Choosing a breeder
Once you've decided to welcome a dog into your home, the question of choosing a breeder arises.
Whether the breeding operation is a hobby one, a family one, or a larger commercial one, you need to be very vigilant about two essential points: screening for hereditary diseases, and the puppies' socialization and imprinting. Once you've chosen a breed, contact the breed club and learn about the main hereditary defects specific to it. Make sure the parents have been screened, and ask the breeder for official certificates proving it. It's equally important to make sure the puppies have been properly stimulated during the socialization and imprinting period (from around 3 weeks of age).
A living environment that's too calm and understimulating will produce fearful puppies, who will, for example, struggle to adapt to novelty and to crowded, noisy places. They may even become afraid of ordinary objects that are simply out of their usual place. It's also essential that the puppies stay in contact with their mother — or, failing that, another adult dog — until the day they leave for their new home.
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