It is important to start your search in the right place.  The Kennel Club is able to provide you with lists of pedigree dog breeders with puppies available for your chosen breed, including Kennel Club Accredited Breeders who have agreed to adhere to certain breeder practices.  Breed Clubs are also an important source of contact for prospective puppy owners.  Contact details for Accredited Breeders, Breeders with Kennel Club Registered puppies and Breed Clubs can be found by seaching the Kennel Club Puppy Sales Register.

If you are browsing a newspaper, magazine or website for a dog, please follow the guidance issued by the Pet Advertising Advisory Group.  Contact the Kennel Club or any major animal welfare organisation for more information.

What to expect from a breeder

The breeder should give you the opportunity to see the puppy with its mother and the rest of litter.  This is very important because it will not only give you an opportunity to see the temperament of the mother, but may also give you an idea of the future characteristics and size of the puppy.

Take the opportunity to see all the puppies and be able to handle them, rather than just seeing the puppy being offered to you.

It is the responsibility of the breeder(s) to register the litter, and each puppy in the litter will initially be registered in the name of the breeder.  The breeder(s) will name all the puppies and may include their Kennel Name as part of the puppy’s Kennel Club registered name.

Under normal circumstances, litter registration with the Kennel Club takes about 14 days (5 working days if the litter is registered online), after which time the breeder(s) will receive the appropriate registration certificates.  If there is a query with the naming of any of the puppies or with any other aspect of the form, the Kennel Club will contact the breeder to clarify the position, and this may delay the registration process.

If the dog is advertised as Kennel Club Registered, you should ensure that you obtain the Kennel Club Registration Certificate for the dog before you take the dog away (this is not the same thing as a pedigree, which shows ancestry).  If you are buying a puppy the certificate will be blue and will have a Transfer of Registered Ownership Form printed on the reverse to enable you to transfer the ownership of your puppy into your own name.  Please be aware that you will require the signature of the breeder(s) to complete this.  If the registration certificate is not available at the time of purchase, ensure that you receive an undertaking in writing from the breeder that this will be sent to you when available.

Once you have completed the form and returned it with the appropriate fee to the Kennel Club, you will be sent an Owner Certificate and a Puppy Handbook.

You should ask the breeder for information on the following:

• A Contract of Sale - It is recommended that the breeder provide you with this.  Amongst other things this should detail both the breeder(s) and your responsibilities to the puppy.  The contract should also list any official Kennel Club endorsements (restrictions) that the breeder has placed on the puppy’s records, and in  particular on what basis the breeder may be prepared to remove the endorsement. Before or at the time of sale,you should give a signed acknowledgement of any endorsement placed.

• Written advice on training, feeding, exercise, worming and immunisation.

• A pedigree certificate detailing your dog’s ancestry – this could either be hand-written or a printed pedigree certificate made out by the breeder or an official one supplied to the breeder by the Kennel Club.

• Copies of any additional health certificates for the sire and dam.

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Choosing the right dog 

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