NO MATTER WHAT EXCUSE THEY ARE GIVING YOU
OR HOW CUTE THE PUPPY IN THE PET-SHOP WINDOW
OR HOW BEAUTIFUL THEIR WEB SITE ARE
BE CAREFUL
THE PUPPY PARENTS MIGHT SUFFERING EVERYDAY
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS CRIME
IS STOP BUYING THEIR PUPPY
If you are looking at ads or net, be sure to check how many different ads or net list the same phone number or how many different phone numbers reach the same person.
There are more than 5,000 puppy mills found across the country. Mills can be small or large up to hundreds of breeding dogs, located in someone's backyard or on a farm or commercial property. Some sell directly to the public, Others sell through broker or pet stores, and some do both.
BROKERS usually buy litters from puppy mill and reselling the puppies in your local classifieds newspaper.
DON'T BE FOOLED: Don't let a flashy web site lead you into thinking this must be a good breeder, there has a LOT of puppymill on the net and hire a web designer to made a wonderful beautiful web site and telling all kind of folktale or stealing someone beautiful dog photos and using them as their own to promote their own dogs, And discredit other breeders and their dogs. These people depend on you to impulse buy a animal, they only care about MONEY and solely for profit, they keep a LOT OF BREEDING DOGS and producing HUNDREDS TO THOUSANDS OF PUPPIES each year.
Beware on the internet as not everything may be as it seems, pick up your puppy in person, DON'T use any shipping, how do you know if the puppy that you pay for is really the one that you are expecting, it can be totally different puppy.
Some puppymill breeders may let buyer to visit their dogs, some prepare and ONLY will bring out the small, most beautiful dog to show you the "SAMPLE", the real parent of the puppy and all other dogs are all huge and ugly hidden in the dirty dog-house, these puppy-mill knows if the buyer see the real parent or their whole breeding stock, or their kennel, the buyer must run away.
The American Kennel Club and United Kennel Club are most widely recognized and respected in this country, but even their registration papers are no guarantee of quality, or of mental or physical soundness.
CAUTION: with the No-Name Registrations such as CKC(Continental), APC, WKC, ADBA, etc... , these breeders may be suspended of AKC privileges because AKC now requires DNA on all male dogs that produce more then 3 litters in a year or 7 or more litters in a lifetime, and AKC Requires All Records Be Kept Accurate And that All DNA Matches Correctly.
Puppy mill puppies are often registered with official-sounding organizations that are really mail-order fakes. The Continental Kennel Club, for instance, readily supplies “papers” for any MIXED or purebred puppy for a fee.
Some puppymill dogs are cross-bred, or without a tail, three legs, missing an eye, had scabs, sores and scars, dogs that clearly had cataracts and couldn't see and dogs that had been bred so many times that at age 4 or 5 they looked to be 18.
They either don't believe or don't care that dogs have Kidney failure, blindness, hip dysplasia, deafness, behavioral problems, suffer pain..... And constant breeding of unhealthy and genetically defective dogs solely for profit.
If the puppy sick or does die, the puppy mill or pet ship will NOT give you back your money. They'll give you another puppy instead. That's how they make their money.
A FEMALE dog in a puppy mill can produce SEVERAL LITTERS a year.
(Average canine gestation is from 56 to 68 days).
Once the breeding dogs are worn out and cannot produce live puppies anymore, they are of no more use to the miller, The mill owner will then dispose of the dog (gunshot, bludgeoned, drowning, etc)as a yesterday garbage.
The dogs and puppies never kindly touched by a human or have any human contact other than when they receive their food, which makes the puppy extremely hard to train, the dogs may be neglected or abused because mill-breeders can't properly handle as many dogs as they have.
ADOPT FROM A SHELTER , HUMANE SOCIETY, RESCUER ORGANIZATION OR
BUY FROM A REPUTABLE / HOBBY BREEDER
REPUTABLE BREEDER: A breed fancier who usually has ONLY one breed, Produces all total of few litters per year, raises the puppies with plenty of environmental and human contact. Most reputable breeders don't have lots of puppies and sometimes you have to wait until they breed, you could be lucky to catch them when they have a litter.
Many times a no choice puppy from a reputable breeder is better than the pick of the litter from a puppy-mill.
NO ONE will tell you they are puppy miller or their puppies are from puppymill, because they depend it for LIVING and BECOME RICH.
Some puppymill breeders give their relative or friend's Name / Tel# as a reference.
They posted all kind of FAKE letters on their site to promote their dogs and tried to fool you.
ALSO purchase supplies only from the stores that doesn't sell dogs or other live animals. The research establishes that 98-99% of the puppies sold in pet stores were raised in mills, many puppy purchase in petstores die from diseases shortly after purchase or suffer very serious temperament and genetic problems causing heartbreak and huge expense. When the pet store tells you that their puppies only come from licensed and inspected breeders, they are technically correct! These places are still puppy mill, no question about it.
IF YOU BUYING ANY PUPPY FROM ANY OF THEM: You are sentencing its parents to a life in the hell of a puppy mill, causing the moms and dads of these puppies more pain than you will ever know.
Watch out for unreputable backyard breeders, even in spite of AKC registration. Spend time performing a lot of research.
Don't look for a bargain, since you may end up paying many times over in future veterinarian bills, not to mention disappointments and heartache if your pet turns out not to be well. Your pet background and early care will affect its future health and good temperament as adult it is always essential that you choose a properly raised puppy from healthy, well-bred stock.
Be aware that many puppy mills claim to be "NO-KILL ANIMAL SHELTERS" in an attempt to sell used-up breeding stock to kindhearted people. If you want to save a life without lining anybody's pockets, adopt from your humane societies or from a recognized purebred rescue club which has many loving, quality, homeless animals that are desperately in need of homes. The only way to shut down puppy mills for good is to stop buying there!
To find a breeder, that is a responsible caring breeder and not a puppy mill breeder. Your puppy will be with you as a family member for many many years, do not be in a hurry, it is also not the time to bargain hunt, the initial cost of the puppy prorated over the life of the dog is only a small part of the total cost of the dog.
Some puppy mill are Licensed and inspected by the USDA but USDA standards for the proper care of dogs in breeding farms are NOT set high enough and are NOT regularly enforced, or the agency has developed a reputation for failing to meet its mandate. Licensed or non-licensed, they are still puppy mills and dog in there are truly prisoners of greed.
What you can help: Adopt a dog from shelter (like SPCA or The Humane Society) or get your puppy from a responsible breeder. Buy your pet supplies from a store that doesn't sell puppies or kitten, and spread the news! It is only because of the public's unawareness that this sick business has been permitted to continue!