Hello! My husband and I are looking to get our first furbaby, and we are looking for recommendations for breeders. We have started to fall in love with a baby boy in Lacey, but wanted to get some input before we make any final decisions. Thanks in advance <3

Jessica, Skylers by any chance??

It is. Do you have any info on them?

I should warn you, I'm hyper critical of most "breeders" so take my comments with a grain of salt.

None except what's on their web site - I'm in Texas!  I've seen MUCH worse web sites.  They do post CERF and OFA - it bothers me somewhat that many of the pictures have "OFA too young" but give the impression they're breeding the dog, but I really don't know.
Their contract looks to be good, they say they want to be involved with you and the pup, through the dogs life - which is normally a plus.

They have three pups up for adoption, which are you looking at?

We are looking at the black and white pup. We are trying to decide if we want to take on one of his brothers as well. My husband and I have planned to have 2 dogs, but not sure if two puppies at once would be best. I think it would be nice to have his brother, but not sure.

Do you know who the sire and dam on those pups is. They talk about the parentage of the two litters coming up in late July but don't mention the lineage of the three pups (that I can see).

Adopting two pups at one time - there's quite a bit of discussion on the forum about that. If you can dedicate enough time so that the pup bond to you and hubby rather than primarily on each other it can work out well. Each pup needs communal time as well as individual time, with just one that's easy with two it can be more difficult.

Had to go look to see where Seattle is relative to Olympia ... since you're getting your first furbabies and getting Husky's at that their relative closeness could be a great advantage. As in - help is only a phone call away.

I could not find info on the parents either. The family is camping until Monday, and then I will be able to get more information.

I think it may be best for us to get the one and make him a well adjusted big brother. I am not even sure if this breeder would allow us to take two pups. I have read that some people are particular about that.

Since I'm going only by what I see on the web site:

They state on almost every page that they're registered with the AKC but show the registration for only one of the three breeding males and none of the five breeding females.  Wonder why?

All the breeding stock is approaching two years or older - that's better than many.

Breeding stock should have OFA cert - of the females, 2 are two young for OFA cert (should they be breeding them if they're too young to certify?) the other three are pending, one from 2011.  This concerns me.

None of the breeding stock shows on the OFFA web site. What does tend to concern me here is that they are now breeding Sibes and a few years back appeared to be breeding Rot's and Lab's - are we breeding for popularity, if so this is a major concern!

Since you're looking at a pet, nothing I see immediately strikes me as being too far out of line - except the price they're asking for a pet. If I were going to consider parting with that amount of money, I'd be asking to see paper and not just accepting their word.

You raise some interesting points that I would not even thought/known to look for. I did think that the price was a bit high. There is another breeder in the area that adopts her pups for $1000 and this includes microchip on top of the normal care/papers.

I would suggest starting your search with our Parent Club's breeder referral list- http://www.shca.org/shcahp4f.htm#WA we have a large pool of ethical breeders in WA.  I would not purchase a pup from anyone asking those kind of prices without proof of what they are doing to prove their dogs of breeding quality and genetic health testing of their breeding stock (OFA hips and OFA/CAER/SHOR eyes minimum)-

I do have a referral to a litter in OR if interested PM me-

I can recommend Syntari (Bodhi's kennel)) in Chehalis and Poku in Centralia.
Jeff (seattlesibe) probably can recommend others in the Emerald City.

I think we have decided to pass on the puppy we were looking at. We are looking at another breeder in WA now (Sunnyside), but I am not finding much online.

I would look for in a breeder: health testing (ofa, cerf, pennhip, etc) and PROOF of this testing being done, being active with their dogs in some form whether it's conformation, racing, or other dog sports.

A lot of the reputable breeders are not going to have the most up to date and expansive websites. You will at times have to call and speak with them or see if they will do email exchange. These breeders are usually too busy exhibiting their dogs to worry about keeping up with a website.

HuskyMom09 has a referral to a breeder who produces some amazing dogs. I would shoot her a PM and discuss that with her. (Because I would if I were ready for a puppy right now. Lol)