Puppy imminent help! advice??

[Chadders]

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LOTS OF QUESTIONS?
Ok folks we are going to see a litter of puppies on Friday? They are Bullmastiff X Dog de Bordeaux. I think they'll be approx 3 weeks so not ready to re-home yet. Mum is the same cross and will be with them. This is her 2nd litter. I believe father is the same cross too. We're happy with the breed size, personality etc, we love the Bullmastiff and they look more like that breed fawn colour with the black mask.
What should we be looking for in the litter and mother? we want a dog as appose to a bitch.
How do we choose?
What questions should we ask the owner?
What should we watch out for in the way the puppies look act, react to us?
Should we ask who their vet is? to contact them ref the health records of the mother?
is it possible to gauge the temperament of the dog at such a young age?
What should ring alarm bells and send us running?
Thanks.

 

[JoanneF]

The first thing is to be aware of the congenital health conditions of the breeds, which can be inherited by puppies.

The parents are frankly unlikely to be health tested - cross breeds seldom are. Both breeds carry a risk of both hip and elbow dysplasia (if the parents have been tested you should look for hip scores well below 21 and elbows at O:O). In the mother and if you can see a picture of the father, too much wrinkly skin could cause problems if the puppy inherits this (skin fold dermatitis) and make sure their eyelids are fully able to cover the eye, or you could have issues with eye infections. Both breeds can have breathing issues (brachycephallic obstructive airway syndrome) because of their flat faces, so the less flat the better. In terms of puppy behaviour, a middle of the litter puppy is usually a good choice - not the shy and retiring wallflower, not the playground bully. It is possible to test puppies' personality (the Volhard test if you are interested in finding out more) but it has to be done on day 49 - when the puppy's brain has developed but before its reactions are affected by prior learning. So too early for these guys!

 

[Chadders]

Thanks for the feed back. Apparently dad has passed away? but the pups are only 2 weeks old?, the seller tells me it was due to natural causes but was apparently showing signs of arthritis. He had fathered a previous litter, as well again only what I'm being told by the seller.
This is mums second litter and the breed is Dog de Bordeaux and English mastiff not Bullmastiff. To be honest videos we've been sent show pups healthy feeding wandering around in their pen and mum looks healthy?

 

[JoanneF]

Do you know how old dad was? Bear in mind these breeds have a short lifespan but regardless of the reason for his death, you should probably take out a good insurance.

 

[Mad Murphy]

Alarm bells are ringing... I would be doing more checking on these people .. Look via social media see if you can find out anything about them then if there is a list of well know breeders /puppy farmers in your area ect.

 

[Kara 1]

Pups on s video could be any pups ...I would be very suspicious

 

[Chadders]

Pups on s video could be any pups ...I would be very suspicious

I'm happy the video is genuine I've spoken to the seller/breeder on the phone and it was sent minutes after speaking it's the same person speaking in the video. The pictures also tie in with the add in pets4homes which is where I originally saw the pups for sale.

 

[JudyN]

Could you ask the breeder to be put in touch with one or two of the owners of pups from the previous litter? A good breeder will welcome all the checks you want to do.

A mistake I made - when comparing the pups in the litter in terms of their relative rowdiness/liveliness, also have an idea of what the litter is like compared to puppies overall. I avoided the quiet one, but realised a lot later that that one was approaching normal whereas the rest were a pack of shoe-eating pyranha-like devils!