I never even thought about this with puppies
.
But I know for sure it must happen Somewhere, sometime, b/c I know it does with bird breeders. If you can't tell one baby bird from another and someone comes along and offers more money for a particular bird (even if it's got a deposit on it) b/c they just happen to like that one the best, there's not much (other than integrity and honesty) to stop a breeder from selling it to them. I knew that someone offered my breeders more $ for my bird when he was still being handfed and Luckily, I had the band # written down (and they're not the split ring type of band; they have to be put on when they're really tiny and can't be removed other than cutting them off)...otherwise, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd taken the guy up on it. And I probably wouldn't have known the difference. Too bad they can't do the same with puppies or something similar. Of course, if they were microchipped, you wouldn't have to worry about it. Hopefully, the breeder you're working with is honest; I know I wouldn't want to bring that kind of bad juju to my life by doing things like that
.