Wildflower Havanese
A lot has changed in recent years regarding the Havanese breed. When we decided
to purchase our first Havanese, we travelled all the way from Denver to Phoenix for
her (that was Daisy). At that time, the Havanese breed was considered quite rare
and most people had never heard of these dogs. But as the breed has become much
better known and more popular, many breeders have begun offering Havanese
puppies in order to satisfy the demand for this especially desireable breed. So now
there are quite a few breeders offering Havanese puppies for sale, and it can be a
daunting task as a future puppy owner to select the 'right' breeder.
So here's where the math comes in. Often people think that if cheap is good, then cheaper is better, and cheapest is therefore best. So why not buy at the lowest possible price, especially when the products (in this case puppies) LOOK SO SIMILAR? Unfortunately, this approach often leads to heart-aches, regrets, and hidden costs in the long run.
When you buy a puppy, you are not buying a light bulb or a piece of plasticware. Instead, you are adopting a new member of your family, a companion, a trusted friend, a playmate - sometimes for as many as 15 years. Is this type of purchase something you really want to economize on, regardless of the outcome? Even if you focus only on financial matters, many people don't realize just how expensive it has become to take your dog to the vet. Vet costs have skyrocketed, often leaving distraught owners with the dilemma of choosing between putting their beloved pet down or paying a huge vet bill. This is part of the reason why Wildflower Havanese takes health-testing the sire and dam of our puppies so seriously, and why we spare no expense when it comes to food quality and supplements for the bitches and their pups.
But, of course, there's much more to the issue than just money. Puppies need contact with people. That's why you want them as pets - so you can pet them and they will respond favorably to your love. So here's where you get to do the math (don't worry - it's really easy). Most dog breeders have only one to several people involved in looking after their puppies and nursing bitches. Given that, which breeder do you think will be able to give the puppies that they are selling the most human contact leading to quality socialization - a breeder who has 50 puppies to sell, or a breeder who has more like, say, only 5 puppies to take care of? When you ramp up a breeding operation to produce a higher volume of puppies, you WILL be able to sell those puppies for less, but it's at the expense of the puppies, the nursing bitches, and ultimately the unsuspecting puppy buyers. What happens all too often when puppies do not receive that all-important contact with people at an early age - BEFORE you take one home with you - is that they don't learn how to interact with people. And this is NOT something they will always be able to learn later. A lot of dogs that wind up in rescue shelters are there because their owners could not deal with issues such as aggression, anxiety, fear, inability to be trained, eating of poop, gnawing on furniture, endless barking - you get the picture. When a puppy gets the wrong start in life, such as being stacked in crates 5-high in a garage or barn, with virtually no significant human involvement, you will only find out too late - after you buy it - whether you will wind up having these kinds of problems with your puppy. Wildflower puppies not only get a lot of human care and attention, but we take them with us on camping trips and they get to visit with a variety of folks that come to our home. We don't hide them in a garage or basement, out of site. They live with us and their moms in our home. And you, as a potential Wildflower puppy owner, get to visit with your future puppy, often several times before you take it home with you, to make sure it's really the right puppy for you. This is a service that we offer that high volume breeders typically cannot or will not provide.
When you are trying to select a breeder, will the breeder allow you to see where the puppies are being raised? Will the breeder actually show you the area where all their puppies and bitches are staying, or will the breeder just bring out a couple of puppies into a show area or separate location altogether, after just washing and grooming them? Will the breeder allow you to meet the sire and the dam? Does the breeder do health-testing? Can the breeder provide pedigree information about lineage? Does the breeder offer support after you buy a puppy? If the answer to these questions is NO, this should make you very suspicious.
At Wildflower Havanese, we encourage our puppy buyers to keep in touch and to call or e-mail when they have problems - any problems - with their puppies. We offer support to the best of our ability, for the lifetime of your dog, and we do everything we can to make sure the puppies our customers buy will be well adjusted, happy, and healthy, as well as looking cute and pretty, the day you take one home with you. A lot of our puppies are show-quality, but all of our puppies are well cared for. So as a result, we will NEVER produce a high volume of puppies. And we will never take a livestock management style approach to dog breeding.
So there you have it - that's the math behind dog breeding, pure and simple.
So here's where the math comes in. Often people think that if cheap is good, then cheaper is better, and cheapest is therefore best. So why not buy at the lowest possible price, especially when the products (in this case puppies) LOOK SO SIMILAR? Unfortunately, this approach often leads to heart-aches, regrets, and hidden costs in the long run.
When you buy a puppy, you are not buying a light bulb or a piece of plasticware. Instead, you are adopting a new member of your family, a companion, a trusted friend, a playmate - sometimes for as many as 15 years. Is this type of purchase something you really want to economize on, regardless of the outcome? Even if you focus only on financial matters, many people don't realize just how expensive it has become to take your dog to the vet. Vet costs have skyrocketed, often leaving distraught owners with the dilemma of choosing between putting their beloved pet down or paying a huge vet bill. This is part of the reason why Wildflower Havanese takes health-testing the sire and dam of our puppies so seriously, and why we spare no expense when it comes to food quality and supplements for the bitches and their pups.
But, of course, there's much more to the issue than just money. Puppies need contact with people. That's why you want them as pets - so you can pet them and they will respond favorably to your love. So here's where you get to do the math (don't worry - it's really easy). Most dog breeders have only one to several people involved in looking after their puppies and nursing bitches. Given that, which breeder do you think will be able to give the puppies that they are selling the most human contact leading to quality socialization - a breeder who has 50 puppies to sell, or a breeder who has more like, say, only 5 puppies to take care of? When you ramp up a breeding operation to produce a higher volume of puppies, you WILL be able to sell those puppies for less, but it's at the expense of the puppies, the nursing bitches, and ultimately the unsuspecting puppy buyers. What happens all too often when puppies do not receive that all-important contact with people at an early age - BEFORE you take one home with you - is that they don't learn how to interact with people. And this is NOT something they will always be able to learn later. A lot of dogs that wind up in rescue shelters are there because their owners could not deal with issues such as aggression, anxiety, fear, inability to be trained, eating of poop, gnawing on furniture, endless barking - you get the picture. When a puppy gets the wrong start in life, such as being stacked in crates 5-high in a garage or barn, with virtually no significant human involvement, you will only find out too late - after you buy it - whether you will wind up having these kinds of problems with your puppy. Wildflower puppies not only get a lot of human care and attention, but we take them with us on camping trips and they get to visit with a variety of folks that come to our home. We don't hide them in a garage or basement, out of site. They live with us and their moms in our home. And you, as a potential Wildflower puppy owner, get to visit with your future puppy, often several times before you take it home with you, to make sure it's really the right puppy for you. This is a service that we offer that high volume breeders typically cannot or will not provide.
When you are trying to select a breeder, will the breeder allow you to see where the puppies are being raised? Will the breeder actually show you the area where all their puppies and bitches are staying, or will the breeder just bring out a couple of puppies into a show area or separate location altogether, after just washing and grooming them? Will the breeder allow you to meet the sire and the dam? Does the breeder do health-testing? Can the breeder provide pedigree information about lineage? Does the breeder offer support after you buy a puppy? If the answer to these questions is NO, this should make you very suspicious.
At Wildflower Havanese, we encourage our puppy buyers to keep in touch and to call or e-mail when they have problems - any problems - with their puppies. We offer support to the best of our ability, for the lifetime of your dog, and we do everything we can to make sure the puppies our customers buy will be well adjusted, happy, and healthy, as well as looking cute and pretty, the day you take one home with you. A lot of our puppies are show-quality, but all of our puppies are well cared for. So as a result, we will NEVER produce a high volume of puppies. And we will never take a livestock management style approach to dog breeding.
So there you have it - that's the math behind dog breeding, pure and simple.
You do the math