Here are a few steps to take in order to ensure that the puppy you get from a breeder is a good one and it’s likely to be as fit and healthy as it can be for its breed.  You must appreciate that some dogs have genetic problems with their health due to overbreeding a long time ago, and you cannot hold the breeder responsible for that:

• Research your chosen breed.  If you want to buy a particular type of puppy then research its breed on the internet and go and visit any other places you can where you can see the dog fully grown too.  This will give you some idea of how they are supposed to look, their temperament (take over an average of a number of dogs of course) and if they have any distinguishing features that should be prominent.
• This research extends to the parents of the puppy you are planning on buying.  For example, an Alsatian should have a nice straight back and look alert.  If the parent dogs don’t look as they should after your research then do not buy the puppy.  It’s really the only way you can judge how a puppy will turn out by looking at it’s mother.  If at all possible you should be able to identify the father too, and perhaps interact with them both at some point to see how their temperament is.
• Ask the breeder for testimonials of other buyers, show winners or other people who have done business with them.

If you look closely you will see what you’re buying.

You see, humans would have only bred dogs that could be useful for hunting, war, and protection; they would not have been bred for pleasure or fun in any way shape or form; compared with the history of the dog this part of it is considerably small.

A dog breeder would have initially recognised qualities in a dog that they needed and perhaps mated it with a dog that had different qualities that they desired also, in the hope that the two would produce offspring that would develop into the type of dog the human breeder required.  This is how it has always been and this is, in many respects, how it is still done today.

These days however most of the species have been developed as far as they’ll go.  We have hunting dogs that are capable of protection and attack if necessary, and we have developed our hunting dogs with other dogs in order to create hunting dogs with better sight; there is little left to do.  However, breeding has taken on a new meaning now.  Pedigrees are all the rage and if a breeder is to breed his pedigree, then he is likely to want to breed it with another pedigree to keep a good “line”.  This is a type of way to keep an eye on all the dogs in the two seperate families that have been reared and to identify any genetic difficulties that may have arisen.