How to tell legitimate puppy ads from scammers and puppy mill ads.

[dainerra]

we don't need to regulate breeders - we need to educate owners. an educated public doesn't support puppy mills or irresponsible breeders when they look to purchase a new dog. An educated owner doesn't have "oops" litters or breed indiscriminately.

 

[happyappy]

Just a thought for you... I live near Lancaster, pa. The puppy mill capital. Yes, I purchased a 4 month pit x puppy from a Mennonite man (that was obviously a breeder) he had the whole litter of 6 puppies left at rock bottom prices and could not find them homes. Due to their breed. 2 weeks later, all the puppies were gone.

Now, knowing that some of these breeders sell unplacable puppies to labs and colleges for use in experiments. Yes, I am glad I bought her. But, I wait until they are older. And yes I will pro ably save another from that.

 

[dekel18042]

we don't need to regulate breeders - we need to educate owners. an educated public doesn't support puppy mills or irresponsible breeders when they look to purchase a new dog. An educated owner doesn't have "oops" litters or breed indiscriminately.

 

[happyappy]

Maybe shut down the auctions that sell the dogs like cattle to the puppy mills

 

[dainerra]

puppy mills can get dogs from anywhere. If there are no auctions, they will still have zero effort getting new dogs to toss into the breeding cages. we don't need to shut down the auctions - educate the public on how to tell if a breeder is responsible and the puppy mills will stop selling dogs. When they lose demand for their product, they will stop producing puppies. When they stop producing puppies, they will stop buying more dogs to produce those puppies.

The problem takes care of itself. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people only care about their instant gratification and not the consequences of their actions.

I can tell you that puppy mills LOVE it when rescue groups show up at the auctions to "save" dogs. Instead of an almost worn out ***** selling for $40, they can easily bid up the price until the rescue is paying $200+ for the same dog. We need to stop trying so hard to save dogs without looking at the actual consequences of our actions.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I noticed that a lot of horse rescues buy their horses at auction. This struck me as strange because I have always been told a real rescue NEVER buys animals. There was someone on BYC who came on recently and said they were a rescue, but that they had purchased some of their chickens. At first I thought they bought the chickens as meat animals to feed rescued dogs or something, but he/she said they bought them all because they were in a bad situation. That kind of thing is really counter-productive, it surprised me to see a formal rescue group doing it. Does this kind of thing happen often, with rescues purchasing animals?

I can tell you that puppy mills LOVE it when rescue groups show up at the auctions to "save" dogs. Instead of an almost worn out ***** selling for $40, they can easily bid up the price until the rescue is paying $200+ for the same dog. We need to stop trying so hard to save dogs without looking at the actual consequences of our actions.

 

[dainerra]

the horse auctions work a bit differently. they rescue horses that are "meat grade" and don't have too much of a problem with sellers working together to drive the prices up.

with the dogs, when word gets out that a rescue is planning to come to the auction (and rescues always seem to promote that they are going, when and where, to help drum up donations before the big day. So puppy millers and sellers call each other and plan to bring extra dogs or bring dogs when they might not have even planned to go to the auction. They then work together, bidding against the rescue (who are often outspoken and obvious) to drive up the prices.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I see, reminds me of another rescue-related problem. I know a domestic duck and goose rescue and they never announce when they are rescuing from a park or public place. Otherwise, they say people hear the news and dump all their unwanted ducks and geese the day before and there can be more than twice the amount the group was originally planning on rescueing.

 

[dainerra]

it's part of the new mentality of "every dog must be saved"

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I just don't understand... all that money needed to purchase a dog could easily help more dogs if they would save the money for spay/neuter and instead of buying dogs, take in strays or owner surrenders.