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Post by Jeremy's Boggle on Apr 26, 2016 15:20:17 GMT -5
Don't give up so quickly. Most breeders have FB groups were you can get to know each other. I began speaking with my breeder several years before my three came home.
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Post by Heather on Apr 26, 2016 22:12:05 GMT -5
I communicated with my breeder for 3 yrs before finally getting my first ferrets ciao
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2016 21:37:55 GMT -5
You're all probably right, I'm just disheartened. I'm so used to knowing a trusted breeder, and getting all my purebred nonrescues so easily. A quick e-mail to my long standing breeder, a list of who is getting bred for the next year or so... A notice when the litters have arrived, and a trip down to see if my new baby is there. I've been in the dog breeding and show circuit for years, along with hunting competitions... And I WAS a horse breeder for a good portion of my childhood... We were pretty tight within those circuits, so I can see why it's hard to get a good and experienced breeder. You have to protect the babies you bring into the world..
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Post by Heather on Apr 28, 2016 13:42:50 GMT -5
It takes a while to form a relationship. You've just created them before because you moved in those circles. You could possibly do it again by doing just the same thing. Moving around the show circuit and dealing directly, in person with breeders. I know kit people get annoyed with me because they figure I'm just going to sell to them because we've exchanged a few emails and then I don't hear from them again until there's a litter on the ground. I've got to trust the home that my little ones are going to. If there's no rapport there is no kit. That may sound harsh but these are my babies and though I've only cared for them for 12 weeks, there was a lot of love and work that went into those babies. The problem is that most people figure that they can just go to the corner store and buy a kit and figure the relationship is the same, buyer and seller. It's not. If I don't hear from you from the time you've first talked to me until a litter is on the ground, how can I expect you to communicate with me afterwards. I want to know about those kits for the rest of their lives, not just until the door shuts when you walk out or if you have problems or worse after someone else brings me news that you've had problems. I want to know from you when it happens. If you give me your name, to be put on a list and I never hear from you again??!! I don't breed to sell. I breed to improve, so kits may happen every few years, if I see a good prospect that might improve what I've got. I've moved around the dog breeder and show circuit for years. I've owned purebred show dogs for over 30 yrs and showed for a lot of those years. Breeders, I got to know personally, same as they got to know me. That's the way it happens. When I got into ferrets nobody knew me. I had to start all over again making contacts, building reputations and relationships. I don't show, so that makes it even harder because people want to see ribbons and trophies. As you know, from showing, yourself, ribbons and trophies mean nothing except that you had an excellent specimen at that time on that day with that judge. It starts to mean something when you see healthy, long lived animals, happy pet owners. That's the aim, not money, not ribbons but happy pet owners who love the wee creations that you've offered them. This wasn't mean to be a lecture, it's just a statement of my stand as a breeder. ciao
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2016 15:58:12 GMT -5
No, and as a previous horse breeder, I fully understand a breeders standpoint. We tended to not sell many of our horse, and ended up with 60 by the end of the business... Those who did but we did know well and they'd stuck with us for multiple foalings to get the right horse for them. I would love to get on the show circuit with ferrets, but have actually heard bad things about the AFA. When I showed dogs it was for the fun of me and my dog, and I just couldn't show Puck. He'd hate it, and honestly as far as breeding goes he has none haha Marshall boy that he is. I've requested to join a few ferret breeders Facebook pages, and haven't ever been excepted. MiCorazon ferretry and Ferrettown USA being two of the well established and looks like good ethics along with it. Not a whole lot of fancies, and they have health guarantees, both seem to live their fuzzies quite a bit.
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