Contact Details

As a matter of common sense we do not publish our telephone number, we receive a great many e-mails and if these were all replaced by telephone calls we would never have time to spend with our family.  We live in Northern Hampshire (in the UK), we do not publish our address for obvious security reasons and because we are a busy family in a private home – not a commercial kennel - and enjoy welcoming our invited visitors by appointment. 

E-mails

We welcome your e-mails but please read this page before e-mailing us, we have tried to put as much information as we can on our web site and whilst we would love to be able to help everyone who contacts us with their enquiries, problems and worries, we just don’t have the time to do so.  This page explains where we can and where we can’t help.

Replies

We do try to answer most e-mails in a reasonable time usually 7-14 days however we do receive a very large number and it is not always possible to keep up with e-mails when we are busy with puppies, training youngsters and so on - sometimes it can take up to a month for us to reply. 

If you don’t receive a reply at all, check our CONDITONS FOR HOMING or our advice on behavioural and health problems on this page. We are no longer able to respond to the large number of enquiries from prospective owners whose situation precludes them being considered for homing a puppy but who e-mail without reading or taking note of our CONDITIONS OF HOMING.

If you e-mailing on a Tuesday because you “must have” a puppy for your child’s birthday on Saturday you really are talking to the wrong people, that is not the way we do things.

Please don’t e-mail us just asking us to ring you or someone else – especially on a mobile number, you won’t get a response.

Due to the huge amount of SPAM and Viruses that we get daily we delete all suspicious and apparently spurious mail directly from our server without reading or downloading it. If you e-mail us please make sure that you use a sensible and recognisable phrase in your subject line. Put something like, "looking for a Golden Retreiver Puppy" or "Colours of Border Collies". If you omit to include a subject or put something obscure such as "Hi just wondering" (we get a lot of those!!!) as your subject it will almost certainly be deleted unread.

In similar vein PLEASE DO NOT ATTACH LARGE IMAGES to your e-mails, e-mails with attachements larger than 100kb are deleted directly from the server without being opened. It can take a huge amount of time to download attachements and we just can't justify doing so.

If you are enquiring about homing one of our puppies please note the following,

We do not home puppies in families with young children WHY?

We do not export our puppies WHY?

We do not place puppies in homes where there is no human company during the day (regardless of undertakings to return home every lunch time, rearrange shifts etc.) or where any current arrangements for company are temporary, e.g. "I am home for the whole school holidays" or "My son/daughter is home studying for the next 12 months. Owning a dog is a long term committment and no dog, not just young puppies need, should be left unanttended for long periods.

We do not sell puppies to third parties to be given as presents to a third party we have not met - even if the prospective recipient is a member of the buyers' family. WHY?

Our terms and conditions of homing are clearly explained on our web site and we are no longer able to respond to the very large number of enquiries that we receive from people whose circumstances preclude them from our consideration but who still contact us about puppies.

If you still wish to enquire about homing one of our puppies please READ OUR CONDITONS OF HOMING and our HOMING PROCEDURE, if these are compatible with your situation and aspirations please e-mail us including all the details included on our REQUEST FOR INFORMATION.  If we have no litters planned or are unable to take further bookings, we do try to recommend breeders with litters available or due.

Behaviour Problems

If you have a behaviour problem with a dog or puppy you should refer to the breeder of your pet or to your vet for advice – Whilst we are available at any time for owners of dogs and puppies that we have bred we cannot offer assistance or advice to others over the Internet.  To hand out advice without seeing and understanding the dog, family and home situation first hand would be irresponsible and potentially dangerous.  Also please see our ADVICE SHEETS for general information and advice.

Health Problems

Please don’t ask us for advice or comments on drugs, treatments or the soundness of advice or information given to you by your vet. The appropriate person to advise you on health matters relating to your dog is your vet, if you have serious concerns about your dog’s veterinary treatment you should discuss these with your vet or ask your vet for a referral to a specialist.  The Internet is full of canine health information and just as much disinformation, breeders are not canine health professionals and are not qualified to give veterinary advice.  Treating your dog’s illnesses or ailments with remedies or practices based on gossip and hearsay gathered from annoymous "experts" on the internet is irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

Adult Dogs

Please don’t offend us by asking if we have any older dogs for sale, our dogs are part of our family for all of their lives.  If you are looking for an older dog we can sometimes put you in touch with people who may have an older dog to re-home but you should also contact breed and general rescue societies.

Finally

Our site no longer has a visitors book as e-mail addresses were being taken by 3^rd Parties and misused.  However we really do appreciate the many lovely e-mails that we receive from all over the world, we are always pleased when people find something helpful on the site and of course we adore our dogs and  love to show them off . We hope you enjoy meeting them and extend a warm inviation to visit us online regularly to see what is new at Mastamariner.