how much is that puppy on your website?...reality check.

we have all heard it before...friends, family members, neighbors...on the search for a perfect purebred pup but at a discount price...they don't want to pay the $1200 from a reputable breeder, so they go shopping, on the internet. and guess what they find? some really nice, caring person selling cheap unregistered (but could be registered) puppies at a huge discounted rate. this person is definately not a miller, or a byb, or a broker who scoops cheap but older pups from the puppy auctions and sells them cheap via email or telephone call... this person obviously loves their dogs, they say all the right things, they even have a pretty warm and fuzzy website. ok then, it must be real...not....we try to educate...but what we have to say is in direct conflict with what they want to do. it is a losing battle.

sometimes the puppy wins, it actually gets a really good home for the rest of it's life. sometimes it gets a home for awhile, til the cheap cute puppy just is not so cute or cheap anymore, then it starts getting passed around.

sometimes they come with existing health or behavioral problems (these folks are not known for actually really and truly selling perfect but discounted dogs just to be nice and fulfill some strangers discount shoppers dream.) what if the new owners decide to return the pup? if they are lucky they will get either a full refund or another puppy in exchange. ( i know this is good business, but doesn't this make the puppy a piece of merchandise?)

and what happens to the puppy that is returned and refunded? is it sold again to recoup the loss, sent off to auction to be purchased by a wholesale miller who doesn't care if a sick puppy grows up and spends it's life in a breeding cage? or is it just considered a loss and destroyed and better luck keeping the profit from the next one? how many of these internet puppy sellers actually have a nice sanctuary home for the defective dogs they sell so cheap? i bet not many.

but owners returning defective puppies do not want to know the reality of this multi-billion dollar indusrty. hundreds of thousands of cute little puppies are sold over the internet and each of these very smooth sellers, hides the fact that they are in this for the money. families want to believe that the breeder will do what is right...but really, why should they? they are in the money making not do-righting business.
there were 6,916 hits on this blog in the past 7 days...6,916 opportunities for someone, somewhere to research this issue further and learn a bit more about this on the very same internet. one can only hope.
maybe 1 or 10 or 100 internet puppies out of every ten thousand are sold by good hearted people, but the odds are not good. god, help those poor puppies...a good portion of them are royally screwed.

web search keywords to begin... puppy mills, puppy auctions, internet puppies, backyard breeders, puppy brokers, cheap purebred puppies for sale...it is a whole new world and not a very nice one either.