Why reputable breeders/registries are important

I couldn't agree with your post more! I am going to attempt to post a picture at the bottom of this message....

Animal on left traced back to George Hurst on fathers side, need I say more? Animal on the left is from documented parents.

Look at the difference of these two animals, that is why I believe that everyone "should" be doing research BEFORE they make a purchase discission. Had I known there were registries and lineages could be traced and/or verified, I probably would not have purchased the animal on the left. But at the time I was not aware that this could be done.

The internet is a very good tool for educating people, but at the time I didn't even have a computer.

For those people seeking breeders who do not have internet access, most are going to look in the newspaper to find a breeder, or by word of mouth. Let's face it, until you have made that first purchase most don't know about registries, magazines/publications to find the "good" breeders/kennels.

I agree that posting ads in the local newspaper to counter the bad/unreputable breeders can help deter people from making this kind of a purchase, but not going to reach everyone before they make a mistake. I know of several people who are not even breeders who place these kinds of ads.

I don't know the solution but I always try to tell people that what ever breeder they buy from to make sure that the animals can be verified through a "reputable" registry. Then I tell them which registries I believe to be reputable.We all know that there are more bad registries than good, so all of this is much deeper than everyone thinks.

Maybe we should all work on a frequently asked questions page? List what you should be looking for in a breeder, how to verify lineages, what information should be in the contract, etc.

I know Stormy had some very good information on her website, before the computer crash. Maybe if we all pulled together and gave this type of input we could have one site to send everyone to learn about these issues.

Maybe we could list, some pictures of good documented animals vs "reported" animals. I'm sure just about everyone has purchased an animal that could not be verified. How many on this list would be willing to do this?

I would be wiling to write the webpage(s) and post pics to the site. We have all got to pull together on this issue as a group because everyone doing this one on one is apparently not enough.

Ok, crossing fingers that posting this picture will work. Kathy