Well I finally made an advancement today and went to see the little chap. Armed with the advice from you all I went in looking like I knew what I was talking about and got ready to give her a good grilling. It was actually nothing like I was expecting, she said to ask anything I wanted and we talked about all sorts (dog related that is) for an hour before I went anywhere else. Sallyanne, some of your questions didn't even need asking because she just came out and answered them. First she took me through the paperwork. She showed me the KC reg with the sire and dam on it. The sire was a hip 5/5 and the dam 4/6. There was also the 5 generation thing showing the 18 champions on it. She showed me all the docs for both its parents. Showed me their individual hip/elbow tests, their eye tests (which were recent as she said she got them done every year to 18months) and even the tests of each of their parents parents, both who were also under 10 total. As far as the 3 litters in 6 months goes. She has 3 seperate bitches who all had a litter at about the same time. She chose one male out of the first litter to keep for stud and the rest went, then when the other two bitches had their litters, they were all black males too. From what I can gather, she was getting short on yellows so decided she didn't need another black stud after all. I saw the dogs innoculation cert but it has only had parvo so I need to get it booked into the vets for when it comes home with me to get the other jabs. She showed me all the dates for worming etc and what brand the pup had. She showed me what food it had had and when (brand/amount/times etc). After she showed me all that she took me to see its father and mother, then its grandmother, (its grandad was owned by someone else and not there) then its aunties. She said I should make a decision based on everything else I had seen because if I saw the dog first it could cloud my judgement. And finally she took me to see him. I have to say that after getting my last heinz 57 terrier cross when it was about a year old, this puppy was enormous compared. Big fluffy paws and a very handsome chap. The socialising bit wasn't bomb proof because they live in the sticks. It's fine with cats, kids, cows (or coos as some dodgey looking farmer said), tractors, cars and other dogs and she said it lived in the house when it was very small but now it's in a barn with older collies. I did say I wasn't taking it straight away though so she wanted to know what I would call it and she's going to start calling it by that name (it didn't have one before) and she's going to get it into a collar and used to a lead ready for me. At the very end of it all she said that if I had any problems what-so-ever with the dog or it had any medical problems to just take it back and she would give me a full refund. Easier said than done when it's part of the family but a little extra trust gained by the breeder I think. So I think I did you proud Sallyanne considering most of the questions I got answered came from you in the first place. She did show me loads of other docs and told me loads of other things about the breed and what to do next regarding health and all that but I just wrote the important stuff down. So if there was anything I didn't mention above, I probably asked and just can't remember now. So, does it sound ok now? Does he sound like a reasonably safe purchase?