Planning to bring a new member to the family? It is very important to plan beforehand. Know which breed you would love having the most if you want a puppy, or a grown dog, and all such basic questions about how your new friend must be.
Once the basic questions are done with, the big question of WHERE do you get the puppy from seeps in. There are too many sources that one can buy a puppy from, but buying from the right one, and the good bred, well-behaved puppy, is what gets hard.
When looking for where to buy your adorable little one, be careful that the puppy you buy is not the one from puppy mills. A puppy mill is the term that is used for the abuse dogs face for producing litters of puppies to be sold further at higher rates by pet shops and other such pet facilitating places.
Here are a few tips on where to get your new friend home from, while saving you the inconvenience of going places, and ensuring that you are not buying from puppy mills:
1. Adoption should be the first choice
Adoption is like giving a new life to the dogs waiting to be homed. What best, other than adoption, can you do for your new friend? Many shelter homes and rescue groups have a variety of dogs available for adoption, including pure and mixed breeds. There are various rescue groups that are breed specific, and ever provide “hybrid” or the “designer” dogs like the Labradoodles and Puggles.
The puppies at rescue groups are highly trained to socialize and hence make great pets. Adoption helps such dogs to be reallocated, and to find the family that loves enough to care for them. The Shelter Pet Project helps you to find such rescue groups in your area, to help you find your right dog.
2. Look for a responsible breeder, and visit the premises personally
A genuine breeder will love to show off how well raised his dogs are, and the environment they have been raised into. While a breeder that has not treated your puppy and his family very well would avoid having you to visit the premises. It is hence very important to visit and see the environment and how exactly your new puppy and his parents, have been raised.
Breeder usually avoids your visit by claiming that they have papers. Such papers like AKC or the other registration paper, only tell you about who the parents of your puppy are, and not how they have been treated. A well-treated puppy is important because this helps him adjust to your home environment better too.
3. Do not buy from pet stores
The cute little doggie that you see in the window of a pet shop may probably be one of the puppies of the puppy mill. These pet shops make many false claims of how the puppies are not from puppy mills, but unless the pet shop supplies puppies from shelter homes, do not buy. The puppy millers usually have links with pet shops to sell off their mill produce, and rare pet shops have reallocation purposes in mind. It is hence best not to buy from pet shops.
4. Avoid internet ads, classifieds for buying a puppy
Puppy millers pose as small breeders, or even as a family trying to sell off their puppies. The advertisements on the internet or in the classified section of the newspaper do not guarantee the authentication of the person and have been found a hoax for the majority of the puppies being sold.
5. Judging the provenance of puppies for sale
The puppy millers are smart and hence it gets very tough for a buyer to differentiate between a genuine seller and a miller. The puppy millers do not generally show you puppies out in open where you could question their credibility but will show you the puppies in a home setting, which is either their own or somebody is acting as a middleman for them.
It is hence important for you to ask for the dam of the puppy and even ask for the entire litter to choose from.
6. Avoid the temptation to “rescue” a puppy mill dog by buying them
You might feel the urge to save the cute puppy you just saw being illtreated at a pet shop. You love dogs, and cannot see the puppy so sad. But, buying them is not the solution. Buying milled puppies increase the demand for such puppies, adds money to the millers’ pocket and further upsurges abuse. The best thing to do in a situation like this is to report the authorities as soon as you can, and ensure that they rescue the puppy, while there is a stern action taken against the pet shop, and the miller further.
Bringing your own puppy home elevates the joy by just the thought of it. However, it is very important to act vigilantly and much carefully when buying your puppy. We understand the love you have for puppies, but rushing and buying a milled puppy would not do justice to the puppies. Buying milled dogs encourages puppy milling, hence, it is important not to buy them. Neglecting which puppy you buy, and just buying it because “how does it matter anyway” is not how you should go about it.
Let the love for dogs that you have, speak volumes, for not just the one you buy, but for much more, by saying no to puppy milling, and saving a thousand more puppies. Happy parenting!
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