I'm awaiting your reply to Bedberg as well Ryan.....

POL-Athena. Nice short back and topline, but covering a lot of ground; nice rear angulation, nice deep chest with adequate forechest, respectable front shoulders; nice head with sufficient dewlap, nice slope to the head and square.

2nd-Aiden. A bit longer in back, but more forechest and a bit more bone.

eeny, meeny, miney, moe..........

We would rather turn down a good home buy our policy than run the risk of accidently making the wrong judgment and placing a puppy in a bad situation.  We feel that we can make the decisions better by actually meeting the people in person.  You can tell alot from a person by the way they act in person that you can't tell by email, phone, or even web cam.  For example:  all of the predators on the web to abduct children,  how well do you think the kids who chatted with them on the web knew them.

If you don.t like our policies, that is fine, nobody said you had to buy a puppy from us. 

I would have no problem selling a puppy to alot of the people on a bulletin board like this one.  Most of the people have posted often enough on different topics for me to get a good read on the person.  I would still need to have arrangemnts made for the puppy to be personally transported as opposed to shipped.  I would even be willing to meet them somewhere in the middle of the travel distance.  I just don't like the idea of sending a puppy on an airplane with people that I know nothing about.

I am not trying to say that breeders who ship dogs are bad breeders, most of my favorite people ship puppies.  I just prefer not to.

I agree with Bob in that you'd want to get to know the person that your pup is going to. I was communicating with Bob myself to buy one of his pups. I live in MN, so I would've driven out to pick up the pup. I did find a breeder closer to me.  If, god forbid, something happens with my pup before I get him next weekend I will drive the 19 + hours to get a pup from Bob. The fact that he cares so much about the welfare of his dogs makes him an excellent breeder in my book. I know it is done all the time, but I'd have a hard time with flying any dog any where. I'm not saying people who do fly animals are wrong or bad, I just think of how scared they must be.

A great thing about this site is that everyone can voice their opinion and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I've actually changed my views on a few things because of some of you.

Barb

bob,

   I think it is great that you are trying to sell them locally first.  I do hear it can be quite stressful to ship a puppy at a young age (although I am sure some people may agrue differently)  I have bought puppies before with the spay neuter contract.  I think it is a a good idea...you prevent people from breeding their dogs who dont know what they are doing...like me and also provide less of a chance for more rescue GSPs running around out there.   I actually skipped out on a great puppy because the timing did not work out for my summer break and i preferred not to ship a puppy.  Everyone else thinks I am crazy for passing this fine puppy up, but I want to see everything and my puppy and take them home.... 

I do, however, agree that it is better to give them to the right person farther away over someone you are unsure of close by....

You have some very cute pups!!!  Love the solid livers!!

I'm not a breeder, but I know when I buy a pup I want to meet the breeder and the parents (or at least one of the parents) of the puppy I am thinking about buying.  That tells me allot about my future puppy based on the environment he is coming from, the the personality of the mother and/or father.  I made several trips before I purchased my girl, Halo.  I went to see the pups when they were about 4 weeks and then again at 6 weeks.  Luckily my breeder was only about 4 hours away.  I had narrowed it down to 3 of the females (I had first pick of the show quality females), but didn't make the final decision until we went down at a little over 8 weeks to bring home our new girl.  At that point it was between two, and my breeder strongly recommended Halo.  Boy was she right.  So, I think if possible meeting and seeing the pups in person is wonderful.

By the way, every puppy I have ever purchased has picked me first.  By that I mean they have come and hung out near me (or in my lap with Belle), and were more persistent in making me notice them that the others.  With Halo she came over to me and layed down right next to me very quietly while her sisters were playing all around. She stuck to me and eventually I realized (between Halo nudging me and my breeder) that she was the one that should come home with me. 

I am "sure" when Ryan said "you rescue people are in a class of your own" he meant it in the most posative way.  I am sure he is not saying that rescue people are bad people.  Just I am sure he would not like to see any dog sent to a shelter and killed just because the dogs owners had not properly reserched the breed and the breeder had not educated the buyer.

The point of our policy Ryan is just to screen buyers in the way that works best for us.  I am not trying to say anything negative about other breeders practices.  They do what works best for them.