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The Estrela is a popular breed in Portugal, known for its affection and protective instinct. Many people want to get one, sometimes without properly knowing the breed or knowing if it suits their lifestyle. When considering purchasing a puppy, with who ymou will probably share your life for more than ten years, you should do your homework, looking for as much information as possible about the breed, its character, its needs, to be understand if it is the right choice.
Choose well the provenance
After deciding the Estrelahould be your loyal companion, it is very important to choose its origin. Just as you dedicate time and effort to deciding which car or computer is best for you, you will need to dedicate even more time to choosing your puppy, in order to ensure, as much as possible, that they will live a long and healthy life – which is much more likely to happen if they are the result of breeding work done with love, respect for the breed, competence and honesty.
Puppy farmers? Run away!
There is no shortage of people selling puppies, in the middle of the Estrela mountains, by the roadside, in inhumane conditions, unvaccinated, highly parasitized, kept in cramped cages – just as there is no shortage of unprepared individuals who decide to breed litters for various reasons, nor unscrupulous breeders for whom the main objective, if not the only one, is to breed litters, even from low quality parents, and sell them, no matter to who, without having any kind of concern for the health and well-being of the puppies they breed nor with finding suitable owners capable of providing the dogs the attention, education and quality of life they deserve.
Cheap is expensive
Acquiring a puppy randomly, from anyone, just because it is cheap, because it is available at the exact time you want it or because the breeder lives nearby is an unwise procedure that could become expensive. First of all, because the low price reflects the way the puppy was raised: with cheap, low-quality food, without vaccines and sufficient deworming/ tick/flea treatments, without screening the parents for hereditary diseases known to exist in the breed. It is true that the Estrela, as a general rule, is a rustic dog with a strong immune system – but it is not uncommon for puppies to die or become seriously ill, with any infectious-contagious disease, after arriving at their new home, due to not being properly vaccinated, or have to undergo surgery due to severe hip dysplasia, which can considerably affect the dog's mobility and even be disabling.
A right
choice
The best way to try to avoid these risks is to look for a conscientious and competent breeder, whose overall quality of the dogs they breed (typicality, health, structure, temperament) offers predictability and consistency. They strives to breed healthy and balanced dogs, plan matings looking for good results in all parameters, carefully and comprehensively evaluating the genealogy, carrying out screenings for hereditary diseases and analyzing the respective results taking into account the pedigrees (dogs with good health testings may, however, carry genes responsible for diseases, so it is necessary to interpret the results from a genealogical perspective).