06/20/2026
Controversial topic time.
Not every dog should stay with its original owner.
You heard that right. Some dogs are much better off in different hands than the ones that originally brought them home as a small puppy.
Some people are much better off letting a dog go to someone more qualified or prepared for it.
No one brings home a puppy expecting it NOT to work out. People get that puppy because they wanted it and fully expected to have that dog forever, and in the case of well bred purebreds, they likely applied for it, went through a screening process, and paid a fair bit of money for it.
In some cases, the puppy doesn’t end up being a good fit, despite the owners best efforts, despite doing everything right to provide the Puppy with every possible advantage, providing socialization, training, and following the breeders advice. However these cases, considered no fault returns, are unfortunately not the norm.
In less ideal cases, the buyer breaches their contract or other agreement with the breeder, leading to a loss of trust and faith in the stewardship of that dog, and necessitating its return.
Far too often, a buyer brings home a working bred puppy with unfair expectations, or an incomplete view of the needs of that Puppy. They expect the puppy to come home behaving a specific way, or with a specific amount of training already “installed”.
They expect the Puppy to pick up new skills and behaviors immediately:
-To housebreak with little effort.
-To be fearless working dogs from the moment they walk in the front door.
They aren’t prepared for the amount of time and commute and expense it takes to bring up a working puppy. They are quick to give up, and the Puppy ends up relegated to the back burner, an afterthought. It’s rarely in the dogs best interests for it to remain in that same household for its entire life, unfulfilled, where it’s mental and physical needs aren’t being met.
It takes a very self aware and selfless individual to admit that they aren’t a good fit for a puppy, and to return it to their breeder to be placed more appropriately. Truly, it is the best case scenario when a buyer can come to that conclusion before too much time has passed, and too much baggage has been accumulated. Puppies and young dogs are remarkably resilient and typically adapt to new surroundings easily and with little stress. A dog returned before anything has really gone awry, or as soon as things begin to go awry, is the very best possible scenario, and most breeders are delighted to welcome their puppy back home, with no hard feelings toward the previous owner.
-Sometimes a puppy ends up too high (or low) drive for the buyers needs and experience level.
-Sometimes the buyers personal situation changes and they are no longer able to fulfill the promises they made in their application and/or contract.
There are a wide variety of reasons a puppy may be best served by returning to the breeder, and a good buyer can recognize that and fulfill that obligation to the puppy.
The unfortunate and rarely talked about truth is, sometimes the buyer is too concerned with the money they spent, the status of having a working dog or a dog from a specific breeder, or their own ego and need for control to make the right choice to return the dog and depending on the situation, either leads to the breeder repossessing the dog (as we have had to do on a few occasions) or the dog living out its days low on the owner’s priority list, spending much of its time in a crate, blamed for behavior issues it develops and never growing to be the dog that genetics and purposeful careful breeding intended.
As a breeder of working dogs, we have always had far more respect for the buyer who reaches out to admit that they and the puppy weren’t a good fit, or their circumstances have changed and they can no longer provide what they promised to provide for the puppy’s physical, mental, and genetic needs, and returns them willingly; than we have for the buyer that we have to watch in dismay as our puppy is mentally and/or physically damaged, and we have to fight for their return. We have no problem with dogs being returned. We have problems with fighting for dogs to be returned after they have been significantly damaged and have loads of baggage, and need months and months of work to get them back to where they should have been. And most ethical breeders feel the same way.
