The Norwegian Elkhound Club
of
Great Britain
BUYING A PUPPY
These are some guidelines to purchasing a puppy. Remember you are hopefully going to have this dog to share your life for many years, so the right choice for you AND the dog is important.
The first port of call should be a breed club. Every breed in the UK has a club or clubs dedicated to just that particular type of dog. These are the experts who will tell you the pitfalls as well as the joys of their chosen breed. On this website you can find a lot of information about Norwegian Elkhounds and contacts for more information.
The NECGB has a list of members who have puppies for sale, these members adhere to strict codes of conduct and the bottom line is always the welfare of the puppies and the breed. Additionally, our list of breeders.
You should be prepared and expect to be asked lots of questions about your lifestyle and why you wish to share your life with the breed you think you might like to own. Good breeders will want to meet you and all the family members and many will insist on a home check, before allowing you to have one of their puppies. This is not meant to be invasive but to safeguard the puppy and you. In an ideal world you will establish a good rapport with your breeder who will be there to help when the need arises. You will under no circumstances get this from someone advertising in free ads, commercial kennels or on a preloved site on the internet.
The Kennel club does provide a very good on line service for how to find a puppy and a breeder, and the assured breeder scheme has much to commend it.
IMPORTANT - Before buying a puppy please read the paragraph below about Elkhounds purchased through Commercial outlets in the UK.
A new investigation by the BBC's Panorama in May 2016 looked into the farms which sell thousands of puppies to British owners who are completely unaware they were bred in illegal conditions. More than a third of all puppies bought in the UK today (across all breeds) will come from puppy farms – both licensed and unlicensed in what is a growing multi-million pound industry. This includes Elkhounds. The report included sickening pictures showing puppies and their mothers bound for Britain's pet shops locked up in tiny wooden crates like battery hens. An undercover reporter went to one of the largest puppy farms (at that time actually licensed by the Local Authority) in Northern Ireland for part of the review and this included footage of Elkhounds. Adults and puppies.
So many sad faces of all breeds but for many involved in this breed for decades, it brings the sheer scale of the commercial breeders/outlets involved in Elkhounds to the fore and source of a large number of rehomes for Elkhound Rescue over a couple of decades. To see the puppies in such terrible conditions and then the story of one of my breed (bred in this establishment and sold via a puppy outlet in the North of England) having to be put to sleep at just a year is sickening. To hear the words of the former owner of “George” the Elkhound who had kidney failure was so distressing. I felt a huge empty feeling, one of disbelief in seeing Elkhound puppies and adults in such a condition. It’s been going on for some decades... but it's still horrendous and it doesn’t make it right.
Let's be clear if you buy a puppy and don't buy from a reputable breeder, you fuel the problem!
A reputable breeder will have the bitch there for you to see and meet, and only ever in their own home. This web site has a breeders list and it is available for all to see.
If you didn’t see the programme, its available on BBC i-player.
Click on the blue buttons for links to the Kennel Club pages
