Pet Shop Puppies: Buying a Puppy From a Pet Store

Every pet shop that sells puppies will assure you, solemnly, that their puppies are different. Their puppies don't come from puppy mills, but from fine local breeders. Pillars of the community, in fact.

The reality is that responsible breeders will never place one of their puppies in a pet shop or anywhere else for resale or consignment. Never, ever, ever. Any breeder who has placed their puppy in a pet shop to be sold has immediately disqualified himself as a responsible breeder.

WHY?

Because, as commercial establishments, pet shops are required to sell a puppy to anyone who can pay. Legally, they are not allowed to "screen" buyers for suitability. Responsible breeders wouldn't be able to sleep at night wondering which of their puppies might have gone to an unsuitable home and was not being properly cared for.

But my pet shop says...

The pet shop industry has manuals and trade journals that teach pet shop owners and employees exactly what to say to persuade you to buy. Their marketing ploys include:

"We buy only from local breeders."

What difference does this make? Whether a breeder is local or lives in Timbuktu, whether he has produced only one litter or many -- if he has placed his puppies in a pet shop, his breeding practices are irresponsible. Geographical location makes no difference at all.

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"We buy only from USDA-licensed breeders."

USDA stands for the United States Department of Agriculture. Their business is supposed to be livestock. They know little or nothing about dogs. As long as a breeder's paperwork is in order, the facilities are disinfected, cages are a minimum size, and no infectious diseases such as distemper are immediately obvious, the kennel passes.

The USDA has not the slightest interest in...

• whether the breeder knows anything about his breed
• whether the dogs used for breeding look like their breed
• whether the dogs used for breeding act like their breed
• whether the dogs used for breeding are free of genetic health problems such as hip dysplasia, eye diseases, or heart defects.

USDA Breeder is a label to stay away from. The only reason someone would apply for this license is to crank out lots of puppies.

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"Health guaranteed!"

This "reassuring" platitude is how pet shops and irresponsible breeders seek to get around the expenses of genetic testing.

They offer to replace defective puppies rather than avoiding them in the first place by requiring their "wonderful" breeders to do genetic health tests on any parent dog used for breeding.

Let's look at it from the PUPPY'S point of view. Guarantees don't help a puppy at all. You get your money back, while the puppy still has to live with the genetic health problem that could have been avoided -- if his breeder had been seeking to produce healthy lives rather than seeking to keep his expenses down by avoiding genetic health testing.

We're talking about quality of life here. Don't support any breeder or pet shop who cares so little about the future life of their puppies that they do not require genetic health testing of the parents, in breeds where such health problems are virtually an epidemic.

Pet shops aren't too worried about their "guarantees", by the way. They don't have to honor many of them because most genetic health problems don't show up for six months or a year or two years. Either the guarantee has expired by then, or most people won't return a dog they've had for that long.

Not just HEALTH problems

Obedience instructors and canine behavioral consultants will be happy to tell you about the temperament and behavior problems that develop in many pet shop puppies as they grow up.

Most pet shop puppies start out playful and friendly, but as they mature, their genes begin to assert themselves. If their parents or grandparents had shy or aggressive or hyperactive temperaments, those genes will show up during adolescence and adulthood.

Many pet shop puppies are nippy. Some were removed from their mother before 7 weeks of age, a critical period of time where she teaches them "bite inhibition." Some have learned to nip from interacting with so many potential owners wandering through the pet shop, including kids who tug and play roughly. Most of these potential owners thought the nipping was cute, didn't correct the puppy for it, and so the habit becomes entrenched.

Finally, raised in a small cage in which they're encouraged to eliminate freely, pet shop puppies are notoriously difficult to housebreak.

The major reason not to buy -- supporting the industry

You may wish to "rescue" a pet shop puppy. That's completely understandable. We all feel sorry for them.

But your good intentions will backfire, because you are feeding the industry by rewarding it with money.

You've emptied one cage, yes -- which creates demand for yet another litter to be produced to fill that cage. Even if you're very, very lucky, and your one individual puppy turns out okay, a large percentage of the others will not -- and YOU provided the incentive for them to be born by buying the one who came before them.

So what seems like a simple, isolated purchase actually contributes to:

• The misery of adult females who spend their lives in a cage, being bred again and again to provide puppies that you and others can buy

• The misery of these future puppies born with health and temperament problems

• The misery of future families who buy these puppies and then try to cope with the health and temperament problems

• The misery of animal rescue groups trying to deal with the flood of pet shop puppies dumped on their doorstep because families gave up on the health and temperament problems

I hope it's clear that when you buy one of those cute puppies in the pet shop window, you buy more than the puppy. You buy the budding physical and behavioral problems created by the bad genes passed on by untested parents whom you never get to see and evaluate. Worse than that, you buy into a profit-hungry industry that is hurting innocent animals. Simply out of good conscience, a pet shop should not be anyone's choice as a source for a puppy.

AKC Registered Puppies:
Are "AKC Papers" Important?

At some point, if you're talking to an unknowledgeable breeder or a proud new (unknowledgeable) owner, you might hear something like this: "This puppy even comes with AKC papers and a pedigree!!"

They expect you to respond with an awed whistle.

Here's a better response: "O yay."

"But I thought AKC registration papers--"

You thought AKC registration meant good quality. Nope.

The truth is...

• The AKC will register any puppy whose parents are already registered.
• The AKC registered those parents because their parents were already registered.
• And the AKC registered their parents because...
• You get the idea.

Registration is a mechanical process, a chain of numbers.

1. You send the AKC money.

2. If the owners of your puppy's parents and grandparents were all good doobies who kept the chain intact by sending in their own money, the AKC will insert your puppy's name into their database, too.

3. They will send you a piece of paper with a number on it. Voila...she's registered.

"But what about a pedigree? Doesn't that mean something?"

Send more money, and the AKC will access their database again. It will spit out the names of your puppy's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, as many generations as you're willing to pay for. Voila -- her pedigree.

That's all a pedigree is -- a list of names.

Registration papers and pedigrees don't tell you a single thing about a dog other than its place in the chain of names.

To get registration papers or a pedigree, a dog doesn't have to meet any qualifications of health, temperament, behavior, or sound structure.

None whatsoever. A dog can be purple, sickly, aggressive, obese, ears pointing every which way -- and the AKC will give them the same kind of registration number they give to the Best of Breed winner at the Westminster Kennel Club show.

"Good grief! And here I thought AKC registered meant good!"

Don't be fooled. Registration papers don't suggest quality in a dog any more than they suggest quality in a car. Does buying a "registered" car mean it won't be a clunker? Of course not!

In fact, registration papers suggest quality in cars more than in dogs, because in most states a car can only be registered if it has passed a smog check or a mechanical safety check. The AKC registers dogs with no health or safety checks at all.

Every year, thousands of AKC registered litters are produced. The majority of them are of poor quality -- because good quality would require the breeder to have some knowledge of genetics and to spend money on genetic health testing -- and most people who have litters know nothing about this and wouldn't be bothered doing it even if they did know.

Hopefully you will never again
make the mistake of thinking that the
existence of AKC papers or a pedigree
has anything whatsoever to do
with a dog's quality.

"But papers at least guarantee that a dog is purebred, right?"

Boy, I'm really beginning to feel like the bearer of bad news!

Being purebred has nothing to do with registration papers. Being purebred simply means that a puppy and all of his ancestors going back many generations have the same set of fixed genes.

Fixed genes can be counted on to reproduce traits such as size, coat, color, etc. Having fixed genes is what makes a dog purebred. The presence or absence of registration papers has no effect whatsoever on genes.

In fact, if a dog DOESN'T have those fixed genes, he isn't purebred -- even he HAS registration papers!

What???

It's true. A puppy can have registration papers that are false. Most registries, such as the AKC, operate on the honor system. They simply take the breeder's word for it that "King" and "Queen" were really the parents of "Solomon."

But scams happen all the time. Let's say someone has a purebred female Boxer and a purebred male Boxer. Both have registration papers. Unfortunately, the female is accidentally bred by the mixed breed male down the street. When the litter arrives, a dishonest person could fill out the litter registration paperwork -- claiming that his BOXER was the father. The AKC will dutifully send him a bunch of individual registration papers for each puppy, which he will happily pass along to the new owners of each puppy. No one will be the wiser until the puppies grow up and start to look suspiciously non-Boxerish.

Fortunately, the AKC has a new DNA testing program where participating breeders submit DNA samples of parents and puppies, which conclusively proves parentage. If you want to be sure of who your puppy's parents really are, look for breeders who participate in this program.

Always remember that GENES make a dog purebred. The presence or absence of registration papers doesn't change the genes inside a dog. He can be purebred without having papers -- and sadly, he can have papers without really being purebred.

"So are papers and pedigrees worth anything at all?"

In the hands of responsible, knowledgeable breeders, oh, yes.

It is extremely important for breeders to check pedigrees to be sure they're not breeding together closely-related dogs. And before they breed two dogs together, responsible breeders check out the temperament, health, and physical build of as many ancestors on the pedigree as they can track down. This information is crucial in deciding how to match up breeding partners.

"Should I buy a purebred puppy without a pedigree?"

I wouldn't. How will you find out whether your puppy's parents and grandparents were too closely related? Show breeders who have not kept up on canine genetics are still not aware of how unwise it is to breed together closely-related dogs. You'll see a lot of inbred and "linebred" puppies offered by show breeders.

And people who just stuck their male and female together without doing any research on their background may have unwittingly bred together closely-related dogs.

When there are good breeders who care enough to do research before breeding, why reward a lazy person who decides it's not important because "they're just pets?"

You have as much right to a well-bred, genetically healthy puppy as anyone else. Rewarding an ignorant breeder with money only encourages him to do the same thing again.

So you want papers and a pedigree with a purebred puppy --
not because their presence indicates a high-quality dog,
but because their ABSENCE indicates an unknowledgable breeder.

Adopting a Dog From the Animal Shelter

Each evening, you pass the animal shelter on your way home from work. Their sign pleads, "Save a life. Adopt one of our dogs!"

Should you consider adopting a dog from the animal shelter?

An important consideration for many prospective owners is money. Shelter dogs cost $50 to $100, a far cry from the $400 to $1500 asked by breeders.

But what kind of dog will you be getting for fifty bucks?

• Maybe the best dog in the world.
  
• Maybe the worst dog in the world.

The biggest disadvantage of animal shelters and humane societies is the unpredictability of what you'll find inside on any given day.

Why dogs are dropped off at the animal shelter

Some dogs at the shelter DO have behavior problems.

• "He's not housebroken."
• "He barks too much."
• "He digs holes in our garden."
• "He chews things up when we leave him alone."
• "He keeps climbing over the fence."
• "He's not good with our cats."
• "He's not good with our other dogs."
• "He's not good with our kids."
• "He bit me."

Many owners CAUSED their dog's behavior problems by not being home enough, by leaving their dog outdoors, by not providing enough exercise, or by not assuming the leadership role and teaching their dog how to be a good follower. If a new owner provides these things, many "problem" dogs change their tune very quickly and make great companions.

Some dogs are there because they got lost and were never reclaimed.

Some dogs are there because they developed a health problem that their owner didn't want to (or couldn't afford to) deal with. They might need a special diet, or insulin shots, or daily pills, or surgery to fix something.

Some dogs are there because...

• "He's too big. We didn't know he would get so big."
• "He sheds too much."
• "Our landlord says no dogs."
• "My child is allergic to him."
• "Our other dog doesn't like him."
• "He needs too much exercise."
• "I'm getting a full time job."
• "We have a new baby. I don't have time for a dog."
• "I'm getting married and my new spouse doesn't like dogs."

And some dogs are there simply because they committed the cardinal sin of growing old. They can't get around so well anymore, they can't see or hear so well, or they're just "no fun" anymore. Sad, isn't it? Especially when older dogs can be so calm, peaceful, and well-behaved, which may be exactly what you're looking for!

The dog of your dreams could be sitting in there right now, hoping someone will give him a chance to prove what a wonderful companion he is.

But you need to keep your eyes open -- not just your heart!

Adopting a Dog From Dog Breed Rescue

Rescue groups, unlike animal shelters and humane societies, usually don't have a central location where dogs are housed for the public to come see.

Instead, a rescue group is a small group of dedicated dog lovers who maintain a network of temporary foster homes. When a dog is turned over to a rescue group, he is placed into a foster home for an evaluation period. The foster family provides health care and basic training while the rescue group searches for the right permanent home.

Some rescue groups specialize in one breed (like Pug Rescue of Sacramento). Others offer several related breeds (Northeast All Retriever Rescue). Still others offer all breeds, crosses, and mixes.

Advantages of rescue groups over animal shelters

• A rescue dog, as opposed to an animal shelter dog, has been evaluated in a home setting, so the foster family can usually tell you quite a bit about the dog's habits and behaviors. They know if he's housebroken, if he barks a lot, if he likes children, if he gets along with other dogs and cats.

• A rescue dog has usually received some housebreaking, socialization, and training from the foster family.

• A rescue dog will always be spayed or neutered, and has had any health problems treated (or at least diagnosed and treatment begun).

Disadvantages of rescue groups

• It can be DIFFICULT to adopt a dog from a rescue group. You have to fill out a lengthy questionnaire, submit to an interview, provide references, and often allow a visit to your home, as though you were trying to adopt a child. Rescue people try to be very careful with their dogs, so their adoption requirements are often strict.

• It's usually more expensive ($100 to $400) to adopt a dog from a rescue group than from an animal shelter or humane society. But keep in mind that the rescue group has neutered the dog, treated health problems, started a flea and heartworm preventative program, provided grooming, and invested time and effort in basic training. Rescue groups do NOT make money -- indeed, their adoptions fees don't even begin to cover their costs.

keeping pet insuranse down

keeping pet insuranse down

If you are like many, you have pets in your home. The most common animal to own is a dog, followed closely by the cat. As a pet owner, you understand the importance of keeping your pet healthy and most likely, try to keep them healthy so you don’t have enormous bills from the veterinary. The fact is the price of tests and treatments for pets are extremely high and are in close relation to those that are done on humans. Pet insurance can help you to keep those bills down
As technology has advanced, so has the treatment for pets. Instead of being euthanized, pets are now being treated for kidney disease, cancer, and other once-fatal diseases. Treatments are being done on pets, such as radiation therapy, that were once only received by humans. However, the cost of these treatments are expensive and can range from $1,000 to as much as $6,000 or more, depending upon the length and plan of treatment.

Pet insurance is available to you for your pet that will help deter the cost of these expensive tests and treatments to help prolong your animal’s life. However, the cost of pet insurance can be expensive, as well. The following information will help you keep the cost of your pet insurance at a low-cost.

Shop Around
Just like any other insurance, you will want to shop around for your pet insurance. You’ll want to analyze the monthly and annual cost of the insurance, as well as co-payments and deductibles. If you have more than one pet, you’ll want to find a provider that will offer you a discount for multiple pets. You will also want to make certain you understand exactly what the policy does and does not cover for your pet.

Clinics
If you find that your pet insurance does not cover preventive measures, such as rabies shots, check out clinics in your location. They will often offer a rabies vaccination clinic for those who can not afford to pay the office visit to get their pet’s the necessary shots. They will offer you low-cost vaccinations for your pet.

Medications
If your pet is required to be on medications and you find your pet insurance simply doesn’t cover enough of the cost, shop around for cheaper medications and supplies for your pets. There are several online stores that offer medications for pets at a discount that may be cheaper than what you are required to pay through your insurance.

Preventive Measures
There are several things you can do to make certain you do not have to use the pet insurance on your pet. One of the most important things you can do is to keep your pet on a leash or inside. Many pet owners are glad they have pet insurance if their pet gets hit by a car or injured outside, however, if you prevent an accident from happening, you’re one step ahead of the game. Another thing you can do is to make certain your pet is being fed properly. Pet insurance is often used due to a pet not being fed properly and developing medical conditions due to their diet. You’ll find out that by watching your pet’s weight will also help to prevent certain health problems in your pet, as well.

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