How to Choose a Responsible Breeder

There is no licence that separates a responsible breeder from a careless one. What there is instead is a set of questions, and a pattern in how the answers come back.

Most people buying a puppy are doing it for the first time, from a distance, on the strength of photographs. That is an uncomfortable position, and the industry has plenty of operators who rely on it. This guide is written to be used against any breeder, including us.

Ask these seven questions

1. Where are the puppies raised? A specific answer describes a place: a room, a whelping area, who is around during the day. A vague answer describes a feeling.
2. Can I see the puppy live on video? A real breeder with a real puppy can show you that puppy, on request, moving around. This single question ends most scams.
3. What veterinary care has this puppy had, and when? You should be able to get dates: examinations, vaccinations, deworming. Not “fully vetted”.
4. What does the health guarantee cover, in writing, and what do I have to do to keep it valid? Ask for the document before you pay anything. Guarantees usually carry conditions, and the conditions are the part worth reading.
5. What health testing was done on the parents? This varies by breed. It is fair to ask what was tested and to see the results.
6. What happens if this does not work out? Serious breeders have an answer, usually involving taking the dog back rather than letting it enter the shelter system.
7. How do you take payment? The answer should be a traceable method that leaves you a record.

Warning signs worth taking seriously

• Payment by wire transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency only. These are chosen because they cannot be reversed. This is the most common single indicator of a scam.
• Photographs that appear elsewhere. Run a reverse image search on any photo you are sent. Stolen photos are the backbone of fake listings.
• Unwillingness to substantiate basic claims. Ask for clear answers about the puppy, parent health information, written terms and the people responsible for delivery. Repeated evasions are a warning sign.
• Unexpected fees after the deposit. A crate deposit, an insurance fee, a customs charge that was never mentioned. Legitimate costs are disclosed before you pay.
• Pressure. “Two other families are asking” is a sales technique, not information.
• Puppies offered under eight weeks old. Leaving the litter too early causes lasting behavioural problems, and in many states it is illegal.
• Every breed, always in stock. A single operation offering six or eight breeds with constant availability is a broker, a mill, or a website.
• No questions for you. A breeder who does not care who you are, whether you have other pets, or what your household looks like is not screening homes.

Puppy mill, backyard breeder, responsible breeder

These three terms get used loosely, so it is worth separating them.

Scale alone does not settle it. A one-litter hobby breeder with no paperwork and no support is not automatically better than a larger program that documents everything. What matters is whether the care and the record-keeping are real.

Paperwork that means something, and paperwork that does not

Registration papers record parentage. They are not a health certificate and they are not a quality rating, and a breeder who leads with them is answering a question you did not ask. The documents that carry real weight are the veterinary health certificate, the dated vaccination and deworming record, the microchip registration, and the written health guarantee with its conditions attached. We have written this out in more detail in registration papers and pedigree explained.

How we answer these questions

It would be hollow to publish this list and not stand on it, so here are our own answers, plainly.

• Our puppies are raised at our home in Portland, Oregon, around people rather than in runs. How we raise a puppy describes the daily routine.
• We answer buyer questions personally and provide a written purchase agreement with clear payment and homecoming terms.
• Every puppy goes home with a veterinary health certificate, dated vaccination and deworming records and a microchip.
• Our written 2-year genetic health guarantee sets out its own coverage and requirements, and you can read what it actually covers before you commit to anything.
• For delivery, we require the full puppy price and delivery fee to reserve; for Portland pickup, we accept a 60% reservation deposit with the balance due before collection, and the full sequence is set out in how buying an Everpine puppy works.
• We ask about your household, because a mismatch helps nobody.

If any of that does not match your experience with us, that is worth telling us directly.

When you are ready to start asking, our available puppies are all listed individually, with the breeder on the other end of every inquiry.