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Originally Posted by Nancy1999  Well things have changed in 6 years, most of us know now that buying from a pet store is a bad thing, but unfortunately, Snow Wa was correct in many ways, the puppy mills continued and even got worse. Why? Many pet stores have indeed stoped selling dogs, but people have turned to the internet. Dogs d sold directly to the public do not need to be covered under any type of breeding license, so these commercial breeders have no inspections. The way to help close these down is to stop buying dogs over the internet! Get to know your breeder personally and visit to see how breeding dogs are being raised. |
And this is what irritates me the most!! I've seen fewer pet stores selling puppies which is great progress but the puppy mills are now hiding behind websites and we make it so easy for them by just shipping a puppy to the new owner. I can't even imagine how many unsuspecting new owners there are that purchased their puppies from a mill but didn't know it because they had a nice website or nice pictures.
I think websites are great for showing pictures of available puppies and their parents (I even had a website). There isn't anything wrong with it but you should still go to the breeder's to see for yourself how they are raised. At the very least look for references from people that have been to the actual breeder's home and seen for themselves all the dogs and the environment they are living in.
I found all my yorkies online from a website but I visited each breeder to see for myself the environment they were raised in. But so many just assume that a nice website automatically means a good breeder or nice environment and this isn't the case.
Do your research!! You will be glad you did and so will the puppy and his/her parents!!
On the flip side, I do understand people that go with their hearts. I try to avoid pet stores that sell puppies at all costs because I know how you can see a puppy and fall hopelessly in love with and at times it can be so hard to walk away.