How to Spot a Puppy Mill
When you support a puppy mill, chances are you will purchase an unhealthy, uncontrollable, un-trainable pet due to:
· Poor diet of the parents
· Unsanitary conditions
· The absence of early medical check-ups that could detect common parasites requiring prescriptions from a veterinarian to alleviate
· Lack of socialization (puppy has had minimal to no contact with people and appears terrified even of the breeder with whom it should be well acquainted)
*The money you save at the time of purchase could well exceed what you will spend in vet bills, obedient classes, etc..
Clues to knowing you are buying a puppy from a puppy mill:
1. Breeder or seller suggest they will meet you at another location other than the place puppies are kept, and will not meet you at their location no matter how much you offer to make the drive to the home or place where the puppies are kept.
Even if you are willing to meet them at another location you may want to call their bluff to see if they are willing to allow you see their home or location puppies are sold from.
2. Puppy Mills also sell their puppies AS IS or with a 48 or 72 hour health guarantee, because they are not willing to stand behind the puppies they sell.
3. They have no veterinarian references to give you because they do not have their litters checked out by a licensed veterinarian.
4. The health guarantee they offer does not have their personal name and address for their location or may have incorrect address and they do not provide a business card with the proper physical address. (This is worrisome if they don’t let you come to their facility).
This is because if you report them to SPCA, they risk being closed down.
As a precaution you may ask them to show you their driver’s license so you can verify they are giving you their correct name and address.
If they use the excuse they have moved, you may want to ask their permission to write down the old or new information from their driver’s license on the part of the health guarantee that has their signature.
Just that little bit of information may help you to get your money back, if they are participating in deceptive business practices using an alias name and address. It is called "FRAUD" and yes there is something you can do to recover your money if they sell you a bad puppy.
But it will be up to you to provide information about them.
As an extra precaution gather additional information such as their description and make note of the phone number in the advertisement that you called.
Write their license plate number down from the car they meet you in, on the papers they gave you so you won't have a hard time finding it at a later time if needed.
Gather this information even if you purchased the puppy "AS IS ".
5. They have a bad record or unanswered complaints with the Better Business Bureau.
6. They own or operate their business outside of the city limits where S.P.C.A. & Animal Control has no jurisdiction.
7. Promise they are selling you a teacup or purebred puppy for an unbelievably low price.
8. They have an unclean home or facility (or won’t let you see either of them!)
9. They have over 40 breeding dogs without a professional kennel facility or full time nursery staff to care for them.
10. They take Cash Only (no paper trail or traceable online financial information such as PayPal).
Owning 40 or 50 breeding dogs is too much for one or two people to properly care for PERIOD.
11. They breed numerous different kinds of breeds of dogs.
12. Most puppy mills, while offering registered puppies, do not register with AKC due to AKC’s monitoring of breeders. After a breeder produces ‘x’ amount of litters registered with them, AKC will contact the breeder and come out and inspect their facilities, records, etc.. This is not something any puppy miller wants! Please note, however, not ALL breeders with other registries are puppy millers. It is just yet another ‘flag’ to be looked into.
13. They price their puppies at a fraction of the cost of most reputable breeders (breeders that offer at least a one year health guarantee of some sort).
14. The breeder claims to be USDA certified. (USDA certification is required to sell to pet shops. No breeder that cares about their puppy will sell to a pet shop where the puppy is kept in a tiny cubicle until the day it sells…if that day ever comes!)
***The bulk of the above information was used by permission courtesy of Teacup And Toy Pets Boutique www.TexasTeacups.com.
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