While some of us try to, most of us do not have "perfect dogs". (I know I don't!) All you can do is be informed so any decision you make is a sound one. Especially regarding a dog that will hopefully be with you its entire life! Here are some pointers that may help you distinguish a breeder you may want to avoid. No one thing makes someone a less than reputible breeder, these are just things to watch out for.

1) If the parents of the puppy you are looking into buying have names that don't include a kennel name, for example "Baileys Martini", chances are that breeder has something to hide and doesn't want the pup to be able to be traced back to them. BEWARE!

2) If the breeder is unfamiliar with terms like OFA (Orthapedic Foundation for Animals) or OVC (Ontario Veterinary College) or Penn Hip, or says things like "my dogs are VERY well bred so you needn't worry about their hips or elbows" or "I've never had a problem "...BEWARE!

3) If a breeder offers to drop the price for you to get you to take a pup... you get what you pay for!...BEWARE!

4) If the breeder will not talk with you at length about health issues, and talk about what health issues you could come up against with a puppy, even discussing problems with the dogs they already own...BEWARE!

5) If the breeder claims that they don't do hips because they don't want to put thier dogs under anesthesia, a common ploy used by breeders who really don't WANT to know the breeding health of their dogs....BEWARE!
(while bloodhounds can have problems with anesthesia, there are safe drugs to use and there are vets who don't use any at all! And cardiac tests be a canine cardiologist don't require any anesthesia)

6) If the breeder offers to sell you a puppy with no breeding restrictions, when all you want is a pet quality pup, that is a breeder who doesn't care where thier breeding lines are going.!...BEWARE

7) If the breeder says that the pup they are selling is "show quality" ,but neither parent have their championship, and the breeder has never shown...BEWARE!

And lastly...CKC registered puppies does NOT always mean Canadian Kennel Club registered! There is another club in the USA called the Continental Kennel Club that will even register non-purebred dogs, and their paperwork is called CKC too! Its a common ploy for less than reputible breeders to use so they can claim their pups are "double registered", especially in the US Make sure you ask WHICH CKC they mean and ask to see the papers!