[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by WalnutHill

Well, the entire Animal Welfare Act is here : http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/new...eply&p=2489818


It starts out : Any person operating or intending to operate as a dealer,
exhibitor, or operator of an auction sale, except persons who are
exempted from the licensing requirements under paragraph (a)(3) of this
section, must have a valid license.


An exemption from the licensing requirement is if you have 3 or fewer breeding females.

Also, listed as an exemption is if you sell directly to people: Any person who breeds and raises domestic pet animals for
direct retail sales to another person for the buyer's own use and who
buys no animals for resale and who sells no animals to a research
facility, an exhibitor, a dealer, or a pet store (e.g., a purebred dog
or cat fancier) and is not otherwise required to obtain a license.


I am glad I decided to look this up. : ) You don't HAVE to have the license if you sell your dogs only to private individuals.


I always get so worked up about the USDA licensing. They have very minimal standards, but at least there are some sort of standards.... That puppy mill in Missouri that was featured on Oprah had no licensing - maybe if they were inspected by the USDA, those dogs would have been confiscated a lot earlier.

The link you gave doesn't work, but the point you make that the license isn't required if they sell the dogs to private individuals is an important one. If they are not selling to individuals that means they are selling to places like pet stores or brokers, and this is something I believe is wrong.

Your point seems to be that some puppy mills are better than others, and at least some abide by minimum standards, and I agree with that, I still would not recommend anyone buying a dog from a USDA breeder. I think when purchasing a pet you should be looking for someone who has extremely high standards, not someone who just passes minimum standards.