Quote:
Originally Posted by dudley1984  How many of you are willing to pay extra for puppies whose parents' knees are OFA certified? I'm a breeder making every reasonable effort to produce high quality puppies the average family can afford to buy. When I asked my vet about OFA testing for my breeding dogs he laughed and made the practice sound unnecessary. His rationale is that most toy dogs get some kind of patella issue in their lives and that it is only rarely seriously painful or debilitating. How about letting dog owners be more responsible about how they train their dogs not to do things that are likely to overstress their knees? |
I would not buy a puppy whose parents had not had the proper health screening like knees, bile acids, eyes, thyroid, etc. If the purchase price is more, it is well worth it in the long run if you save thousands of dollars in vet bills and the heartache that goes along with it. Bargain basement puppies are usually no bargain in the long run.
I look for a breeder who follows the YTCA's guidelines which includes health testing, breeding to the standard, etc. I have found that prices often don't indicate the quality of a puppy or a breeder. You can get a beautifully bred puppy from a show breeder for the same price or often less than you can from a lot of the breeders out there who don't invest nearly as much in their breeding program (no showing, testing, breeding pet quality dogs, etc.).