Breeder Websites

[mr.mister]

What I like to see on a breeders website:

-Pages of the separate dogs and bitches, good clear photos of them, and as I myself plan on showing, to start off with I like to see stacked and gaiting pictures.

-A bit about themselves and how they got involved in the breed, how long they've been breeding.

-A page about the breed itself

-Not necessary but I have seen a couple of breeders put recommended reading that they themselves found useful in the beginning.

-preferably showing pedigrees of all current dogs

-a simple page that doesn't take hours to load on slow internet

-my mentors have an 'owners section' where owners can actually log in to talk about any issues they may be having and to recieve help and info, etc. I think this is AWESOME!

-On litters page, if no litters a basic time span of when they may be expecting next, and if possible, who the parents may be. It's just nice to have a ball park time figure.

Things that tend to turn me off a website:

-music. especially when I have itunes turned up very loud listening to music, and get my eardrums blasted off and jump a mile high when the page loads!

-no pages for the dogs, or just a page for the 'favourite' dog. What I mean by this is not only no pages, but no information full stop on the individual dogs. I have seen websites where a person has photos of the different colours in the breed and labels them as such, but doesn't have any pages of their current dogs! This makes me a bit wary and I feel.. blind.

edited: put a dot point in the wrong section

Edited March 17, 2010 by alexhegyesi

[Gallomph]

Most of my website likes/dislikes have already been covered by others, but just wanted to add...use spellcheck!!! People will forgive or not notice some spelling errors, but it looks really dodgy when the breed name is continually spelt wrong!

Incorrect use of apostrophes also makes me cringe, but that's just because I'm a pedantic old bag

[SkySoaringMagpie]

Most of my website likes/dislikes have already been covered by others, but just wanted to add...use spellcheck!!! People will forgive or not notice some spelling errors, but it looks really dodgy when the breed name is continually spelt wrong!

Incorrect use of apostrophes also makes me cringe, but that's just because I'm a pedantic old bag

Definitely agree with this, rightly or wrongly it does create an impression of someone who doesn't know what they are doing and takes away from the professional image of the breeder. If you are a terrible speller or hopeless with grammar it's probably worthwhile finding a friendly pedantic old bag to read it and check it for you.

[Casima]

While a nice looking website is great, I know that most breeders arn't breeding dogs as a business, so I forgive alot of the crappy websites (within reason, some give me an instant headache ) So I look mostly at the content. I want to know what the breeders breeding goals and priorities are and what their dogs are like.

A good breeder website will have...

- A page for each dog (including old retired ones who are related to their current breeding dogs) with acheivments, temperament info (more info than just "friendly" I want to know if the dog is: active, calm, confident, aloof, social, independant, driven etc compared with an average dog of this breed) health info (bonus points for being honest and putting in the bad as well as the good ) pedigree (great if links/pictures to dogs included) info/pics about any past puppys, a variety of quality pics, if the dog is a performance dog I also love video of them working.

- A page for Current and Planned Litters which is updated reguarly (bonus points if they have explained why they have choosen this mating) and includes things like where the puppies are raised and what socialisation they will have while at the breeders.

- A page about the breeder, how long they have been in the breed, what their breeding goals are, why they love this breed etc

- Easy to find Contact and Location info

- Links page, to quality links, other breeders (especially if they have related dogs) clubs/associations, rescue, forums, breed information etc

- Past dogs, especially if they are related to the current dogs, I love to see temperament and health info from older related dogs and how long they lived.

- Dogs at home page with how their dogs are kept (eg in the home, kennels, together or seperated etc) and what they are fed, if they live with a cat or livestock etc.

Other stuff, like breed information, grooming, training etc is nice, but not essential as it can be found elsewhere and generally isn't specific to this breeder and their breeding program.

I don't like websites that have tons of show wins and stacked photos, but don't make any mention of temperament and or health of their dogs. To me this says the breeder really only cares about the show ring. (whether it is true or not, I don't know, but that is what the website says to me) I think most future pet people, and myself who is interested in dogsports are much more inclined to choose a breeder who appears to be very fussy about the health and temperament of their breeding dogs. Websites that give this impression will not get put in my "shortlist" no matter how beautiful their dogs might be.

I also don't like websites where the dogs seem to be just some beloved pets, with just alittle showing/performance on the side. These people to me seem more than alittle kennel blind or something, rather than breeding top quality dogs. Same goes for breeders who emphasise what (rarer/more popular) colours are expected in the litter as being their main selling point with no other reasons given for why they are using this dog to breed with. I have since learnt that some of these type websites I've rejected as being registered BYB/Colour breeders are actually great breeders with quality dogs, they just haven't put the right stuff down on their site!

[ellz]

I bought my Rottie pup last year and found myself wondering how I should raise the pup the right way cause I didn't receive any info (I was given the free Eukanuba puppy book). I searched a lot on the internet for info on how to train a Rottie because I have heard so much about how they are quite different to other dogs. With this in mind, the things I would like to have in a puppy pack:

1. Detailed information on "best practice" training/discipline for the breed

2. Details of health issues of previous litters from same breeding

I would also like to see a full money back guarantee on pups with a serious illness which will kill them prematurely. My pup was diagnosed with moderate sub-aortic stenosis at 12 weeks and it progressed to severe by 9 months. She won't live to be 3 years old. The breeder wouldn't give me a full refund, but gave me half with the promise of a new puppy when she dies. I would have much preferred the refund straight up and sourced another pup later on from somewhere else.

Yes, but this kind of thing is usually handled at "breeder level" and not on a website.

[alpha bet]

currently going thru the process of getting a new website..... so great to have all this info. Giving me loads of help sorting out what to have and what not ...

Thanks for the thread