How to Sell Akbash Puppies in the United States | PetzLover

What US laws apply when you sell Akbash puppies?

• USDA licensing: under the federal Animal Welfare Act, a breeder with more than four breeding females who sells puppies sight unseen, for example online and shipped, generally needs a USDA license. Face-to-face sales are treated differently.
• Sale age: about 28 states and Washington, DC set a minimum age for selling puppies, usually eight weeks. Pennsylvania, for example, bars selling or giving away a dog under eight weeks old.
• Puppy lemon laws: about 22 states give buyers remedies if a puppy is sick or has a hereditary defect. In California, a breeder who sold three or more litters or 20 or more dogs in the past year must offer a remedy for an illness certified by a vet within 15 days or a hereditary condition within one year.
• Local rules: counties and cities may require kennel permits or dog licenses, or limit the number of dogs per property. Ask your animal control office.

Which health checks should you do before breeding Akbash dogs?

There is no AKC parent club setting rules for this breed, so follow what breed references recommend and keep the paperwork for buyers.

Vetstreet tells buyers that "vet checked" is not a substitute for genetic health testing, so informed buyers will ask for real results. Publish them on the OFA website so buyers can look them up by each parent's registered name.

How do you raise and match Akbash puppies?

Akbash Dog Rescue Inc. wrote in 2020 that the breed belongs in quiet settings on acreage with a guarding job, and that urban life makes these dogs anxious. Vetstreet adds that puppies are mouthy and do not come ready-made to live with children. Use that to guide each placement:

• Working homes: introduce pups to the kind of stock they will guard and ask the buyer about the animals, acreage, predators and any guardian dogs already working there.
• Family homes: look for experienced large-breed owners with a solid fence, a quiet setting and a plan for supervision around children.
• Every home: ask how the dog will be kept off roads, and whether the buyer will call you first if the placement fails.

Keep the pups with their mother and littermates until at least eight weeks, and handle them daily so they meet people as well as animals.

How should you price Akbash puppies?

Adopt a Pet puts Akbash puppies from breeders at about $800 to $2,500, depending on the breeding. Compare current Akbash puppies for sale in your region, and state what the price includes, such as vaccines, a microchip, UKC registration and the parents' health results. Explain any deposit and refund policy in writing.

What should your Akbash puppy ad say?

• Title: breed, sex, age and area, for example: Akbash puppies, 9 weeks, raised with goats, eastern Oregon.
• Parents: registered names, hip, heart and thyroid results, and the work they do.
• Raising: which animals, children and visitors the pups have met.
• Honesty: that this is a large, independent guardian that barks, needs a solid fence and is not a first dog.
• Terms: price, registration, contract, and that buyers meet you and the parents in person.

Posting on PetzLover is free: list your Akbash puppies, and keep your phone number out of the ad text so first contact comes through messages. If a farm has posted a wanted ad, see how to respond to an Akbash wanted ad.

Which buyers should you turn down?

• Anyone with no fence who plans to let the dog roam; Akbash Dog Rescue Inc. has written that Akbash found wandering in ranch country are often impounded and seldom reclaimed.
• Buyers counting on an underground electric fence, which Vetstreet says will not stop a determined Akbash.
• Town buyers with close neighbors and no plan for alarm barking.
• Anyone who wants several pups at once, a breeding pair from untested parents, or a dog to resell.
• Buyers who will not talk by phone or video, or want a puppy shipped before you have spoken.

How do you take payment and hand over safely?

• Agree deposit and refund terms in writing before money changes hands.
• Refuse any check for more than the price with a request to refund the difference; the FTC describes this as a classic fake-check scam.
• Hand over in person with a contract covering registration, spay or neuter terms and a return clause.
• Give vaccination records, the parents' health results and the feeding plan, and transfer the microchip registration the same day.
• Stay in touch: if a dog you bred ever needs a new home, point the owner to how to rehome an Akbash responsibly and help find the right one.