If you see a sign by the road that says ‘puppies for sale’, it may have been put there by a dog-owner whose dog has given birth to a litter of puppies that need re-homing, or it could have been put there by a dog breeder who sells puppies for profit. There are plenty of reputable and responsible dog-breeders around, but the unscrupulous and unkind ones make the headlines and help to remind us that we should take extra care when buying puppies or dogs from people we don’t know.
There are far fewer dogs for sale, but occasionally an owner decides to sell their dog rather than re-home it through an animal charity such as the RSPCA, perhaps because they really need the money, perhaps because they want to be certain that their dog will go to a good home that they choose, or perhaps because offering to give their dog to a good home for free would attract the wrong sorts of new owners.
A good dog-breeder will have their dogs’ health, the puppies’ health and the health of the breed as a whole in mind when choosing which dogs to mate with which bitches. They will breed for temperament and personality as much as for appearance. A bad dog-breeder will only care that the puppies look like they are supposed to for that particular breed and will breed father and daughter or mother and son indiscriminately to get the appearance right without considering or caring about how the puppies will turn out in terms of temperament. They are interested in where their puppies end up only in as much as whether the new owners will pay cash for them.
Puppies for sale can be lovely, socialised and tame pets, or they can have been reared in a cage with no socialisation or care given. They may not have ever seen a vet let alone been vaccinated, neutered or spayed.
You could choose a good breeder by asking for personal recommendations amongst your friends, and by visiting the seller to meet the mother of the puppies (and the father, if possible); ask to see where the puppies live, sleep and eat.
Alternatively, you could choose to buy your puppy or dog from a rescue centre or animal charity such as the RSPCA, which will have carefully checked all of its dogs for temperament and health before offering them up for re-homing. The staff will know which dogs or puppies would make good pets for all sorts of people including families with children or elderly people seeking a companion. The dogs and puppies will have been vaccinated, socialised and neutered or spayed.
You can also get pedigree dogs from the RSPCA and other animal charities, though sometimes you may have to wait until one becomes available and you won’t often get the paperwork that validates its pedigree status.
If everyone adopted dogs and puppies rather than bought them, then puppy-farming would cease to exist because there would be no profit in it. But even if only a percentage of people chose to adopt rather than buy it would mean that many more dogs being given loving homes and fewer dogs or puppies being bought.
There are far fewer dogs for sale, but occasionally an owner decides to sell their dog rather than re-home it through an animal charity such as the RSPCA, perhaps because they really need the money, perhaps because they want to be certain that their dog will go to a good home that they choose, or perhaps because offering to give their dog to a good home for free would attract the wrong sorts of new owners.
A good dog-breeder will have their dogs’ health, the puppies’ health and the health of the breed as a whole in mind when choosing which dogs to mate with which bitches. They will breed for temperament and personality as much as for appearance. A bad dog-breeder will only care that the puppies look like they are supposed to for that particular breed and will breed father and daughter or mother and son indiscriminately to get the appearance right without considering or caring about how the puppies will turn out in terms of temperament. They are interested in where their puppies end up only in as much as whether the new owners will pay cash for them.
Puppies for sale can be lovely, socialised and tame pets, or they can have been reared in a cage with no socialisation or care given. They may not have ever seen a vet let alone been vaccinated, neutered or spayed.
You could choose a good breeder by asking for personal recommendations amongst your friends, and by visiting the seller to meet the mother of the puppies (and the father, if possible); ask to see where the puppies live, sleep and eat.
Alternatively, you could choose to buy your puppy or dog from a rescue centre or animal charity such as the RSPCA, which will have carefully checked all of its dogs for temperament and health before offering them up for re-homing. The staff will know which dogs or puppies would make good pets for all sorts of people including families with children or elderly people seeking a companion. The dogs and puppies will have been vaccinated, socialised and neutered or spayed.
You can also get pedigree dogs from the RSPCA and other animal charities, though sometimes you may have to wait until one becomes available and you won’t often get the paperwork that validates its pedigree status.
If everyone adopted dogs and puppies rather than bought them, then puppy-farming would cease to exist because there would be no profit in it. But even if only a percentage of people chose to adopt rather than buy it would mean that many more dogs being given loving homes and fewer dogs or puppies being bought.
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