I was surfing the net tonight; you know how you start looking for something and several dozen clicks later you are no where near where you started. I really don't even know how I end up on these sights but you know what they say "inquiring minds want to know." I do want to know; I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly. And what I stumbled onto tonight was bad, a puppy broker. They're out there and you should be aware, very aware.
The one I landed on tonight is called Purebred breeders; and basically they are middlemen. They claim to inspect all the breeders who's dogs they sell, but I'm not buying it for a second. This is just like the pet stores who sell the puppy mill dogs and pretend that they would never sell mill dogs. Let me just say for a moment; no reputable and or ethical breeder would sell puppies through this type of online broker. Buying a puppy online, sight unseen is very very dangerous. You have no idea where the puppy is coming from; the health, temperament or the life this cute little puppy's parent are leading, you know nothing.
I went onto the site, chose a dog, filled out the form and it brought me directly to the check out. Pay by credit card or paypal; it is as easy as that and they ship your puppy to you. People do this; they put in all their info, pay the crazy amount asked for these dogs and hope that it all works out. After only a small amount of research on the company I easily found all the complaints and warnings. Frankly I have to admit that I knew they would be there.
Do not let these sites fool you; they are selling puppies like merchandise. This my friends is just another arm of the problem, an offshoot of puppy mills. So many dogs; too many dogs, pumping them as fast as those little females will come into heat, be bred, have pups and do it all over again. Often there are no middlemen, just the breeder who lists bucket loads of litters available. To the unsuspecting prospective puppy owner this may seem great. Look at all the choices; this is how you breed dogs. The lists state; pups born April 04, April 10, April 18, May 1st and some older pups and adults available. WHAT??????????????
All the photos of the adult dogs may or may not be behind fences; strictly fence shots is a red flag. Click and buy is a huge red flag; and handfuls of litters is a huge flag. Please do not give your money to these people; no matter how cute that little face staring at you on your computer screen is. These folks want your money; that's it, bottom line. DON'T GIVE IT TO THEM. They will use it to further invest in their assembly line puppies.
A great breeder will make it very difficult for you to obtain a puppy; they are and should be suspicious. You too should be suspicious, ask questions, go and see their home. If you have any tiny thoughts that there are too many dogs; dogs that are not properly cared for or that this person is strictly doing it for the money with no regard for the dogs, leave. As for those millers selling puppies online or through brokers; do not fuel their mass production of dogs.
Online puppy sales are big business; don't fall victim and don't help to keep these horrendous people in business. It is all about supply and demand; let's stop the demand.
I agree a hundred percent. In my early twenties I earned my degree in Animal Sciences and Behaviour Modification and got my first job as a kennel tech at a Petland of all places. I kept asking where we got our puppies from and why they were so young (some 5 weeks) and how a good breeder could afford to sell them to us for 75.- 100. per puppy? (Petland marks up to almost 1000. per puppy.) After getting a lot of song and dance and dealing with puppies with a myriad of health and genetic problems I started tracing back these puppies paperwork and was very disturbed. The majority of these puppies came from Missouri and most came from the same 3 breeders!! When I continued to push I was told to knock it off if I wanted to keep my job. I knocked it off long enough to gather enough information to pass on to P.A.W.S. and then I quit and started my own rescue. I often read the classifieds and am shocked by how many ads for different breeds have the same number. Do people not pay attention to these things? We really need some decent laws and by-laws to be pass to put a stop to this. You would think it would be enough to educate the public but it isnt, they just keep buying. Some peole think they are saving money by spending 400. instead of 800. for a properly bred puppy but they dont seem to understand what the costs really will be long term and by then its too late.Sorry for my rant.
ReplyDeleteI agree a hundred percent. In my early twenties I earned my degree in Animal Sciences and Behaviour Modification and got my first job as a kennel tech at a Petland of all places. I kept asking where we got our puppies from and why they were so young (some 5 weeks) and how a good breeder could afford to sell them to us for 75.- 100. per puppy? (Petland marks up to almost 1000. per puppy.) After getting a lot of song and dance and dealing with puppies with a myriad of health and genetic problems I started tracing back these puppies paperwork and was very disturbed. The majority of these puppies came from Missouri and most came from the same 3 breeders!! When I continued to push I was told to knock it off if I wanted to keep my job. I knocked it off long enough to gather enough information to pass on to P.A.W.S. and then I quit and started my own rescue. I often read the classifieds and am shocked by how many ads for different breeds have the same number. Do people not pay attention to these things? We really need some decent laws and by-laws to be pass to put a stop to this. You would think it would be enough to educate the public but it isnt, they just keep buying. Some peole think they are saving money by spending 400. instead of 800. for a properly bred puppy but they dont seem to understand what the costs really will be long term and by then its too late.Sorry for my rant.
ReplyDeleteSherri
ReplyDeleteMy husband found this site a couple of months ago and pointed it out to me. So I went snooping around and came to the same conclusion that you did, run not walk away from this site. I found several discrepancies on their websites. The biggest was how old puppies had to be before they could be shipped. This site is bad news. Unfortunately a lot of people will assume that they are purchasing a dog of quality since they are paying so much for these dogs. Tibby