Information on Our Puppy Mills and Breeders Guidance
Welcome to Animal Wellness Center of Bonita. Thank you for considering or choosing us to provide preventative and corrective medical, surgical, and dental care for your canine or feline family member.
Congratulations on the purchase, adoption, rescue, or consideration of adding a new family member!
Why We Share This Information
We’ve included this information on our puppy mills and breeders page based on our experience caring for puppies and dogs from puppy mills and backyard breeders. We compare these experiences to those with pets from reputable breeders. We’ve also witnessed the harsh reality of shelters using euthanasia to control pet populations across this great nation. This excludes no-kill shelters.
Understanding Puppy Mills
Many unsuspecting owners purchase a puppy directly or indirectly through a puppy mill. A puppy mill is a place where dogs are kept for reproduction. Breeders house these dogs in cages, often 24 hours a day. Some puppy mills run as large operations, usually in states without a pet lemon law. These can hold hundreds to thousands of dogs. Others operate on a smaller scale.
Our guidance on puppy mills and breeders does not recommend obtaining a puppy directly or indirectly through a puppy mill. Buyers most often support a puppy mill indirectly through a local pet store purchase. Not all pet stores are problematic, though, in our opinion.
To maintain a thriving business, puppy mills use deceptive tactics. Here are some examples:
They’ll show you the puppy and its mother, but rarely the father. They won’t show you where the puppy was raised with its littermates. If you can’t visit the mother and see where the puppies are raised, don’t purchase a puppy there. Resist the urge to buy in this scenario. Each puppy sold from a puppy mill supports the puppy mill industry. So, if you haven’t fully researched where you’re getting your next pet, you may unknowingly support one.
Puppy mills often run elaborate websites and claim their dogs are registered. Some register with the AKC, but that doesn’t stop them from being a puppy mill. Others register with fake organizations to deceive you. Please research the breeder before you buy a dog. Well-bred and well-cared-for dogs and cats often cost less than puppy mill animals.
The following links lead to sites and videos about puppy mill situations:
www.network.bestfriends.org
www.nopuppymills.com
www.stoppuppymills.org
If you’ve already purchased one of these animals, we will help you provide veterinary care for them. We hope this information helps educate you and prevents future support of puppy mills. Many veterinarians have seen health and behavior problems in puppy mill animals due to how they were raised and cared for. We want to help prevent this.
This AKC page addresses puppy purchasing concerns. It can help you get started finding the right puppy:
http://www.akc.org/future_dog_owner/find_breeder.cfm
Understanding Backyard Breeders
A backyard breeder is someone who breeds dogs for personal reasons but may still raise the puppies in a good environment. Some of these breeders rise to the level of a reputable breeder. Others slip toward puppy mill practices instead. Backyard breeders give various reasons for breeding their dogs.
Some want to recoup the expense of purchasing their dog, though this can end up costing more. Others want their family to experience the “miracle of birth.” Some believe their dog has such a good personality that they’d like a puppy from it. Most dogs have good personalities, though, and multiple puppies per litter that need homes. Still others hear friends say they’d like a puppy from their dog. People often say this to be kind rather than as a serious request.
A reputable breeder would never sell a puppy to or through a pet shop. This holds true regardless of what a pet store employee might claim.
What to Look for in a Reputable Breeder’s Contract
The breeder should agree to take back the animal at any point during its life if the purchaser can no longer keep the pet. They may not offer a refund. Instead, they aim to ensure their puppies and kittens don’t become a burden on society or fall into the wrong hands.
Breeders should require pet-quality puppies to be spayed (ovariohysterectomy) or neutered (castration) before or near puberty. Early spay and neuter can create complications later for large and giant breed dogs. So, these breeds should be sterilized at puberty or later, but before 12 months of age.
Reputable breeders won’t breed a dog before 2 years of age or a cat before 1 year of age. They prove their breeding animals through championship titles in the show ring or through success in obedience, tracking, field trials, agility, or other areas. They also screen each dog for genetic or inherited defects known to their breed and raise the pups in a clean, loving environment.
Most reputable breeders offer only a limited number of puppies each year, since they keep just a few breeding females and breed them once annually. This can make it hard to find a puppy from a reputable breeder. Still, most are happy to discuss their breed and can direct you to another reputable breeder or add you to a waiting list. Most reputable breeders don’t advertise, so you have to find them. Still, they’re out there, and they’re the gems of the dog and cat world.
A reputable breeder may also decline to sell a puppy to a person or family they feel isn’t the right fit.
(Adapted with permission from Lisa Bennett, DVM)
