Want Puppies

[Guest Diana]

Well,

I'm the sort of person responsible breeders would hope to sell to. Yet hardly any breeders respond to polite e-mail inquiries in which I describe our interests and situation (one breeder with no puppies was kind enough to respond that we seemed the sort breeders would be very pleased to sell to.)

You-all would be horrified if we bought puppies from pet shops or the newspaper, wouldnt you? Then why can't I get the time of day? Why post e-mail addresses in the first place?

We are just starting our search but are already very frustrated with the community. C'mon, people!

[bradl]

In the case of CTCA-listed breeders, the email is automatically pulled from our membership database along with the other contact information if they request listing. The fact that an address is listed doesn't say anything about how they feel about email contacts for puppy placements generally. Some do prefer email, but I'd guess many prefer personal contact or phone calls over email.

[hallswel]

Diana,

I know it is discouraging; I have been in your shoes. Call one of the breeders close to you or call your local terrier club or kennel club and ask them.

I wish more people had websites so you could check and see if they will have a litter and if they will be selling them.

Good luck on your Cairn Quest.

Liz

[Tobys Dad]

Diana,

I have found a couple of good breeders that have good web sites. If you want to e-mail me i will let you know who they are.

Andrew

northwestorchids@msn.com

[fancypants]

I found our (Canadian) breeder by looking in the yearly "Dogs in Canada" publication of the Canadian Kennel Club. It's a large thick magazine containing all the breeds and lots of interesting articles as well as good info on your local breeders listed geographically. It's easy! Then you can make personal contact because you find someone reputable who is close to you!

[MzLed]

i totally feel your frustration, after almost a year of searching, i exhausted all options in Cali, and ended up finding a great breeder in Michigan of all places.

[magadog]

Persist, Diana. It will pay off. Where do you live?

A lot of breeders get inundated with emails. If they are busy and/or do not have puppies-- many do not whelp more than one or two litters a year-- or fewer-- you may not receive an answer. Do not take this personally. If I were a breeder and saw that an email was CC'd to a lot of people, I might be tempted to "pass the buck" or at least procrastinate.

.

Best bet is to focus on getting a dog fairly close to you-- so check out the breeder referral section on this site, if you have not already done so. Start with the Cairn club and breeders that are nearest to where you live. In lieu of sending bulk emails, try giving the individual breeder a call. Don't be afraid to use the telephone to contact a breeder if one is provided! This is more personal and you will get more of an opportunity to show the breeder what a wonderful loving home you can provide

Check the AKC site for dog shows in your area and find out when and where there are shows. After the Cairns are shown, ask a person whose dog you admire if she/he'd be willing to help you find a dog. (This technique works very well especially if the exhibitor's dog wins!)

Again, persist. Also be patient. It could take time. I had to wait seven months for my first Cairn-- a girl-- I had originally thought I wanted a male-- I do not regret it for a minute. I would trade Maggie-- NEVER.

Good luck. . .

Best,

Jill

[Dawnya]

And I thought I was the only one...

I've made several phone calls and emails and NOT ONE breeder has bothered to call me back as of yet.

In the event there are no dogs available, it's common professional courtesy to let us (consumers) know either way.

I've been looking for almost 9 months, and at the least, hoping for a Christmas pup for our son. That's not looking good either.

[bradl]

To be honest, my observation is that many breeders consider themselves more in the line of adoption than satisfying consumer demand. If it's long distance, be sure you are the one calling back. Try again. Another good tip is to actually go to a few shows and get your face known to the breeders and exhibitors in your area. With our first Cairn we got nowhere - we finally just asked if we could visit each breeder and meet their dogs with an eye toward the future. We also attended shows to see as many as we could. I think it helped, as a pup suddenly became available that had not been previously.

[bradl]

Reminder: contact the poster directly if you have specific breeder recommendations to make.

[TheWolf]

I think it should be common curtesy to return an email or phone message even if you don't have any puppies available, but every now and then someone's message can fall through the cracks. It is a good idea sometime to follow up with a phonecall in a week or two. I know of one breeder who confesses to not checking her emails sometimes for two weeks, and another who feels that the really serious buyers will be persistent. I know it can be time consuming and sometimes anoying to deal with with some of the inquiries that a breeder gets. Like the one I once received that just said "got any pups" without any info or even a name! Or the gentleman who was looking to purchase a "near show quality" ( whatever that means ? ) red brindle, female pup and had a one month window to make his purchase in ! Keep in mind that some breeders will have a litter not to have puppies to sell, but only when they are looking to keep something from that breeding for themselves. If you are fortunate enough to get a reply, don'y hesitate to ask the breeder if he/she can recommend someone else if they don't have a puppy for you. I think the ones who are willing to help you out in this way may be a very good contact to have for the future Going to shows is another good way to make contacts, but remember that the best time to approach someone is AFTER they are finished showing their dog. They are usually much more relaxed at that time and more willing to socialize. Good luck

[Nikki]

http://www.cairnrescue.com/index.html

[bubba]

Also, I'd say the majority of members on this board are not breeders or cairns, or any other breed of dog. We are merely cairn fanatics who meet and greet others who have the same interests. When I was looking for a cairn, not only did I email, I snail mailed and I called every breeder I could find a phone number to in the states of Washington and Oregon. Finally I was able to find Cooper in Oregon from a woman who had show dogs and had just started breeding. Cooper is not a show dog, merely a pet, but that is all we wanted and expected him to be. Keep looking, you will find your dog.

pat.

[maggie]

My suggestions:

Make sure you give your full name, at least city & state, and phone number when trying to make contact by e-mail. Tell about about your situation and ask for a referral if they have none available. Good luck!

Maggie

[Tracy A.]

I always thing of this as more of a Cairn support group.....LOL

Oh well, I found a breeder close to my home using the infodog.com- This isn't who I got my boys from ( I whish I had), but I am taking hand stripping lessons from her and she Grooms my boys. If anyone would like her info PM me.

Also, going to a dog show when the Cairn's are showing is a wondeful idea to make contact.

[kcsdogs]

Sometimes you just have to keep at it. When I was looking to buy my first show dog, it took me a long time but I called the breeder very regularly and maintained a relationship with her for months before my dog was born and by the time he was ready to go we were very good friends and she was very comfortable with me. I would suggest you call someone on the phone and see if you can talk to them that way. Good luck!

[Maisiemom]

I feel your frustration, as I have contacted breeders and never heard back. As a breeder, I will say that the best way to inquire about puppies is to do your research first. Know the breed and if it fits what you are looking for. If you're not sure, know what questions to ask or at least communicate who you are and what you're looking for. A good breeder wants to help you make a good decision, even if they don't have puppies available. A good breeder will have a waiting list for their puppies. So don't simply send an email "Do you have puppies available?" I hate it when people don't take time to look at my website! It's up to date at all times, all it takes is to click on a link and you can see every dog I own, when their next litters are planned, what is available, how I do business, info about the breed, etc. And yet I still get emails with no name, contact info, and all they want to know is do I have puppies available and what is the price? There is soooo much more important information to investigate before price and availability. I've also had answering machine messages left and I can't understand the phone number or it isn't a working number. It's a good idea to email and if you don't hear back, follow up by phone. A good breeder will return your email or call and offers good information and communication. A good buyer is knowledgable or seeks knowledge, follows up, and is a good communicator. When good buyers find good breeders, it's a succesful match and a 12-18yr Cairn relationship! Two of my best friends are puppy buyers....

[cairnloverincali]

There are some things potential buyers should know when attempting to contact breeders:

- Some days we may get 5-10 emails from a variety of people wanting to buy a Cairn. A typical email reads as such: "Do you have any black puppies available?"; "We're looking for a red female. Do you have one we could buy?"; "Looking for a Wheaten Cairn. Do you have one available for purchase, and how much?". It sounds like someone's ordering out of a catalog. Choose your words carefully, and tell us more than "I want a red puppy".

- These emails typically include only a name. There is no information as to city, state, phone number, etc. For all we know, the buyer could be in Australia, Europe, Timbuktu or wherever. Please include your location and pertinent information so that we can screen properly. No sense dealing with us if you're in Florida and want someone local. We've literally had inquiries from all over the world, but prefer to deal locally if possible. Shipping dogs is not our thing, though some breeders are OK with it.

- I'd venture to say that a very low percentage of breeders you'd find online are what I would consider "volume" breeders, or ones that would qualify as a business. Most of the breeders (95%, I'd say) are breeding two or less litters a year - and most of those don't even average one a year. My point is that the majority of breeders aren't just waiting for someone to call so they can move a puppy out. Persistence, including PHONE CONTACT is most effective.

- Some breeders probably don't respond because they have nothing available, some don't respond because they don't feel the party is serious. The type of email I listed in the first bullet point is basically "puppy spam" - it gives me as a breeder no sense of where you are, who you are, whether you've investigated the breed, what your situation is like [accomodations, children and ages, show or pet, had Cairns before, other pets, etc.] and much more. Someone who takes the time to tell us about themselves and their situation is much more likely to be seen as a serious potential buyer than a "got puppies?" emailer.

- If a buyer looks serious and interesting, I always ask them to call us. Email is undoubtedly the world's most impersonal medium. We like to get a sense of the character and quality of people that might be purchasing a puppy from us. It may be a little over the top, but buying a puppy from us is just about as serious as adopting a child from us. Our #1 priority is making sure puppies we brought into this world are provided a home similar to, or better than our own. We'd rather hold on to a puppy for extra months rather than make a quick sale. We're not in this for money, and have lost consistently been (way) in the red on every litter we've bred. We breed for show, and not to sell puppies.

- Just an FYI that I have to continually remind myself of: just because you're big on computers and email, don't assume that everyone else in the world is. There are still millions on dial-up, and just as many that are scared to death of email and computers. I've found that many people have email but rarely use it - this goes for breeders as well. IMHO, it's always best to attempt contact on a personal basis [telephone, going to a show or club meeting, etc.]. Even if you start the dialogue by email, most all breeders will want to get to know you personally. If not, and if you can do an entire puppy transaction by email, I'd be waving red flags all over the place.

- Persistence is a virtue. Even with personal contact, we're always amazed at the number of "one and out" buyer inquiries. Being more proactive and maintaining contact will get you far further than making one phone call or email and wondering why nobody gets back to you. If you're serious about a puppy, make the effort to show it. Since our last litter, we've probably received about 100 inquiries for puppies. I've responded to most by email, telling them to call us. You can count the number of people who actually did on one hand, and have fingers left. Only those who called us are in our database, and one family has a beautiful puppy to show for their effort. It's a great home, too (ocean view! wish I was a puppy!). They made the effort to call us, come to our house, come to a show and such. A phone call shows much more seriousness than an email, frankly.

I hope this will assist you and others in finding the right Cairn. Please keep the above in mind - there are many reasons why you might not get to first base, but I trust you understand more about the breeders' point of view. The underlying theme here is that you have to seperate yourself from a host of others if you're truly serious. A one shot email is likely to fall short - phone calls and personal contact at shows or club functions are most effective. It is said that "business is personal" - and I think that applies here.