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Importing dogs have been something that we have been doing for very long in Malaysia. There are many reasons for importing dogs. Among them some of it I have listed below
1. High quality dogs carrying titles from competition. This could be showline or working line competition.
2. Introducing new bloodline in local breeding. This is done by ethical breeders. Then again depending from where it comes.
3. Excellently bred dogs with good health status.
4. Lack of properly bred local dogs which means without consideration to breeding standards
5. Just for the sake of importing.
6. Special working requirements by goverment authortities.
There maybe more, but let me limit to only these. Locally bred dogs are equally good. But not all, same applies to imported ones as well. Read my article about selective breeding to understand why some local breeds are suffering problems brought about by unethical breeders.
First Thing You Must Do
(a) When you buy a dog, please check if it has a pedigree regardless of whether it is local or imported. Again I must say pedigree only provides traceability as a form of assurance. It does not guarantee the future of the dog.
(b) Verify if the tatoo or microchip matches the one found in its body.
We provide this service for serious customers. Read more about it in our Services Section.
Things a Potential Owner Must Undertand
Once you buy a dog, the breeder will never want to buy the dog from you if you want to return it. So make sure you know what and with whom you are dealing with. Local import dogs genetic pool has become very saturated. With that the temperament and working ability of the dog becomes diluted in every generation. I think you would have heard from many owners saying that “I have a German Sheperd/Rottweiler/Doberman, but it is not guarding my house. It is infact causing problems in our home” or “My dog has bitten my wife and child many times when I was away. They are so scared of the dog. But when I am at home he is totally OK with everyone“. I hear more than these from customers. So you have to be lucky to get a good localy bred dog.
On the other hand you will be surprise with my next statement about import dogs.
Import dogs are no less better or worse. Just as much the same problem.
So what am I try to present here? You might be confused by now. Now let me clarify. If you want the finest cigar, you must get Havana Cigars from Cuba. You want the best Chinese Fried Kuey Teow, you must get it from a famous Chinese Stall in Penang. You want the finest carpet you must get Persian Carpet from Iran. Same goes for Cheese the best comes from Holland. So what happens if I walk into a food stall in Holland and ask for Fried Kuey Teow. I may still be able to get it. But is that what I want?
Same goes to dogs. Very often breeders say I have an imported dam with puppies. The dog is so and so. Just go one step and ask where is it imported from. Then you can deduce few matters from there. Imported dogs with valid and internationally recognized pedigree come only from few countries like Germany, Belgium, Holland and in rare cases France. The governing bodies are like SV, ADRK and FCI. There are other European countries that also do breeding but they are just as good or worse than Malaysia. I have seen dogs imported from Serbia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia and even Romania. There are no reliable governing bodies for registering pedigrees in these countries. These are European countries facing challenging economical situation and anything goes when it comes to making money. When these two factors are put together then inbreeding and linebreeding is rampant and that is the reality. They capitalize the fact that the importing breeders here look high on dogs from Europe. There is also a tendency for most Asians to trust an owner or breeder being caucasian European as creditable and nothing else matters. But the condition of the dog in terms of the mental and physical health condition comes with no assurance at all. Don’t gamble your money with these dogs or the puppies. You must be equally careful when you get the dogs from other countries as well like Germany, Holland or even America. You practically do not know the people and the dogs there. There are more SCAMs now from Germany than other countries as the younger generations tend to take advantage of the reputation set by the older more creditble generation.
That is why Westerwald Kennel plays an active role in importing dogs. We have an we established working relationship to an extent I even allow some customers to have booking fees for imported dogs. Our principle allows this method only because of the trust they have on my kennel. Westerwald Kennel together with our principal carry out all the quality assurance exercise before we identify the right dog for the owner. This is extremely important because once the dog is bought it is a lifelong relationship and commitment.