Breeder Recommendations? (WI)
My husband and I are looking at adding a new dog to our family. We are in our 30s, do not have children, and are experienced dog owners. I grew up with Goldens, my husband had mostly German Shepherds and one wolf mix. Together, we had a rescue pit mix for 12 wonderful years, but we lost him last spring (cancer). We met a NSDT puppy on vacation this past weekend and we're extremely interested in exploring this as an option since we have been kind of getting the run around from shelters.
We just moved back to Wisconsin, so we're not established with a vet here, but I'm sure our old vet would write us a recommendation (and we would of course establish care here). We live in a walkable small city so we would be able to get exercise and our property backs onto a creek so there would be the opportunity to swim regularly in warm weather. Our yard is not currently fenced, but we would add it and would not let the dog outside unsupervised, ever, and not off leash until fully trained.
I have a background in behavioral science and would be taking any dog to obedience training. My husband travels for work and I work from home, but if I were to go back into the office then we'd probably do doggy daycare to stave off any of the "misunderstandings" we had with our boy when he was a puppy and figuring life out.
What is drawing us to the breed:
-Intelligence and trainability. We do not want a pure couch potato dog, but I will not have a shepherd due to childhood trauma.
-Size. I loved my 90# pit, but this did limit us on some travel opportunities (my husband is a pilot) and he did have joint problems most of his life. A more compact dog would physically fit better into our lives at this time.
-Temperament. While we do not have children in our home, we do have niblings and aging parents that we visit quite often. My husband is often gone for work. I need a dog who will let me know if there is something fishy going on but won't go crazy and try to eat my dad's cat.
I've been on the AKC site and I'm looking to attend the event in West Bend this weekend. What should I expect? Is there anything we should be doing besides cold messaging breeders on the internet? 😅
Thank you.