I completely understand what you are talking about. I've had way too many of those being texted to me with the 2 liner How Much? How much what? The other one is do you still have pups. I don't have litters often. But even if I did I'm not letting my dog go to you unless you have passed my screening. If the conversation starts off how much the price might go up more than it might have. This is to discourage them from wasting my time.

I recently got a new pup. I contacted several breeders to determine which one I wanted to get my pup. I called and if I didn't get someone I emailed them. I began with introducing myself and my experiences with dogs and working dogs specifically. Then I went on to let them know of my interest in the dog. Some I even told how I became interested in this breed. I explained what my plans are to do with the dog. I want a show quality dog. I plan to show it in conformation. But I also plan to compete in barn hunt or other nose work, terrier racing, steeple chase, and possibly weight pulling and dock diving. I also want to hunt with the dog. Of course I need to know the price of the dog. But price is not the only or main factor. When we narrowed it down to the last two breeders they weren't the lowest price dogs that we found. There were 2 other breeders high on my list. One didn't have pups right now. I might have waited for a litter from her, but she never gave a price. I know her and her dogs. I've seen them. Her one dog is very accomplished. It has conformation title champion and grand champion, weight pulling, obedience, agility, dock diving, and many others. The other breeder was the one that she got her original dog from that has many champions of record for both conformation and working events. But that breeder never returned my calls or my email. In the past when that has happened to me it was because they didn't have any available pups at the time. I don't like when breeders do that. They can at least respond and say they don't have any pups are that they are not selling you one. Again I would have been willing to wait to get the right pup. But because of the lack of communication I chose to move on. We found a great dog. I'm looking forward to training him and seeing how he performs when put to the test.We may even add more to our home later.