My sis and I are starting our pet company!
 

My sis and I are starting an agency, FurEver, in South Africa, where we source pets for prospective owners and after analysing the needs and wants of the owners as well as the needs and temperament of the pet, we place the puppies in forever homes.
We charge a minimal price for this service - excluding delivery and the price of the pet - and we also give a discount when a welfare pet is adopted.
We aim to help people who don't have the time to do the research and the driving around to find their perfect pet.

I would love to know what you guys think of our agency. Please send me your opinions.

Sounds like a broker....

Is that a good or a bad thing? We don't have such agencies in SA.

I could be wrong, but a broker is someone who buys puppies for real cheap and then resells them for alot more money to make a profit.. Most of the puppies come from horrible puppy mills and are usually in poor health...If that is what you are wanting to do, then I say yes, it is a bad thing...Someone looking for a forever companion, should not put it into someone elses hands to do so.. They should look at the parents and the litter and see the conditions they are raised in and then make that permanent decision for themselves....JMO....:)

Here that pretty much is bad. Brokers go around to pupoymills and buys the pups then resales them basically. Correct me if I am wrong ladies! Plus most good breeders want to know the people their pups are going to.

I agree~
 

And I have to say, I had many a scam involving South Africa, JMO:animal-pa

I have looked up what a broker does and am horrified that we are being classified as such.

We don't make a profit from the pups, we do it because we love animals.

Two weeks ago, a client finally got his wish of having a certain staffie pup - they are very hard to find these days - and the pup, Magnum, stayed with me in my house for a week until they could make the necessary preparations. He even slept in my bed with me and Cash.

I have checked up on him and his new family a couple of times - I drove there last weekend to make sure everything was fine and everyone was settling in great.

My sister and I are passionate about animals and I have been involved with the animal welfare for a few years now.

It makes me sad that people can sell animals for profits and treat them badly. We would never do that.

I wouldn't think of purchasing one from out of the country....Too many scams and besides we have an overabondance of animals that need good homes....

agreed!

Well, if you are legit and can rehome pets in SA, so be it....I'm sure many people there want pets and that would take care of the loooonnnngg journey to another country....Here, one of our resourses is "Petfinder" helping to find homes for needing animals....

So where did you get Magnum the pup from? You said that you do not make a profit but your first post said that you charge a minimal fee for this service.. Which one is it? Do you do this one animal at a time or do you get several at one time?

Magnum was from a breeder I know personally. We charge a fee for finding the pup, not a total fee. In other words, if the pup costs R2500, the customer pays that, but also pays us an additional R500 for our service.

We do this for people, like our current clients, who have either been unable to find a reputable breeder or don't have the time to drive around to the breeder - which are sometimes in my town, sometimes a three hour drive away and sometimes the pups need to travel by plane.

We handselect our breeders, have a waiting list - pups are not always available - and have strict criteria for pet owners. We inspect their backyards, and the environment in which the pet will live before we process their registration.

We do our service one pet at a time. We aim to place the perfect pets in the perfect homes, not to make money.

I'm not about to give up my dayjob;)

:thumbup::thumbup:

Unless the puppies come from Germany or Hungary, I'd be very weary. In fact, I'd be very weary unless I'm purchasing/adopting directly from the breeder who would know the background of the puppy.

For a starting business, It sure does seen like you been doing it for a while. I'm so hesitant buy from out of the U.S.. I saw first hand how many "breeders" were selling yorkies from South Africa. That became my first tell of a scam.

They don't have time to do that but have time to spend with a new pet? :confused:

I thought reputable breeders always wanted to ensure their puppies were going to nice homes with good families. How do they know this if the new owners aren't the ones approaching them?

JMHO but this doesnt sound like A BROKER to me at all. This sounds more like a personal shopper.
Say I am a busy business woman and I need help shopping for ,say a birthday present for my mom. I know she likes rare old books that are out of print.
I hire the PS to find it for me for a fee so I can work and have family time.

I think you could be on to something here. Say I want a Saint Bernard but live in a small one bedroom apt. By interviewing the perspective owner and determining what his needs/wants are you can help guide them in the right direction.
I once took an online test to see what i liked and disliked in pets and what I was looking for in a dogs temperment, size, activity level etc.
then at the end..it told me what breeds that would best fit what my needs.

For example, When the show Fraiser was so popular everyone wanted a Jack Russel. And unfortunately many people got one. So many ended up in rescues and pounds because they didnt realize they were hunter, diggers and had high energy levels and required alot of activity! She could prevent this!!
I think you could be on to something here.

Once you found the right pup for the prospective owner you could put them in touch with each other. Let them make the deal happen.
You could then provide a courrier service/cab service to deliver the pup.

I could be wrong but I dont think the OP's intent was to be a broker at all.
I think she has a great love of dogs and is trying to find a creative way to create a business involving something she loves.:D

as long as you dont support bad breeders and puppy mills..
the money may cause you to lose sight of the animals welfare
i think it is a bad idea.. you are like a petstore
petstores get all their dogs from puppy millers who never let their dogs
out of their cages
they keep them only for breeding
dogs are not llivestock
dogs are pets and should live in the home
otherwise it IS ABUSE
give these poor dogs a good life not a life sentence in jail

It sounds like you have good intentions, but still doing what a broker does. A broker might not always make a huge profit. But I think if the dog is from a good breeder, the breeder him/herself would want to meet the new owners of the puppy. Not only that, you mentioned you help people who don't have time to research for a breed or puppy, but to me if someone doesn't even have the time to research before getting a puppy, how are they supposed to have time for the puppy?

If your going to be assisting people as to what breed is best for them or guiding people in the right direction, that's one thing, which it kinda seems like your doing, but from your first post it sounded more like what a broker does.

I agree with you! :thumbup:

Good luck, i hope it all goes well!

I think since there are so many scams online coming out of SA that people are weary of any sales/pups having anything to do with SA.

To give the OP the benefit of the doubt, as long as you are not supporting puppymills or byb's, and you are legitimately making dogs and people happy, then good for you.

I guess now a days with all the scams people aren't trusting (undoubtedly), but sometimes it's only fair to give people a chance. I would only pick a puppy from my own research, but that's everyone's personal choice.

Thank you for those who understand.

I just want to clarify one point: the time discussion. To take our most recent clients as an example: They live in a small town about two hours' drive from the city. The husband is a doctor, the wife his manager, home maker and managing director of LatchOn (American-based co) and they have a young son. The son is sixteen. They loves animals - staffies are low-maintenance (I would never recommend they get a yorkie or such), but as the doctor works from seven to seven, the wife is very busy and the son can't drive (has to be eighteen here). They have time on weekends, but prefer to spend it with their current staffie and relaxing instead of driving around or spending time on the internet to find a breeder.
I don't know if I explained it satisfactorily, but they know that they can take care of a staffie, needed a friend for their current one and simply didn't have the time to do all the time-consuming legwork.
That is were we come in.

We will never be interested in the money, we ask the fee to cover our expenses, and we will never place an animal where it won't be happy.

We are also only local. We don't ship overseas as we have too many people and animals here who need our help.

i guess when it comes to a successful business.. you find a need and fill the need.. iif there is a market for this, then maybe you could also help
uncover the bad breeders and puppy mills in your country..:aimeeyork

We are committed to helping animals and will certainly help uncover all bad breeding practices we encounter.

:rolleyes: So then it is for profit if you charge a fee:rolleyes:

Do you know how much R500 is? It is about enough to cover our internet and phone expenses for sourcing the animals.

I do not feel that I need to justify or defend what we are trying to do, I merely started this thread to see what obstacles we might come across with regards to perception. In that you guys have been most helpful, thank you.

you are a broker
but a good one i hope
a bad broker would buy a litter from someone and put them in cages until they can sell them over the internet
but you are a broker for the new owners
and it sounds like you also rescue
so its a great service:aimeeyork

Its sounds like a very good service. I am not sure why some are making her feel so bad about giving this a shot. It sounds very honest and that she has the dog's interest at heart. Remember she came here to volunteer this information of her business. Knowing how protective we are of animal rights, do you really think she would have come here to broadcast to us all that she was a really really bad person who only wanted to make a ton of cash from selling puppy mill dogs????
Come on you guys... Think OUTSIDE The box! :D:D:D
Not everyone in the world sees pets as we do.
We see our pets has family members. We make the same effort in adopting a Yorkie as most do in adopting a skin baby!!
Do you guys know how many people chose the wrong breed and it just ends up at the pound because it is too much work?
I think she has something here.
If she could help people find the right match to prevent them from going to the pound then why not??? Or is she can rehome a rescue?? What does it matter if she charges enough money to cover her expenses??
Like she said...she wont be quitting her day job!
Try to see this with an open mind:D:D:D:D:D

HI,
I think that your intentions are well. I see that, you have to charge a fee (tell me if i am wrong or not) for traveling expenses (gas has gotten expensive), handling fees, and taking time (just like normal job you get paid for the time you put in) to look up reputable breeders, to travel to the location. And, if this ends up being your only job (even if you love it so much) you still need something thats going to support your family & yourself! I say if your being responsible about it then why not! :aimeeyork GOOD LUCK!