Pick Your Puppy Breeder Wisely

PUPPY MILLS

A puppy mill is a place where lots of dogs are being bred for the primary purpose of resale. There are generally lots of breeds, although some places only have a few breeds. The breeders breed for profit and generally sell to brokers or pet stores, but some do occasionally sell to the public. Bitches are generally bred every time they come into heat.

Puppy mills usually have puppies available at any given time. No regards for the dogs or puppies health. No regards for the standard for the breed. Although puppy mills are rampant in Missouri and among the Pennsylvania Amish, they are everywhere.

Prisoners of Greed
Puppy mills - the national disgrace

Hundreds of thousands of puppies are raised each year in puppy mills. Read article...

PET STORES

We aren't talking about just any pet store here; we are talking about pet stores that sell puppies. These places sell puppies FOR PROFIT. Not because they love puppies, because if they did, they wouldn't sell them. The puppies are sold at high prices; prices of $500 or more aren't uncommon. These puppies are generally young, 8 or so weeks old. Pet stores don't check out the people they sell puppies to, nor do they care. All they care is that you have the money for the puppy.

BACKYARD BREEDERS

This one is the toughie, as it is hard for the average puppy buyer to distinguish a backyard breeder from an ethical breeder. The one thing that separates the two types is education. Backyard breeders aren't properly educated on their breed or on breeding. Backyard breeders usually are nice on the surface. They only have a few dogs, and usually keep them in the house in a clean environment. The dogs outwardly look cared for and healthy.

But backyard breeders commonly breed a bitch every time she comes into heat, do indiscriminate inbreeding, and do not do genetic tests. Genetic testing is very important. You can't see if a bitch or dog is going to throw genetic defects with your naked eye. These tests are very important. Backyard breeders also generally sell inferior quality puppies. They don't enforce spay or neuter on pet quality dogs, obviously because they themselves are breeding pet quality dogs. They commonly sell dogs with full registration and no spay/neuter requirement to people with little to no background experience in dogs.

NOW, YOU SAY, WHAT IS AN ETHICAL (RESPONSIBLE) BREEDER?

An ethical breeder is VERY different from the three other types listed above. An ethical breeder does not breed to sell puppies. Generally, when an ethical breeder breeds, he/she is breeding to get something out of that litter. Responsible breeders will sell most of their puppies on limited registration and on a spay/neuter contract. They will occasionally have show prospects available to the right person and will usually require co ownership for those inexperienced in the world of dogs. They are very careful about who they will sell a puppy too and screen potential owners closely.

A responsible, ethical breeder keeps track of where all his/her puppies are. An ethical breeder breeds for health temperament and conformation. He/she generally shows his/her dogs in order to judge conformation. Also they will do necessary genetic tests on dogs used for breeding in order to keep genetic defects out of their breeding program. This also greatly reduces your risks, as a puppy buyer, from getting a puppy that will develop genetic diseases.

Ethical breeders are also very careful about breeding for correct temperament. If a dog is beautiful and healthy, but doesn't have the correct temperament (its different for every breed) it won't be used in the ethical breeder' s breeding program.

SO WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO BUY A PUPPY?

From an ethical responsible breeder. You might feel that the breeder has no place to tell you that you have to spay/neuter your dog. All that breeder is doing is trying to protect the well being of the breed and their breeding program. No ethical breeder wants to see the offspring of his/her dogs in a puppy mill or pet store. You may think that you are saving a puppy by buying it from a puppy mill, backyard breeder or pet store. Yes, you are saving that one puppy, but you are condemning its mother, father and many other puppies to come.

If people stop buying from pet stores, puppy mills and backyard breeders then these places will go out of business and ALL the dogs will be saved. If you really want to save a dog/puppy, please check out your local shelters and breed rescues.