Wisconsin Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Prairie Farm, WI?
This is kind of a stretch but are any of you near Prairie Farm, WI? My brother found a boxer puppy he wants to buy but I'm kind of nervous about him putting $425 down without seeing the dog...The farm is called Twin Valley Farm.
Thx
Melissa
Re: Prairie Farm, WI?
Eek!! If I were your brother I would run away...fast! Putting that kind of money down without ever seeing the dogs, their parents, or their living conditions?! You wouldn't put money down on a car if you hadn't test driven in first so why would you do that for a lifelong pet? I found both of their websites and here's just a few of the problems I see:
Has he considered rescuing? There are lots of great boxers rescues in WI and MN. I help transport for a few of them. Green Acres is a great group that is located in Madison. Minnesota Boxer Rescue adopts out a lot of dogs too.
Here's all the boxers listed on Petfinder for our area.
This site could be helpful too.
My favorite is this litter of puppies:
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.
Check out that cuteness! All for the low price of $250.
ETA: Here's a site that has some tips for finding a reputable boxer breeder and links for each state. HTH!
ITA with FoxinFiji.
Also, any breeder that is willing to adopt out a dog without ever meeting the person/family adopting is pretty sketchy.
Legitimate breeders have thorough screening processes for potential owners, not just a requirement to contact them for a delivery quote.
Most of them have waiting lists set up before they even breed the adults.
Though at least this place requires spay/neuter...that's something...
Also, in their guarantee, they only guarantee against congenital defects up to the dog/puppy being a year old. Not all (don't know the stats) defects show up in boxers that early.
I grew up with a family near-by that showed, bred, and raised boxers (Salgreys). Many of the dogs weren't even bred until 3 to make sure that any congenital defects showed up first.
Also, they have no requirement that you return the dog to them if you're planning on not keeping it. Most reputable breeders do. They don't want their dogs being rehomed multiple times.
As for the dogs themselves, if they're truly breeding quality boxers, they'll have titles, not just be AKC registered. You should be able to google the dogs and come up with their scores in competitions and whatnot.
This is a quick run-down. http://www.jlhweb.net/Boxermap/reputablebreeder.html
This breeder seems to be trying to appear reputable, but not cutting it.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
I just wanted to add one more thing. Don't let the location of the dogs on petfinder be a deterent. Most local rescues will transport a dog from a different rescue (through volunteers) if it's one you're really interested in. Shawn on Minnesota Boxer Rescue is one of the dogs I helped (with a lot of other people of course) transport from Alabama and is now pending adoption.
okay I just read what the other girls have said... and I got the same things said to me when I was looking into getting Joplin...
I HAVE met these breeders and they are nice people. There dogs are NOT show dogs and their standards may not be as high as what other expect...
However... if you are looking for a boxer that has been socialized well from birth and is gentle with all people, if you are looking for breeders who will work with you to make sure you are getting what you want, if you want to meet the mom and dad of the puppy and spend basically the whole day with them before you take the pup, if you want breeders who treat their puppies as family, then these are the people to go to.
I am a fan of adopting rescue and plan to in the future, however, we wanted to get a puppy so the puppy knows us as its masters... that was a big deal to me. As far as I am concerned, you can pick at every breeder and throw around "back yard breeder" to scare people off, but I have MET the breeders and the parents, I have been in contact since geting my dog and I am extremely happy. She is in perfect health - I am glad I got a dog from them and I will go back.
If your brother wants to make the trip, I would say that going out there would be the best thing to do.
I just love how people think they can judge others without ever having stepped foot on their farm.... funny.