SearchBreeder Search?
Hello! (My first posting)
To be honest, about 3 months ago I would have been happy buying a doberman off puppyfind for $300 with no idea what an actual "master breeder" was. However, I became really interested in doberman and so I started researching and reading more about them, in fact I've been reading every bit of information I can for the last few months. Once I researched more, I decided that I should definitely put more work into finding the perfect doberman for me that just seeing what was for sale, now I cringe at the thought of buying a puppy that was probably produced from an accidental breeding. This is in large part because of this website, which has been the most useful and enjoyable to read information I have found those far. Anyway ... to get to the point, I was super disappointed when I found out that the owner's of this website are no longer breeding and that I would have to find puppies else where. It seems I have actually become too picky, because I cannot seem to find a breeder that lives up to the standards the breeders who own this website hold (or at least what I can tell from reading the site). If anyone could point me in the right direction to some breeders they have had personal experiance with or know to be great breeders, I would greatly apperciate it! Thanks!
Welcome, and way to go on the homework! Most people that can give you the name of a good breeder will have someone else disagree. Until Alpha gets his list up and running :-X you might try going to Doberman Review.com. I found that going here and reading the forums, I could get a good Idea of what some of these breeders are like. I mentioned the Review only because it has so many breeders in one place. Might be a good place to start. Also,I have never had a pup from this person but I think I know enough of their character to say you could ask Horseatingweeds on this forum if pups are in the future.
Finding a good breeder is tough. Starting by looking at internet listing is a start. The trouble is, like the local news paper, any turkey can make a listing or set up a website - just like a puppy broker can set up a home to look like a loving caring breeder's home.
This is the problem I've been turning about in my head... How do we qualify breeders who will eventually list on this site? Sorry it's taking so long by the way. I'll have to confess I haven't actually started building it yet. I did, but then I decided I wanted a more reliable and maintainable system. Since then I've been studying a more modern (modern to web server programming anyway) design pattern. I want to redesign the whole site to run on it. It should be much safer and easier to manage.
Speaking of Horseatingweeds, according to him you can find out everything you need to know with a list of questions asked the right way - actually that's what his wife claims. She says you can ask the right question and listen to them talk until they let something slip out.
My other problem is not making the system to difficult to fill out. I swear, some of the best breeders in the world are just now getting ride of their analog phone... Probably use a type writer to make their agreements and take them somewhere for copies. :D Some of them are horrible photographers too. They might have the best looking Doberman there is but instead of taking a picture of the dog, they take a picture that happens to have the dog in it - if you know what I mean.
The best thing you can do is talk to the breeder. Why are they breeding? What are their goals? Where are the dogs raised? What is the health of their dogs? Are there any inherent defects in the lineage? Cardio, Hip dysphasia, Von willebrands? Can you see the parents? What do they feed their dogs? Have they done any health testing of their breeding stock? How long do their dogs live? Do they have a guarrantee? What does it cover? How long is it? The list is endless -these are just a few questions to ask. It is very expensive to breed dogs and properly care for them and feed them. My annual feed bill is at least $2000 not to mention toys, treats, visits to the vet.
You should expect to spend $1000 and up for a quality doberman
hello, i am new to the site as well as the breed.. i have been researching the breed and dobermans seem awesome.. does anyone know the breeder "blackjack dobermans" in alabama?.. they are listed in DPCA.. seems like a good breeder.. i am getting a male doberman pup soon.. i hope he gets along with my 2 lhasa apso females ages 11 months.. any feedback pertaining to blackjack dobermans would be appreciated.. thanks..
Hello:
I was referred to this new site (at least new to me) and they actually have a sticky on good breeders. The site is http://www.dobermantalk.com . They actually have a chart made up from the replies of their members and there is a way to determine, by how many times a breeder's name was mentioned by different people, if they are liked by more than one or two people. I don't know if this will help you. But as mentioned above, you do need to screen the breeders yourself--what you are looking for may be different than the next person.
I know I do like this site better, however. I have learned more about dobes here. But the other site has its pros as well.
We got our dobi from a great breeder that loves her dogs more than anything. Her website is sonyas-preciouspups.com
and she has some blue and black/tan puppies right now for sale. She is located near Opelika, Alabama.
Again what is a GREAT breeder? I looked at the website, it says nothing a obout health testing anything, a bunch of pictures of pet grade breeding stock. What makes this breeder worth recommending? I think if a person does the research and truly wants a nice dog then they will get one from health tested, proven stock. This website screams bacyard breeder to me.
Pet grade what is that really? I am not going to breed Izzy so does that mean I can get a Doberman from any breeder. To me pet grade HEALTH is just as important as breeding stock. Like you said there is nothing about health there.
AKC is no guarantee of good health but I wont buy a CKC ever again b/c I learnt I could take a picture send it in to the CKC office and they will give me a CKC certificate on that dog. 
I bought a CKC Yorkie female I was going to breed with my AKC male but I decided this is not the way I wanted to do things. Non of mine came with a written health certificate or guarantee past 30 days!
Welcome eerised12, and thanks!
It's definitely good you've gotten picky, that's one of the goals of this site - to educate people in order to improve the Doberman breed. We are no longer breeding, but our hope is to continue improving the breed by imparting knowledge. I haven't been doing much work on the site directly. This is because I'm working on a totally new design that will include some powerful systems. One system will allow breeders to list themselves here and allow visitors to view the listings.
One of the things I'm still trying to determine is how to filter out the bad breeders. Initially I don't plan to charge anything for the service. I don't want anything stopping every good breeder from listing. Maybe once we're more established I'll start charging some meager amount that will be used to advertising purposes and so on.
One thought is to have a ratting/endorsement/review system attached to each listing - like Amazon has for books. Then visitors can see this breeder has 5 stars - this one has 2 - etc. The thing is, who gets to leave ratings? Only people who have purchased puppies? Only people who have visited the breeder? How do you confirm such things?
Perhaps I should start gathering Doberman loving volunteers from different areas to visit the breeders - require credentials of some sort? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
As for finding a good breeder, someone on the forum should answer soon enough.