How do I recognize a responsible breeder?

First and foremost, because he breeds under a registered kennel club and the puppies have papers, respectively a pedigree. But even there are people, who will fraud you and simply print their own pedigrees out with and put a nice logo on them, to archive a better price for the puppies. It's important that the breeder has the kennel registered in the FCI. In Austria those would be the dogs that have OEKV pedigrees, in Germany dogs with VDH pedigrees. The second biggest kennel club Austria's, who is not part of the FCI, is the ÖHU.

You should be allowed to visit the puppies and there parents (if the stud dog lives in the same place) without any problems. A responsible breeder will show you the puppies in their known surroundings. You will be able to see where the dogs grow you, you will be able to get to know the mother and you can make sure that the upbringing of the puppies is correct! In no way responsible are the deals in a parking lot or somewhere else.

The breeder should let you have a look in the documents of the parents. Those include for example the pedigree of the parents, test results and so on.

Upon leaving all the puppies already have a micro chip, are vaccinated and dewormed and should have a valid International Certificate of Vaccination.

Basically you have to sign a contract with the breeder, it will not only protect you as a buyer, but also protect the dog. This contract has certain points like: the breeder has the priority to buy the dog back, if the buyer should want to sell the dog. Also the dog has to be kept appropriate to his species.

In which cases should I not buy a puppy?