Where NOT to get a Puppy  updated 8/7/2008

    Please do not buy a puppy for a gift.

    A puppy may be cute, but it comes with a lot of needs and expenses.  Puppies grow
    quickly.  As as they grow, they need constant supervision, training, exercise, food,
    medical care, attention and a ton of your patience, time, and money.  Puppies are a lot
    of work.

    The time to get a puppy is after you have carefully thought about your lifestyle and
    how a puppy might or might not fit in.  You need to research breeds and learn all you
    can about the characteristics of breeds you are interested in. If you are a quiet person
    who isn't interested in having to walk a couple miles a couple times a day, then a
    Husky is not the breed for you.

    Puppies do not make good gifts. The recipient may not even want a pet.  The pet may
    be all wrong for that person.  A person needs to research the type of pet that is suited
    to their life style and decide if they even want the responsibility of a pet.  Pets do not
    make good gifts for children.  Children cannot assume responsibility for the complete
    care of a pet.  Often the novelty wears off and the pet is no longer wanted or cared for.  
    Then what happens to the pet?

    Where NOT to get a Puppy
  • Online Sellers
  • Pet Stores
  • Unscrupulous "Breeders"
  • Someone selling puppies on the street

    Online Sellers sell puppies to anyone who can pay the price. Online sellers are  large
    puppy mills who breed and house dogs in substandard conditions.  The parentage of
    the dogs is most often unknown.  They ship puppies all over the place and have no  
    interest in the welfare of the puppy.  Often these puppies arrive ill, terrified,
    unsocialized and come with health and psychological problems that can last a
    lifetime.  The motive for online sellers is to make money no matter what.  They do
    NOT care about their puppies.

    Pet Stores get puppies from puppy mills from all over the country or from local
    backyard "breeders" interested only in profit.  Pet stores do not care who buys the
    puppy - if you have a credit card or cash, you can have the puppy.  They don't care if
    the breed is suitable to your lifestyle or if you are buying on impulse.  Walk into a pet
    store, hand them your credit card and you own a puppy.  If you change your mind, you
    have to find someone else to take on the puppy.

    The truth is that pet store puppies come from puppy mills which are houses of pain
    and horror for the dogs kept there.  Puppies are shipped in large quantities to stores
    and then sold to anyone who has money.  The health and psychological problems such
    dogs face can last a lifetime.  

    Unscrupulous "Breeders" are people who indiscriminately breed puppies in their
    homes and backyards for the sole purpose of making money.  The dogs are often kept
    in basements, backyards and sheds with minimal care and little to no socialization.
    Their dogs are not of good quality and often have genetic defects such as hip
    dysplasia, heart problems, eye defects.  

    Let's talk about American Kennel Club (AKC) registration.  Pet stores, online
    sellers and unscrupulous breeders brag that the pups are AKC registered.  The key
    word here is "registered".  Your car is registered, but does the Dept of Motor Vehicles
    guarantee that your car is a high-quality well-maintained car?  No, it does not.  
    Neither does AKC registration.  The AKC is simply a registry that depends on the
    integrity of the people registering dogs.  AKC in no way can guarantee quality, health
    or temperament of a dog.  A breeder fills out paperwork and mails in a fee to register
    the dogs.  That's it.  

    Stay away from anyone who

  •  refuses to let you meet the mother dog
  •  refuses to let you see where the puppies are kept,
  •  will meet you in a parking lot or deliver the puppy sight unseen to you
  •  keeps the puppies in a pen in the basement or back yard 24/7
  •  keeps the dogs in a filthy area
  •  doesn't interview you as if you were adopting a child
  •  will sell you a dog under 8 weeks old (Selling a puppy that is under 8 weeks old
    is against State Law and for good reason.  Puppies learn important canine social
    skills by staying with the mom and litter until 8 weeks minimum.  Dogs taken
    from the litter before 8 weeks have serious social skill deficits that can lead to
    behavior problems such as aggression, fearfulness, and inability to cope with new
    experiences.)
Please do NOT buy puppies
at pet stores or through the
Internet.  

Humane Society Information
about Puppy Mills


800 Small Dogs Seized
From Arizona Trailer in
March 2008

CT Animal Control
Officers participated in
this raid and rescue in
Maine.  
Massive Maine
Puppy Mill Rescue Exposes
Industry Ugliness