Looking for a Corgi Puppy: How Not to Get Scammed!

You’ve probably heard the news that since the pandemic there has been a huge increase in puppy scams. Sadly, there’s a good chance that someone reading this has even been victim to one.

I was going to tell you how to spot a scammer, the tell-tale signs to look for… But I can do you one better. I can tell you how to skip that step completely and never have to wonder if it’s a scam.

So here’s my words of wisdom. Are you ready?

The best way to avoid being scammed is to find an awesome breeder.

Wait! No no no, please come back! I know it sounds stupidly, unhelpfully obvious, like my potty training advice (just don’t let the puppy go to the bathroom in the house) or my chewing advice (prevent the puppy from chewing on things he shouldn’t) but just as in those cases, I am going to expound on this. I promise. Just hear me out.

Also, I’m going to avoid using terms like “responsible/ethical” (everyone has their own definition for that) and “reputable” (for me, that just conjures up the idea that it is not a scam, and that’s the minimum you should expect). Even though I think it’s a great term, I’m not going to use “preservation breeder” in this post either. For a couple of reasons, but mainly because many people have their hearts set on some of the corgi mixes, and whether I am personally a fan or not has no bearing. There’s no reason that they shouldn’t demand a fully health tested (not just “triple clear“) puppy with a solid temperament, and not be scammed. So while a lot of what I say might be Pembroke specific, I don’t want to exclude anyone from this post.

So I guess for this post, let’s just say awesome. An awesome breeder. I will expound on my definition of that as we go.

Find the Breeder, Not the Puppy

Where scammers get you is that they always post cute pictures of puppies. Usually they will tell you they’re ready to go to their new homes. For someone who wants a puppy and wants it now, that sounds perfect.

But stop.

While there are always exceptions and sometimes things happen, it’s not common for a breeder to have an entire litter of pups completely unspoken for by the time they’re ready to go home. Most awesome breeders have waiting lists (often more like a pool of people who are following their programme and interested in a puppy from them, from which they’ll select a good fit for each pup) as well as families coming back again for their second (and third, and fourth, and bajillionth) dog.

Besides that, awesome breeders care where their puppies go. They care a lot. They’re not going to just post a picture on a public space where impulse-buyers can pick the one they like the markings of and then get rid of it 7 months later because it’s more energetic than they thought it would be.

Puppies are going to be cute. And you’re going to have a connection and a strong urge to just love that puppy. Anybody that has ever looked at a litter of puppies has a story about how one of the puppies chose them, or they looked at a picture of that puppy and just knew. Why? Because it’s a puppy. Because they have been diabolically engineered to hack into your brain’s baby sensors and cause you to abandon all sense, nurture and protect at all costs, and melt into a puddle of baby talk and cooing! It’s just facts. As long as the puppy is a reasonably good match for you, you’re going to bond with it. Don’t worry about that part.

When you get a dog or puppy from a shelter or rescue, it’s about that specific, individual dog. And I suppose that’s how it is if you get a puppy from a commercial situation, where the goal is just to produce and sell puppies and it’s an over-and-done transaction.

But getting a puppy from an awesome breeder is different. You’re looking at the whole family of dogs, and that’s a good thing, because it gives you a better idea of what to expect. Every awesome breeder is going to have their own vision and prioritize slightly different things in their programme. In my post about my own search for a breeder, I talked about how one breeder I talked to, successful in the show ring and with lots of experience, didn’t feel like the right fit for me, because she told me her lines had little herding instinct. That didn’t fit my vision of a corgi, but for other people, that’s perfect! When you’re looking for a breeder, you’re looking for someone whose goals align best with what you want out of a dog.

So rather than looking at who has puppies right now, do some digging into different breeders. Find one who is producing the kind of dogs you’d love to share your life with, and then be willing to wait until they have a puppy for you. If you choose the breeder and not the puppy, you’re far more likely to end up with a dog who is everything you were hoping for. You’ll have support and knowledgeable advice throughout your dog’s life. And you’ll have somewhere to go back for all your future dogs!

Okay, But How Do You Find These Breeders?

There are many places to find a good breeder. But first, I would avoid googling “corgi breeders in [insert state]” or searching on Facebook or Craigslist. That is going to give you the most scams and not-awesome breeders to weed through.

You can potentially reach out to a national breed club (in the U.S., that will be the PWCCA), or a regional club.

However… I hate to have to say goodbye to some of the readers I acquired from my post regarding DM, but I feel quite sure some of them are going to leave me for saying this. Well, I was honoured to have you here, and you’re more than welcome to stay…but I still have to say what I believe to be true: Not all awesome breeders belong to a club. Club membership is not the thing that makes a good breeder.

Besides the fact that there are terrific breeders elsewhere who care deeply about the breed but for whatever reason do not have the time or inclination to join a club—and there are—there’s also the fact that the times, they are a-changin’.

Please explain to me why in 2021 someone who just wants a well-bred family pet should have to contact a person who can give them a list of more people to contact? Some of whom will then not respond at all, because the poor hapless soul who has never done this before happened to say the wrong thing? That’s just not how things are done anymore. We can rail against the youth for their lack of peopling skills, but if you truly want to preserve a love of purebred dogs and show a younger generation the beautiful predictability and solid temperament of a dog that has been carefully selected for for generations, you gotta join ’em.

So, AKC Marketplace. And Good Dog. Both of these are places where breeders can list themselves and buyers can then contact them. The breeders can link to their own websites and still thoroughly vet their buyers, but the buyers can actually find them in a way that feels more accessible.

At the minimum, breeders you find listed in these sources are probably not scams. But beyond that, these sites do attempt to provide information regarding the health testing that the breeders do, and AKC has several distinctions that they award breeders for different things. There are definitely not-so-awesome breeders on these sites. These sources are not without issue. Either one can be a great place to start your search, but then you need to dig deeper, which we will talk about. These sites have not done your homework for you. Contrary to what you might assume, AKC is not endorsing the breeders they list. These breeders have purchased a listing, and as I understand it, basically just have to have AKC registrable dogs.

How To Recognise an Awesome Breeder

I’m going to talk about a lot of factors here. Bear in mind that these are cumulative. There are exceptions to every rule. Some not-awesome breeders will check some of the boxes, and some awesome breeders might seem to be missing one. So weigh all of these things and look at the overall picture.

First of all, research! Dig into what you can find online about this breeder. When I was looking at breeders, I read through their entire websites, scrolled waaaaay back in their Facebook pages, and just dug as deep as I could. See if you can talk to other people who have dogs from them or who know their dogs. A lot of breeders have Facebook groups for their puppy owners. If there is an active community there, that can be a really good sign.

Bear in mind that anybody with a young puppy is going to be enamoured of that puppy. So, take glowing reviews with a grain of salt until that puppy has grown up. After all, you’re not really buying a puppy, you’re buying the dog that puppy will grow up to be. So the real testament to a good breeder is going to come from their adult dogs.

Talk to your potential breeder about what their dogs are like, and what their goals are. You should get a real sense that they are passionate about their breed. An awesome breeder has an ideal Pembroke Welsh Corgi in their mind’s eye that they’re always striving toward—ask them what that looks like. What made them choose to breed this or that dog—how is this dog contributing to their programme to get them closer to that ideal corgi? What are they primarily selecting for? Performance, a certain “style,” laidback temperaments? (Health and appropriate structure should just be givens.)

While a certain amount of internet sleuthing (stalking) is helpful, you do have to actually talk to the person at some point. For instance, maybe one of their breeding dogs has some flaws or isn’t very “typey.” If you see a picture of that dog on their website, you might start yelling that they’re a “backyard breeder.” But if you just talk to them, you may find out that there’s a very specific reason they’re incorporating those genes in their programme. Just breeding phenotypically beautiful dogs, even champions, doesn’t always mean the puppies are going to be anything special. Awesome breeders understand all the pieces at play, and how to breed based on phenotype and genotype and weave those pieces together. It’s a science and an art. So an awesome breeder can explain to you what they’re doing, but you have to ask!

Now, if they can’t explain what they’re doing, or they can only say that the dog “has champion lineage” or “is a really sweet dog,” …that’s where you may want to find someone else. To be clear: at this point we’re probably not talking about an actual scam, in that you will get a puppy. But we are talking about a less-than-awesome breeder. The corgi you get from them might not be all you’d hoped for, because it’s possible the breeder isn’t putting as much thought into it as you would hope.

An awesome breeder will have as many questions for you as you have from them. Delia’s breeder asked for references—and she was serious about that. They will also want to know about your lifestyle and what kind of dog you’re looking for, and they will be honest about whether one of their pups is likely to be a good fit or not. They may recommend you go elsewhere if they don’t think their dogs are right for you.

A scammer is not going to ask you any questions other than which puppy you want and payment-related stuff. They want to make the sale as quickly as possible before you realise it’s a scam. Whereas Delia’s breeder literally would not take my deposit until it was time for contracts, when the puppies were older.

A not-so-awesome breeder may or may not have many questions for you. In this post I talked about how one I reached out to really just wanted to know my coat colour preference and whether I wanted male or female. She did have something at the end of her email about how she wanted to be sure her puppies go to good homes… But, she included instructions on how to send a non-refundable 100 USD deposit, even though she knew absolutely nothing about me. My initial email basically just inquired whether she was actively breeding. But if I had put money down, I would have gone on her list. I know for sure that this breeder is not a scammer…but these practises (along with selling merle “Pembrokes”) are not what I consider awesome.

The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) developed the Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) programme. Working together with each breed’s parent club, they determined which tests should be the base requirements for that breed. For Pembroke Welsh Corgis, the most vital tests according to OFA and the PWCCA are as follows:

Now, that is the minimum. In addition, awesome breeders will likely preform genetic testing (see this post though, for more info on that), and they may also do elbows, and possibly more. While these phenotypical tests don’t guarantee that the puppy will also have, for instance, good hips, an awesome breeder wants as much information as possible so they can stack the deck in their favour.

Again, hip and eye testing are the minimum. But not-so-awesome breeders have latched onto the availability, convenience, and affordability of genetic testing, and they will do those and then market their puppies as “triple clear.” That phrasing pushes forth the narrative that vWD, DM, and EIC are the most important and presumably the only tests. And since most buyers know the puppies should be health tested but don’t know exactly which tests are necessary, that works out for these breeders. They are doing less than the minimum, but will often say they do “full testing.” So don’t just hear “full testing” and stop there. Ask questions! Which tests does the breeder do, can they show you the results. Can they explain what the tests mean (hint: excellent hips on the parents don’t necessarily mean your pup won’t be dysplastic, and “DM at risk” doesn’t mean the dog is necessarily at risk of getting DM.) Anyone breeding dogs should have at least a basic grasp of this stuff, welcome your questions, and proudly show proof.

But!

Again…have a conversation! You can look up dogs in the OFA database to see whether they are in there. But there are some situations where the results won’t show up. So before you play internet detective of the breeding police and run to call someone a “backyard breeder,” why not ask them for proof of testing, in a kind way? Don’t be quick to cast judgement until you know the facts. Communication solves so many things.

One of the most important, if not the most important considerations is temperament. Think about it: for the most part, why do dogs get rehomed? Behavioural issues. While it’s up to the puppy buyer to continue with socialisation and training once the pup leaves the breeder, the foundation an awesome breeder puts on their puppies is going to show, and it will make things so much easier for you.

For one thing, an awesome breeder knows how to evaluate temperaments in order to place each puppy in the right home. An awesome breeder will not simply allow you to choose your puppy without offering any input or guidance. By not sending the dog with the highest herding instinct (in corgis, read: nipping at heels) to a house full of small children; by not sending the sports prospect with boundless drive and enthusiasm to the house with the elderly couple who just wanted a couch potato; by not sending the shy puppy to the house of a social butterflies who want their dog to always be in the middle of the action, the awesome breeder is ensuring that their puppy is truly going to their forever home where they will fit in just perfectly and be everything the family wanted and more.

And once again, this is where doing your homework comes into play. From joining my potential breeder’s Facebook Group, I was able to look through her past buyers and see that she had an amazing track record of matching puppies with humans. I talked about that in this post.

To make sure the puppy is prepared for life, it’s not enough to simply have the puppies be present in a busy home. That was the case in the past, but we expect so much more from our dogs now. We want to be able to include them in all the things, and we want them to meet all the people and all the dogs and not embarrass us. It’s a lot, so it needs to start early.

Awesome breeders are doing things with those puppies. They might choose to use programmes like Puppy Culture or Avidog, or they may have their own methods that they’ve honed through experience. The important thing is that it’s structured and tailored to the growth of the puppies. Puppies are growing and developing so rapidly that it’s important to hit milestones at the right times, which is why these structured methods are so important.

I could gush until the end of time about the foundation Delia’s breeder handed me from using these puppy rearing protocols with her. Delia’s personality is a little bit more where she wants to think about things and assess situations—she’s not one to just bluster her way through. In a different set of circumstances, I could see where that hanging back and thinking might have become timidity and apprehension. But because of the amazing work her breeder did with her, she came home from day one with this beautiful, quiet confidence. She didn’t startle at loud noises, and she approached all the new things with curiosity.

So all I had to do was continue to build on that foundation and maintain it so she didn’t slide backwards. Whereas so many puppies seem to come home already behind the game. They’re already scared of the car, or having their nails clipped, and shy to meet new people and dogs. So with Delia, I just had to keep exposing her to things, take her places, and reinforce that confidence and curiosity she already had. In contrast, many puppy owners have to first try to build that puppy’s confidence before they can hit the ground running with socialisation and desensitisation, but that takes a really skilled trainer to do, and most of us puppy owners (myself included) are not trainers. So instead, what often happens is they flood the puppy by taking them everywhere and doing all the things, and hope they’ll get over it. That just makes the problem so much worse.

I talked in this post about how solid Delia is even though I couldn’t expose her to all the things I wanted to because of the pandemic. In another post, about the corgi races, I talked about how she was able to just chill out and take a nap. This was not because of me. If I had been handed a puppy without the foundation that Delia had, I wouldn’t have the skills to get her to this point. So when we go out and people inevitably comment on what a well-behaved dog she is—well, first of all, I assure them that this is just her on her best behaviour, she definitely has her moments, but then I say how it’s all thanks to the work her breeder puts into raising her puppies.

Awesome breeders welcome your questions. Because they’re passionate about their breed, they love to educate. If someone seems shady and unwilling to provide information now, don’t expect that’s going to change once you’ve given them your money. So ask questions, and trust your gut if someone doesn’t seem forthcoming. That said, be patient and don’t expect lightning-fast responses, especially if there are puppies on the ground.

Awesome breeders are there to support you through your dog’s entire life. Even when all the care in the world has been taken, dogs will occasionally have a health or behavioural issue. That doesn’t reflect on the breeder, that’s just life. What does reflect on the breeder is what happens next. An awesome breeder feels a personal responsibility toward every puppy they bring into the world, and they will be there through good and bad. They will continue to be a resource of advice, guidance, knowledge, and wisdom that you can draw from. They are someone who cares about your dog every bit as much as you do, and so you won’t be alone in celebrating the joys and navigating the sorrows.

Be Patient

We have become so used to instant gratification, and this is something that scammers exploit no matter what we’re talking about, whether it’s puppies or weight-loss or getting rich quick. Good things take time. And we know this! There is a trend toward rejecting that instant gratification model, becoming disillusioned with it. It is becoming more and more common to shop small businesses and commission custom-made items, and we do so with the understanding that it’s not going to be as fast as running to Walmart or clicking “buy now” on Amazon. When we see the value, we’re willing to be patient. I recently waited something like 5 months for a custom leather collar for Delia. I could have found a collar on Amazon and probably had it here in two days, but I was willing to wait for something beautiful and handmade and of better quality. So we already have that framework. Now we just need to apply it to dogs.

The irony of the “adopt don’t shop” movement is that, while private rescue groups often have more hoops to jump through than a breeder, getting a dog from a shelter is more akin to shopping, only in that you can see the dog you like, fill out some paperwork, and it’s yours. You can even look at the dogs online. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that. But I’m saying that “shopping” from awesome breeders isn’t much like shopping at all, so if this is your first time, it will be an adjustment. Awesome breeders are not there to give you instant gratification. You’re going to get a puppy when they have a puppy that they feel you would be a good fit for. So be willing to wait. Stay in touch, show them you’re serious. And when you finally get that puppy that was everything you hoped for and more, it will have been well worth the wait.

If you want to hear more about choosing a breeder, I thought the Pandemic Puppy Podcast’s episode on this was excellent. They really stressed how there are exceptions to every rule—something that I think all too often gets lost.

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And that’s all I have for you today. I hope I didn’t lose anyone with what I had to say, but I believe it’s always better to be honest than to play a part and repeat the things everyone expects to hear. If, on the other hand, you happen to enjoy my content—thank you! If you haven’t already, you can subscribe with your email address at the bottom of the page so you never miss a post. Or, you can click the link to our Facebook (also bottom of the page) and follow us there. We post a link to each new blog post, along with other fun stuff. Allegedly.

Thank you for reading! Have a lovely day.