How can you tell if a pet store gets their pets from a puppy mill?

How to Identify puppy farmla dog breeders and backyard breeders.

“Puppy mills are commercial breeding facilities that mass-produce dogs (and cats in cat mills) for sale through pet stores or directly to consumers through classified ads or the Internet. Roughly 90 percent of puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills.” – PAWS – resources puppy mills

PAWS › resources › puppy-mills

As horrible as puppy mills are, the ASPCA estimates that there are still more than 10,000 of them in the United States alone. If you want to make sure that your next puppy isn’t coming from a puppy mill, keep an eye out for the following ten signs:

1. The puppies come from out-of-state – particularly Midwestern states like Missouri and Illinois.
2. The puppy’s parents are not kept in the same facility, and you cannot see them before buying.
3. The breeder wants to meet somewhere else if you request a visit to their facility.
4. The facility offers several different breeds – reputable breeders focus on one or two species.
5. The breeder has multiple litters available at the same time.
6. Neither the parents nor the puppies have been appropriately vaccinated.
7. The breeder makes extreme promises about the puppy’s size, temperament, or other quality.
8. The puppies may smell like a kennel, and they are likely to have low coat quality.
9. The breeder doesn’t ask you to fill out any kind of contract or spay/neuter agreement.
10. The puppy is under eight weeks of age or appears to be much younger than the breeder claims.

Unfortunately, if something on this list is right about the puppy you are thinking about buying, a puppy mill breeder is unlikely, to be honest about it. For example, a puppy mill breeder might offer you papers and a license for your puppy, but if you look more closely, you may be able to tell that it is fake. If at any point the breeder doesn’t appear to be forthcoming about information regarding the puppy, its parents, or the breeding facilities, it is a big red flag. Not only should you avoid buying from this breeder, but you should also report him to the ASPCA or the Humane Society.

Buying a puppy from a pet store is a significant risk for several reasons. For one thing, many of the puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills, and it is straightforward to fake the papers or registration that pet store owners use to convince you that it is not so. If you want a puppy, consider adopting from a shelter or go through a reputable breeder.

10 Signs Your Dog is From a Puppy Mill – PetGuide

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