What is your contract? A good one includes a health guarantee and a clause requiring the dog come back to them if you cannot keep it, for the dog's whole life.
5. Can I contact owners from previous litters? Then actually contact two of them.

The honest part about rescue

I train a lot of rescue dogs and I am not going to tell you that buying from a breeder is the only responsible route. If you want a predictable temperament and a known health history for a specific job, a well bred puppy is the safer bet and worth what it costs. If you want a family pet and are willing to work with more unknowns, there are excellent dogs in rescue right now, including plenty of purebreds through breed specific rescues.

What I would push back on is the middle option, which is buying a cheap puppy from an unverified backyard breeder off a classified ad. That is the version with the highest odds of health and temperament problems and it is where most of my hardest cases come from.

After you pick

Ask what food the puppies are on and bring some home, ask what surfaces they have walked on, and ask for the vaccination record on pickup day. Then plan the first week before the puppy arrives, because that week sets more of the trajectory than most people expect. My free first seven days blueprint walks through it hour by hour. Download the First 7 Days blueprint

Ready to train your dog?

Every drill in this article comes from the WorldWide K9 Academy course library. If you want the full step by step system, start with the $5 intro course.