Stop, Look, & Listen; Avoiding The Pitfalls Of Where You Buy A Dog
By Ryan Betz

These days there are so many different places to buy a dog from. Where do you begin? There are the newspaper ads, internet sales through private web sites, club breeder referrals, various “other” breed specific breeder referrals, online classified ad postings, and of course there is still the infamous pet store. You need to be very careful about which avenue of dog search you take. In each category you will find the backyard breeders and puppymills, even through breeder referrals. You have to research each individual breeder and determine if that breeder is actually respectable or not.

Let us first explore what the types of breeders are. This will make it easier to see how and where each place you look for a dog you will find the people to avoid;

The backyard breeder is typically just a pet owner that is breeding his/her pets to make a profit. This person knows very little if anything about the breed of dog, knows absolutely nothing about bloodlines, and knows nothing of genetics. This breeder also does not know what the Breed Standard is to begin with, let alone of how to breed a dog to the Breed Standard. Some of these people breed their pets just to make a quick buck, with no concern about what kind of animal they are producing. Some of these people have told me they just want to breed their pet because he/she is such a wonderful dog it deserves to have puppies. Well…….., that is just a bunch of poppycock. Even if that were really true, why on earth would you buy a dog from one of these people? Would you buy one to get a “cheaper” dog? Many people do, but that dog is not cheaper in the long run. It will almost always cost you a great deal more in veterinary bills. That five hundred dollar bargain dog can easily end up costing you thousands of dollars in a very short time.

Puppymills are everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. They sell dogs through all of the venues I mentioned in the first paragraph, including breed club breeder referrals. Puppymills just crank out litters of puppies for pure profit. I do not mean three to four litters a year either. I mean twelve or more litters a year, even hundreds of litters. There is no way that anybody breeding dogs at such a volume can produce healthy and quality dogs. Absolutely no way. They just put together mating pairs, get the litters on the ground, and sell, sell, sell. There is zero regard for health and quality. There is also no regard for where the dogs end up, just so long as there is money attached to it.

Showmillers are out there too. These breeders also put a very high volume of puppies on the ground like the puppymiller, but sometimes “attempt” to breed a decent dog. Some of them do not attempt to though. The biggest difference between a showmill and a puppymill is that the showmill does show dogs in the ring. The reason they show the dogs is to self-promote to look more respectable and sell more puppies. A showmiller may somewhat half care where the dogs end up, but they breed so many that they do not want to be bothered by the buyer ever again after the sale is complete, except to sell the buyer another dog.

Hobby breeders and professional breeders are pretty close to the same thing. They all show their dogs to prove quality and because they love the sport of dog shows, interacting with other dog people, and having an activity to enjoy with their dogs. They spend countless hours trying to educate the public about the breed, the sport, and the industry. Breeder/judges almost always come out of this category. These breeders spend even more time getting educated about the breed and industry. These breeders never stop trying to learn more. They crave for all knowledge about their beloved canine companions. These breeders are truly passionate about what they do. They are advocates for the breed, the sport, and the industry. They are the true stewards out there protecting the dogs. The best bred and healthiest dogs will come from breeders from this category. The difference between a hobbyist and a professional is in education, experience, and a slightly increased volume of litters produced. These breeders all begin as hobbyists and then progress towards being professionals over time. Some become so wrapped up in producing more and more puppies and earning more money that they make the leap into becoming showmillers, and as the volume of puppies goes up the quality tends to drop. The hobbyist and professional will screen their puppy buyers and take various steps to assure their puppies are going into the right homes, often times turning people away. These breeders do breed the healthiest dogs though and getting one from them is well worth all that it takes.

Now that we have explored the types of breeders, let us discuss the puppy sales venues;

To find the backyard breeder you simply just need to open a newspaper. It is full of them. Also many newspapers now have online classified ads and backyard breeders will use these too. Puppymillers and showmillers will use this route as well. They produce such a high volume of puppies that they will use every available source to sell from. The hobbyist and professional breeder really never uses these sources for puppy sales. If they do they are looked down on by their peers for being disreputable because to find the disreputable breeders you go to these sources. Why is this? Because all breeders understand that the buyer that looks to the newspaper is in a hurry to find a dog. This buyer does not care enough to search out the reputable breeders, and that is not the kind of buyer a reputable breeder will sell a dog to.

Private internet sites are a good source for finding breeders. You have to be careful though because puppymills and showmills also use personal web sites. You have to research, research, and  research. The biggest tell is if the “breeder” has posted pictures of puppies for sale. These are often accompanied by prices right there on the site. Some have even gone as far as putting a PayPal link on the site so you can just order your puppy like you are ordering some trifling knick knack. These so called breeders are very disreputable. They are just trying to make as much money as they can as fast as they can with the least amount of effort. That is how they breed their dogs too, with the least amount of effort possible.

In Contrast the hobbyist and professional spend a great deal of time developing their sites, just as they spend a great deal of time in breeding each dog. These sites almost always have a great deal of educational material. They take their time to tell you about themselves on the site. Hobbyists and professionals are very proud of their accomplishments and want you to know who they are. They step forward. They educate. They even show off a little. They do not try to be anonymous with things to hide. They step up and say here we are, this is who we are, these are our dogs, this is what we believe, and this is what we do. Sites such as our own site, which you are reading now, have applications for puppies. Why is this? Isn’t that a little impersonal? Actually no, it is quite the opposite. We have taken the time to let you know something of us and we wish for you to do the same. We want to start out knowing something of you, instead of just another anonymous inquiry. When we get those one line anonymous inquiries we tend to just ignore them. Those people can buy a dog out of the newspaper. We take our time reviewing each inquiry looking for homes that are good fits for our puppies. We want buyers that want to learn about the breed and how to care for them. Your checkbook is not the deciding factor for breeders like us. That being said, we do not give dogs away for free. You would be amazed at how many strangers ask me for a free dog. Sometimes I ask them for the keys to their house and cars in return, but I digress. You as a person and the environment you can provide one of our pups is the deciding factor.

Hobbyists and professionals take a great deal of time developing healthy bloodlines These breeders spend more than just time to do it though. They invest a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money into it as well. They make a great effort to get the pups on the ground and started in the best possible fashion. They take a great deal of time screening buyers and educating them before allowing a pup to leave with a buyer. In return, hobbyists and professionals expect buyers to take great care in learning about the breed, how to care for the breed, and selecting the right breeder. It is a process for the breeder, and it should be a process for the buyer.

I have jumped a little ahead of myself on gone slightly off path. Now back to where we began………….

Dog breed clubs are made up by a cross section of all different types of people with one thing in common, and that is dogs. Even though they have that in common it is more complicated than that. In any given dog club there are pet owners, backyard breeders, hobbyists, professionals, showmillers, and even puppymillers. Each and every one of them has a different agenda. In some clubs all of them can end up getting on the breeder referral list. Some clubs are more successful than others at keeping the undesirable breeders off of the breeder referral list. Even though dog clubs have a code of ethics they are also governed by majority vote. Get enough backyard breeders, or any other group, together voting on an issue and the issue is going to go their way. Also, even though a club has a code of ethics it is really almost impossible to evenly and consistently enforce it upon the members which leaves the individual to either voluntarily abide by that code of ethics, or not. Just like in life, a person is either honest or not. A dog buyer using the breeder referral service must be aware of this and be aware that this means that the breeders on the list are not really pre-screened by a dog club. Dog clubs are not the dog police, even though even some members try to be. The list is really nothing more than a list of the club members that do breed dogs. Then there also always seems to be the club-busy-body that is not a breeder, and does not know what being a breeder truly entails, that somehow wiggled their way onto the referral list for some reason and tends to really run amuck causing hardship for both the breeders and buyers alike. This person interjects his/her opinion into everything when nobody has asked for it. This person needs to get a life. Every club has at least one of these people and tries to tell buyers who to buy dogs from and who not to. Well, what this person is really doing is trying to earn favors from people. Ignore this person. This person is a fool.

There are also other breed specific breeder referral services out there, usually associated with the internet, that have nothing at all to do with any dog club at all. These are privately owned services. These are really more like a breed specific classified ad service. Some of these also have some very good articles attached to them and may even have online discussion groups. These are privately owned referral services. There are a few that are free to both breeder and buyer alike. These tend to be pre-screened by the site owner. If the site owner thinks you are a reputable breeder then he/ she will let the breeder post contact information for free. Some of the sites are a commercial business, charging a fee for breeders to post, and/or a fee for buyers to see the list of breeders.

Ah, the pet store. What can I say that hasn’t already been said about these dens of poorly bred, mass produced enclaves of overpriced critters? ALL of these dogs come from puppymills. All of them. Even mass media giants like The New York Times and MSNBC have done story after story about pet shops and puppymills. Yet people still buy from them, over and over and over. These dogs are mass produced by the puppymill, sold to a dog broker, who sells them to pet stores, who in turn lies to you by telling you that they were bred by a long time dedicated breeder just down the road a ways. Of course, if you are the type of person that would buy your dog from a pet store you are not the type of person that is going to visit our web site and read any of my articles. I just may be preaching to the choir here. I’ll move on.

Recently I met a wonderfully nice woman who is super enthusiastic about the breed. She already has purchased her Bulldogs from other sources but came to me asking for me to train her in the sport and industry. I asked her why she didn’t go to her breeder for training. She said her breeder knows nothing. So, one day we were discussing backyard breeders and puppymills, and where she bought her dogs. I was very blunt and told her that her dogs came from a puppymiller. She said oh no they didn’t, they are imports. The woman she got her dogs from also breeds but brought hers from a breeder in Eastern Europe. Well, that is still a puppymill, which buys dogs from another puppymill. I patiently tried to explain it to her with not much success because she does really love her dogs. So I changed tact and informed her that just this year of 2008 The United States Department Of Agriculture pushed a law through congress declaring the importation of dogs for sale illegal in the United States. She did blink at that and it got some of her attention. She asked me why they did that and I told her it was to stop these terribly sick dogs from entering the U.S., and to curtail some of these puppymills. I informed her that her dogs were already here before the law was passed, but if that breeder continues doing what she is doing then she is breaking a federal law. I personally believe that breeder was already breading moral and ethical laws to begin with.

So………

Stop, look, and listen. Do you remember your parents and school teachers teaching you that when you were a child? Stop, look, and listen before crossing the street so you don’t get run over. It applies to buying a dog too. Stop, look, and listen before you buy that dog from the wrong source. Stop yourself from impulse buying. Look for breeders offering education and well bred dogs, listen to the advice those well educated breeders are giving you. Study the Breeder’s Code Of Ethics and see how the various dog breeders you meet stack up against it. You will be much happier once you get the chance to make an informed decision in purchasing that new puppy. If you buy the right puppy from the right breeder you will enjoy years of joy and love from a healthy animal. Buy from the wrong breeder and you will get to enjoy the painful experience of high veterinary bills, tragedy, and heartache.

When buying a puppy you obviously are looking for a puppy in seemingly great health. You also want to see the mother of the pup so you can evaluate her overall health and temperament. If the sire is there you definitely want to see him too. But what else should you be looking for? Oh…., you want to see multiple generations of the bloodline! This is extremely important, and I do mean extremely. You want to see older dogs. You want to see longevity and great health. The mother and the father may be great looking specimens, but if they are younger than four years old there may be underlying heart conditions that have not yet displayed any symptoms, as one example. Then once they are four years old they suddenly display symptoms of congenital heart problems, which are untreatable, and drop over dead. Poof! Gone. Good night, Irene. Yes, this is an example of inherited issues. So look for the older generations. Look at their activity level, and coat conditions. Look at their temperaments. See it with your own eyes. Ask the breeder what medications he/she has their dogs on. Investigate. Research.

When you buy a new pup, it should already have been given at least some of the puppy vaccinations, and should have been de-wormed a couple of times. The breeder should provide you with a vaccination/health record. The breeder should also explain to you everything else the puppy will be needing in the upcoming weeks and months of its life. Too many people take a puppy home thinking it has or has not had vaccinations, either then leaving the puppy dangerously unvaccinated, or starting all of the vaccinations over again which also is very dangerous when they are over-vaccinated. Take the time to find out exactly what you need and do not need to do.

Beyond the actual dogs themselves you want a breeder that is willing to spend the time you need learning as much as you can about the breed and caring for it. You do not want a breeder that breeds them, sells them, and forgets them. You want a breeder you can stay in contact with over the years to use as a resource for help or information. A breeder like this is invaluable to you as a dog owner. I meet so many people that do not have a breeder to turn to that are constantly asking for advice from me. I help when I can, and if I have the time, but I can do very little for them. If they have questions of care then I can try and teach them what they should or should not do. If they have questions of genetic health issues I can do nothing for them. They need to investigate with the breeder that bred their dog, and they need to consult a veterinarian.

When it comes to the business portion of a dog deal you need to be smart. In this day and age if a breeder does not use a contract you are buying a dog from the wrong breeder. Period. All reputable breeders use contracts. These contracts should include, but not be limited to, what level of care the breeder expects the buyer to maintain the dog at, clauses protecting the dog from neglect and abuse, and health guarantees. If there are breeding rights involved there should be clauses outlining that specifically. If there are no breeding rights then there should be clauses covering spaying and neutering. Get it in writing. Keep your signed contract in a safe place. If agreements change then insist on addendums being written, signed, and added to the original contract. As a dog breeder I have seen a lot of dog deals., ours, friends buying dogs, friends selling dogs, and other acquaintances. Beyond healthcare questions I get from strangers, dog sale disputes has got to be the second most popular topic people ask me about. The worst dog deals I have heard of have been without contracts, just using verbal agreement. Also some had contracts but the deal was amended, but only amended verbally, without any addendums being written. Some people get excited and eager to close a deal and say almost anything to make the deal happen. Sometimes they even honestly forget they said a specific thing. Keep it simple. Keep it in writing.

Just stop, look, and listen.