How To Pick The Perfect Pup

It’s a bit like internet dating: check the breed profile suits your lifestyle, don’t be beguiled by qualifications and ensure the references are bonafide.

- Janet Menzies

Buying a puppy ought to be the most straightforward of procedures, if your purchase is planned. But there is really no such thing as a planned puppy purchase. For a nano-second you stop saying “No!” loudly and firmly, and a puppy pops up from nowhere. There are the massive brown eyes gazing up at you, the cute little button nose and the pool of pee on the kitchen floor – all without your being conscious of having taken any specific action to arrive at this state of affairs. It’s as if puppies exist in another dimension, ready to be summoned into this world if you happen to look over the wrong shoulder or, indeed, be walking around with £500 in cash in your wallet.

This is the first piece of advice to be aware of: no good puppy was ever bought cheaply. If you want to buy a well-bred puppy from a popular breed, you can end up paying much more than £500 and still be getting a reasonable bargain. Nor is the purchase itself as quick and easy as you would expect, given the supernatural swiftness with which unplanned puppies are bought. Finding the right pup, or getting on the waiting list for pups as yet unborn, can take a long time and a good deal of asking around.