Dan and I are starting to think about the possibility of getting a new puppy. I am leaning towards rescue, he wants a breeder that we research more fully. He wants one today, but I am not quite ready. So we have compromised that he can at least talk to breeders about puppies that are either just born or going to be born soon, so that it will be another two months until we actually get her.
We think we want our next puppy to be a different giant because I think it would be too painful for me to get another saint right now after loosing zoey. So we have been talking about it and we think we are going to get a newfie.
There's a newfie breeder that he has been talking to who just had puppies. He found her through the akc, so I know she is respected.
Anyways, he is talking to her and she is demanding a lot of stuff from us before she would be willing to sell us a dog. At first she was asking for stuff I was expecting to ask for - she wants to meet us, have us fill out an application including vet info, household members, etc, and she wants to see pictures of our backyard which she requires to be fenced. Now none of that bothers me because; in fact I was glad she was asking all that because I want to have a breeder that shows they care about their puppies enough to be careful about who they sell them to. However, now Dan tells me she is demanding three letters of recommendation; one from our vet, one from a family friend, and one from our employers. To me that sounds like too much to ask for. I mean seriously, a letter from my boss? Now, my boss would have no problem writing a letter for me, but that's an imposition I would have to put on her time that I just think it's ridiculous for a breeder to ask for.
The breeder keeps saying that she won't compromise on her requirnments, so if we have a problem with any of them, then basically 'have a nice day'. But at the same time when I asked for ofa certs she said she would show them to use when we met her but would not email us the info before hand (so we could search for them on the ofa website). It seems hypocritical that she isn't willing to meet my requirenment that only shows I am carefully screening a breeder, but she is asking for so much that I think she is overstepping bounds.
Am I wrong here? Or is it normal for breeders to ask for that much?