Buying dogs from the Amish

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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I guess this is the right place to post this, I am looking to get either a golden retriever puppy, another yellow labrador puppy or a Chesapeake Bay retriever puppy. I don't have 500 bucks :eek: for a purebred puppy right now, I do have the money and time to raise one though. Has anyone on this board had any dealings with the Amish in Lancaster PA? A friend of mine got his Jack Russell terriers from a good friend of his, and I am debating getting a retriever from them, the prices sound very good, 75 to start, but I want to make sure the dogs are healthy etc. I realize that it is the same as dealing with a farmer selling mutts or a kennel, but this price has me mesmerized. Thanks in advance.
 
Being a proponent of rescue organizations, I'm sure they can tell you the horror stories of the Amish puppy mills. These are not competent dog breeders, by any means.

There are many rescue organizations for each of your candidate breeds, in every state. Do a quick websearch for "rescue [dog breed] Maryland area" and see what you get.

You can get a purebred *healthy* dog, of any age or degree of training you want, to your level of comfort. These are good dogs--generally, they're just dumped because they were gifts, people divorced, moved, etc.

And VERY inexpensive. My own dog is a $150 purebred rescue, and I will now go no other route.
 
I've bought foodstuffs from the Amish in PA and MD both and if the way they raise their chickens and turkeys is any indication I'd wager that you will recieve a dog as healthy as you would get from even the most careful and responsible breeder and at a fair and honest price to boot.


my $0.2


heh. disregard my two cents. I'd say watchful there certainly knows more about Amish dogbreeders than I!
 
roughedges said:
I'd say watchful there certainly knows more about Amish dogbreeders than I!
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Well, I'm not sure how to interpret that, but, um... thanks.

There are worse examples of dog "breeders" out there than the Amish--and I won't go into details as to what they do. I'll let silenthunterstudios talk to a couple of rescue organizations in his area and get the details.

Now don't ask me my opinion on the Amish Empire as a whole... :rolleyes:
 
Another route worth considering for a good and healthy pure bread for not much money is through a guide dog school. Frequently they have dogs available that have not passed guide training but are excellent dogs. If you are in the North East there are three or four guide dog schools around that may be worth checking out. Labs and retreivers are common breeds used though some of the schools do have long waiting lists for specific breeds.
 
Watchful said:
Well, I'm not sure how to interpret that, but, um... thanks.

There are worse examples of dog "breeders" out there than the Amish--and I won't go into details as to what they do. I'll let silenthunterstudios talk to a couple of rescue organizations in his area and get the details.

Now don't ask me my opinion on the Amish Empire as a whole... :rolleyes:
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lol. that first sentence really made me laugh. I do hope you know that I meant to add no innuendo to the statement as written.

Don't have to tell me about bad dog breeders. 10 or so years ago several of my friends were instrumental in getting a dog fighter masquerading as a breeder shut down, arrested and thrown in jail. The fighting ring was still at his house the last time I drove down that dirt road.
 
edgetrip said:
Another route worth considering for a good and healthy pure bread for not much money is through a guide dog school. Frequently they have dogs available that have not passed guide training but are excellent dogs. If you are in the North East there are three or four guide dog schools around that may be worth checking out. Labs and retreivers are common breeds used though some of the schools do have long waiting lists for specific breeds.
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very good point edgetrip! and if I may add something to it, a friend of mine was in contact with a police dog trainer and was given a deal on a well trained 1.5 year old Belgium Malinois that did not pass the second stage in explosive detection testing. I believe that is right anyways- he is a member here and if he sees this will probably chime in.
 
roughedges said:
...10 or so years ago several of my friends were instrumental in getting a dog fighter masquerading as a breeder shut down, arrested and thrown in jail. The fighting ring was still at his house the last time I drove down that dirt road.
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Your next beer's on me.
 
From personal experience, I am only interested in puppies. I have thought about the local animal rescue, from the standpoint of price, I guess they would be a better alternative. My heart goes out to all of those older dogs, but I would still like to get a puppy. I have heard of the puppy mills that are prevalent in Lancaster, but the guy I would buy from has a good rep. In all the dealings I've had with the Amish in MD and PA, I have had no problems, from wood carvings to food. Obviously, this is something I will have to think long and hard about. I have heard of the dog fights in Baltimore and W Va, I hope that the cops are able to get it through to these people that this type of activity is not okay, they can arrest all the "breeders" they want, like the drug trade, it will still be there. Time for me to get off my soapbox...
 
Watchful takes on the Amish. And his opinion of them?

Very good businesspeople. To put it mildly. Less mildly, read on.

But there's something akin to a scam going on here. Maybe more than akin.

This is a group who, most notably to our eyes, eschews technology--something they tout heavily in their marketing. Sure you pay a little more for a lot of Amish made materials, but these are made by hand, the old-fashioned way.

This is a group that has its own website! http://www.amishnews.com/

And some SBC technicians have sworn to me that inside some of the old rustic wooden buildings are optical fiber drops for high capacity data connections. After all, there's a thriving e-commerce trade in Amish circles. After all, when you buy your Amish hand-crafted sleigh bed from a furniture dealer in... let's say Portland... your local dealer is ordering replacement furniture off a web site, which of course is routed through to dispatch etc., so they can get the next ones loaded on a truck out of a warehouse.

What I'm getting at is that there are two distinct Amish: the rural, old-timey villages put on for the tourists, and the commercial marketeers they become when the tourists leave.

And a furniture maker "confided" in me (whatever that means) that a good furniture maker can look at most "Amish-made" furniture and see clear signs of complete automation and mass production. Being no furniture maker, I don't know what to look for, but the numbers make sense: a small community couldn't turn out so much furniture, for sales, coast-to-coast. I do know that furniture makers work extremely hard to produce even one item: it takes a lot of capacity to mass-manufacture furniture.

Lancaster, especially, with its Amish Theater (complete with automated lighting control shows and multimedia), is a blatant hypocrisy to me. And the stores? Don't worry--they take Visa and MasterCard.

My view? A massive con game.

Are there hard-working, old-world Amish in the world? Maybe. But as always, I'm skeptical. Maybe in this case, cynical. :(
 
Try petfinder.org, they're a nation-wide rescue org. and you can specify the age, etc... of the dog you'd like and they'll help you find one in your area.
 
Next it'll be the cheese mafia and Amish ninjas who use the puppy mills as cover to train killer chimps.....

Rescue dogs rock. Check around and some may have pups to foster out. I got the Landshark from a rescue group and he is the best pooch around.
 
what would be hilarious is the fact that an Amish person is bound to be offended, and he's going to argue with you on an online forum :D
 
I would personally go to the Humane Society instead.

More dogs their need a good home. I hate the fact that there are pet stores in malls. That's the worse place to go. I would never "buy" an animal. The money you pay at the Humane Society goes towards helping other animals....not in their pocket to make more money.

Don't buy from the Amish :)
 
I will also voice my pro-rescue vote. I got my rescue boxer about a year ago, and I have been happy since. The reason that so many animals are put out, or to sleep, is that everybody wants a puppy-nobody wants a dog.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I guess this is the right place to post this, I am looking to get either a golden retriever puppy, another yellow labrador puppy or a Chesapeake Bay retriever puppy. I don't have 500 bucks :eek: for a purebred puppy right now, I do have the money and time to raise one though. Has anyone on this board had any dealings with the Amish in Lancaster PA? A friend of mine got his Jack Russell terriers from a good friend of his, and I am debating getting a retriever from them, the prices sound very good, 75 to start, but I want to make sure the dogs are healthy etc. I realize that it is the same as dealing with a farmer selling mutts or a kennel, but this price has me mesmerized. Thanks in advance.
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I have an 10 1/2 year Chessie (see photo) named Kermit the Dog. I think they are the king of the retrievers. I like labs and goldens for their bubbling enthusiasm, but they don't have the power and presence of the chessies. Chessies are high maintenance dogs, with a strong will and independent nature. You will note they score lower on trainability than the others. Once they figure out what you want they are glad to do it. If you have the time to spend on a Chesapeake puppy, you will not regret it.

They are very loyal and are one man/one family dogs. They are not pushovers like other retrievers-strangers do not want to walk into a Chesapeake Bay Retriever's house uninvited. He will show you his back teeth just before you feel them.

Check out the breeders carefully. To be certified by AKC, the breeding dogs have to get proven by X-ray to be free of hip displasia.

They come in a range of colors, from the common red to a sort of brindle mix of reddish with "dead grass brown" like Kermit.

A typical male will weigh 70 to 90 lbs (Kermit is 100lbs) and can range from stocky like a lab, to rangy. They have large webbed feet and longer front legs than the rear. They use their tails as rudders when swimming and are among the strongest swimmers of all dogs.
 
As a Licensed Veterinary Technician and the proud parent of two purebred Boston Terriers, not to mention my mutt "Archie the Wonderdog", I believe that the Amish, not to cast a wide net, look at dogs as a crop, a way to make money. That said I look at many many non Amish "dog breeders" as only motivated by money as well. I suggest contacting the breed club through akc.org, all breed clubs do rescue, their work is just as valid as shelters and humane societies. I also like as someone else mentioned, petfinders.com. It is hard to find an ethical breeder now a days, if you do a wait of up to 2 years to obtain a sound dog from an ethical breeder isn't uncommon. Shelter dogs are great, generally fewer genetic abnormalities, hardier, and hell, ya get a dog to love and they love you back that's the great thing about dogs, much more loyal than people imho. Purebred dogs from ethical breeders are just as special as a shelter dog. I myself will continue to live with purebred dogs for the rest of my life, I can't get enough of the Boston "attitude". Cheers, Rob
 
the folks at Amish Country News are not Amish, they're simply trying to make a buck off 'em.

While we at Amish Country News are not of Amish or Mennonite background, we understand that some people are searching for answers to life’s questions. But the Amish share many of the problems most of us have, and they should not be seen as an ideal society or the solution to the world’s ills. Like any other culture, however, there may be important things we can learn from them.
link
 
The Amish that I have seen driving around Lancaster in brand new Silverados and Tahoes are actually Mennonites, or just people who were raised Amish and decided to leave their Ordnung, and realized that there was a buck to be made in the "old ways". Right over the border from me in PA, many Mennonites profess to be Amish, and many have shops and stores etc. The few Amish I know on more than business terms live in houses without electricity, maybe a phone in the local meeting house, drive buggies and ride bikes, and follow the old ways. In Lancaster, there is a lot of prejudice towards the Amish, from people who wish they had the land and money/resources that the Amish do. While I believe that the Amish look at dogs differently than we do, not as members of the family, but as livestock etc, I am still open to both getting a dog from the Humane Society or buying one from the Amish.
 
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