I took a look at that gawd-awful website.
I do hope that those who read the "priceless pups" website come here to read the comments. It will hopefully give them some insight into what a bad breeder is. What I'm going to say here will be already known by those who frequent this forum but may open the eyes of people who are researching a possible purchase from this "breeder".
One of the things that is sadly missing on that website is health certifications for the breeding stock. This is an absolute sign of a poor breeder. They can throw in all the statements about how their dogs are checked by their vets, but the reality is that if they can't give you certification numbers then they're just blowing smoke.
Every breed of dog carries certain genetic diseases. Conscientious and responsible breeders are working hard to breed away from those diseases. The only true way to do this is to have their breeding stock examined by QUALIFIED veterinarians (usually specialists) and then they have their dogs certified through the appropriate organization to show that their dogs have passed these health tests. The biggest organization for certification is the Orthopedic Foundation of Animals (OFA -
www.offa.org). You can go to the OFA website and do a search for specific dogs or for breeds and find out who has truly had their dogs certified. CERF (Canine Eye Registry Foundation) also shares their results with OFA so that the majority of results can be found in one place.
Good breeders then proudly share these certification numbers so that potential buyers can go to the appropriate websites and check to make sure the dogs are appropriately certified. On a breeder's website, this information should be in a prominent place along with the registered name of the dog and any titles they have earned.
Now, on the "pricelesspups" site there is not only no mention of health certification numbers, they don't even give you the names of the breeding stock so that you can research them yourselves. And there's really only one reason why a breeder wouldn't share that information .. it's because the health certifications have not been done and they are not breeding for the health of the animals.
Statements regarding how the dogs have been examined by their own vet mean nothing. A typical vet is not qualified to do a true examination for genetic diseases. Hip and elbow dysplasia, for example, can only be fully diagnosed through x-rays. Thyroid disease requires bloodwork. An exam by a vet can find the most obvious problems but not those genetic ones that are carried on, and any breeder trying to make you think that their dogs are truly healthy because a vet has examined them is just plain deceptive. And that's a bad thing.
Now, some of these breeders will try to tell you that by mixing breeds, they're developing a healthier line of dogs. This is just not true. If they're not even sure of what the genetic background of their purebred dogs are (determined by the health certifications discussed above as well as knowing the health certifications for several generations back) there is no way they can have any true idea if they're breeding healthier. Many genetic problems are present in a variety of breeds, and if you breed a yorkie with a background of luxating patellas (they currently are listed as #6 on the OFA site in luxating patellas, a crippling disease of the hind legs) with a shih tzu who also has a background of luxating patellas, then it stands to reason that the puppies could have a high risk of the same disease. And it doesn't even have to be obviously present in the female or male they're breeding .. it could be in the grandparents or even farther back. Without knowing the health certifications for at least 3-4 generations you just really don't know what you're breeding.
YOu know what's sad? All of this information should be readily available on the "pricelesspups" website. I find that site to be completely devoid of any true information - they rely entirely on pulling people in with cute photos and lots of empty words. Their prices are ludicrous, too .. anyone paying those prices has been 100% been taken. You're buying a puppy - sometimes a MIX of breeds - that has no true health background and has no proof of quality.
Let's talk about proof of quality now. Every breed has a standard set up through a parent club. This standard describes the various characteristics of the breed, from looks to temperament. They set size standards as well as coat colors, etc. This is done in order to maintain a certain level of quality and consistency so that a breed remains a breed and doesn't become too much like other breeds. Good, responsible breeders go to great effort to prove their dog's adherence to breed standard by having their dogs assessed by qualified people - people who are highly knowledgeable about the breed. This is where showing comes in. While you may not care about having a show dog, if you want a shih tzu then you should get a true shih tzu and not some shadow of the breed that has been assessed only by the breeder, the breeder's friends or the family vet (who often has no true knowledge of specific breeds). In addition, other titles help prove the quality of the dog. Obedience, agility, tracking, therapy dog, etc. - these are all areas in which dogs can be titled/certified in order to prove intelligence, ability, and temperament.
These are all things that prove quality. If you're paying high prices for a dog, you want health, temperament, intelligence, athleticism and proof of adherence to breed standard. Any breeder making little or no effort to prove these is a very poor breeder and is just out to get your money. Why would you waste your money on people like that?
Some other comments on this particular "breeder" (and I keep putting that in quotation marks because I don't consider this person or persons as true breeders - they merely mix sperm with eggs and then sell the results for a lot of money to unsuspecting people). On their training page they talk about crate-training. Good breeders will have crate-trained the puppies before they leave. They should also be started on leash training and basic manners. They should be fully handled and socialized well before leaving. This is a lot more than simply raising the puppies in the home. They should have interacted with dozens of strangers before the age of 8 weeks. They should have gone for car rides. They should have been on numerous surfaces, been exposed to many different noises as well as sights. They should also be assessed by someone who is very experienced with dog behavior so as to separate them into different types of personalities - this is vital so that the pups can be properly matched with the right families. But NONE of this is mentioned on the website.
On to the guarantee. You never get money back. NEVER. Even if you put money down on a specific pup and something happens so that they can't/won't send you the pup you chose, you don't get money back. They let you transfer the money to another puppy (how kind of them, right?). And if your pup ends up sick within the guidelines of their limited and vague guarantee, you still never get money back. You may have spent thousands in vet bills but - IF they decide your pup is actually covered under their guarantee - you get another pup from their lines! That's a pretty poor guarantee.
OH - and let's not forget that you have to feed a food that THEY make money off of (or your guarantee is void). This is not a dog food that is easily accessible. You have to order it from a website and as everyone knows, shipping dog food can get pretty darn expensive. While the food listed appears to be a better food than many, there ARE other foods just as good or better that are easier to find - but then they wouldn't make any money on them, would they?
Now, if all that hasn't made you think "woah, this may not be the "breeder" I want to deal with" .. let's talk registries. I see that they list puppies as registered with APR and ACA. These are CRAP registries that will accept pretty much any dog as "registered" as long as people just write down names for the pedigrees and send them the money. These are the registries that people often use when their dogs can't be registered through the more established and reputable registries (such as American Kennel Club, Canadian Kennel Club). In fact there are many breeders out there whose dogs can no longer be registered through AKC because when AKC checked the DNA of their dogs, they found that the parents listed were not actually the true parents! This is not unusual in breeding situations where there are a lot of dogs and owners who are not really paying attention. So whenever I see a website listing these bogus-type registries as the registries they use for their dogs, I suspect that it's because there has been some very poor handling in the breeding of the dogs and they are no longer acceptable with AKC. It can also mean that they got a dog that appeared purebred (maybe from the pound or a rescue) but wasn't registered and they made up a pedigree so that they could register through APR or another of the poor quality registries. These registries are simply making money by supplying a registration number.
So if you want to buy from "pricelesspups" and pay exorbitant amounts for dogs that are not proven to be healthy OR of a true breed quality, then at least you're forewarned. And if you've read through this entire thread, then you know the kind of people dealing with selling these pups. They're the kind of people who would bring race into the discussion in order to try to distract everyone from the true problems in their breeding practices.
Do you really want a puppy from people like that?
Melanie and the gang in Alaska