Over the years I have seen many, many dogs with problems stemming from poor circumstances before the owner acquired the puppy.  This week I have had experience of the other end, so to speak.

An acquaintance of mine suddenly found he had five puppies.  His Labrador bitch had clearly been consorting with a collie that also wandered freely round the farm.  Until the puppies made their appearance - two were born dead - he had no idea even that the bitch was in pup.  For the first eight weeks of their life, the puppies shared a kennel and run with their mother and were fed just twice a day on adult food.  Then the owner realised it was time he got rid of them and so he advertised them for £150 each.  I was horrified at how many people were interested in puppies for their home that had been kennel reared, not been handled at all, been fed incorrectly, not been wormed and with no experience of all the usual household noises.   Of course, like all puppies they were appealing and their one saving grace is that both parents have superb temperaments.

Parentage apart, the quality of those early weeks is vital for future well being so please, if you are thinking of buying a puppy, steer clear of a set up like this - unless you want to be paying out a lot of money to somebody like me in the future!