PLEASE CLICK ON THE DOG ABOVE
Puppy Dealers are crawling out of the woodwork!
With the present economical situation in the US, it seems that quite a lot of unemployed people think they can make a ‘fast buck’ by breeding and/or brokering (selling) dogs. That is rather unfortunate because most, if not all, of these people have no idea what they are doing. Not only what they are doing to the dogs or puppies themselves, taking them away from their siblings and parents much too young (it is quite common to take the puppies away for resale at age 4 or 5 weeks, whereas a reputable breeder would not let his or her puppies leave until they are around 10 – 12 weeks or older ). The brokers/dealers also do not care about what they are doing to the breed itself.
When a person brokers dogs, he or she usually has no interest, nor knowledge in the breed standard of the particular breed(s) he/she is brokering. Their ultimate goal is MONEY and the faster and easier that money is made, with the least effort, the better!!
Unfortunately, apart from telling outright lies, these brokers will give all sorts of ‘health guarantees’ to the unsuspecting buyer, knowing full well that a new owner will under most circumstances rather pay lots of Dollars to get his or her new ‘baby’ healthy than giving it back to the broker, if any health issue comes up. The reason for this is usually that the new owner cannot bring him or herself to give the puppy back to the person who, in the estimation of the new owner, did not take proper care of the puppy in the first place.
I have been told by several puppy buyers, when they asked me for help and advice, “there is no way I could send this puppy back to THAT place, I rather spend however much money it takes to get it healthy”. And that is what these brokers are banking on, the feeling of responsibility and love of the new owner.
No-one can realistically give a health guarantee for ‘hereditary defects’ for any length of time, other than offering to replace a puppy which has shown up with a serious health issue, but letting the new owner keep the affected puppy. A broker, who usually does not know the parent dogs, nor the lines the puppies they broker, come from, gives the health guarantee to make him or herself sound good in the eyes of a prospective buyer. After all, we are not dealing with cars, where it is easy to give any sort of guarantee, we are dealing with a living creature, and this creature carries genes, which could lead to a health concern further down the road, which might only show up when that puppy is more than two or three years old. So what good is a three-year health guarantee from a broker (or pet store), who sell puppies which either come from puppy mills or from backyard breeders?
Brokers coming into the pet market in the USA, and I beg all of my readers, avoid these people and their stores. If you are looking for a puppy – any breed – search online for the link to a breed club’s website, or contact the AKC (http://www.akc.org ) or CKCSC (http://www.ckcsc.org) for referrals. Or go to a dog show in your area and talk in person to breeders of the breed you are interested in. Please don’t go into a pet store – no matter how up-market they appear to be (believe it, their puppies do NOT come from good breeders, no matter what you will be told by the sales associates. No good breeder, no reputable breeder would dream of placing a puppy in such a store for sale!)
Please remember, NO pet store will ever be able to ‘compete’ with private ethical breeders, simply because these stores are not able to obtain top quality puppies, which come from health tested parent dogs from ethical breeders.
The Codes of Ethics of ALL breed clubs (of which almost all breeders are members) prohibit their members to sell any dog or puppy through a broker or a pet store.
BEWARE OF BROKERS / PUPPY DEALERS THAT SELL POOR SHIH TZU PUPPIES FOR
PUPPY MILLS !
Please don't be taken is by Puppy Dealers + Puppy Brokers= PUPPY MILLS !
Please don't buy a puppy from any Commercial Breeder that keeps all their dogs in Rabbit cages until they die ! Yes there are many Commercial breeders with 100 and UP dogs up off the ground in rabbit cages. Any Breeder that uses the Rabbit Cage Kennel System is cruel and inhumane to the poor dogs that are never turned out to run.
If possible go to the breeders home to see how the adult dogs are kept. If you find your self at a place that has 100 dogs , RUN !!! Any breeder that feels the need to own that many dogs is a very greedy person and is only Breeding MISERY for the love of money .
Before you buy from such a person take a good long look at the poor adults that live in a rabbit cage for their entire life and don't know what grass under their feet even feels like . These dogs are afraid when put on the ground and don't know what it's like to run and play in a yard of grass. These dogs don't even know how to go up and down a set of steps.
These Breeders Build their Home Made Kennels off the Rabbit Cage Kennel system . Think about 100 dogs in rabbit cages ! I know people that still run to buy puppies from 100 dog Commercial Breeders where the poor dogs walk on wire rabbit cage floors for the entire life of the dog . Poor dogs never touch the ground for their entire life ! There are many puppy mill that have 50 to 3500 dogs . Sad but very true and type in Puppy Mills to see the puppy Mill States. There is a list of the known puppy mill states.
DO you really want to know what happens to the adult dogs that no longer produce litters and get too OLD after being bred to death ? Most are shot in the head when no longer of use to the Commercial puppy miller that keep these poor dogs in rabbit cages their entire life !
Many commercial kennels don't sell their puppies directly to pet stores - they sell them to brokers who handle the sale to the pet store. When ever you hear about the puppies from pet stores, the first question you should ask is where the parents for that puppy are. What kind of conditions do those dogs live in? Are they in cages for their entire lives - freezing in the winter, sweltering in the summer with little food and no clean water being bred over and over again until they die?
The ( Rabbit Cage ) Corporation is one of the largest, if not the largest, broker of puppies to pet stores. According to newspaper articles, they sold 85,000 puppies in 2002. They buy dogs from commercial kennels across the Midwest and then resell them to pet stores. In their ads they call themselves the "World's Leading Supplier of Quality Puppies" The ad goes on to claim: "State of the art facilities offering constant attention to health, care and comfort of every puppy ... pioneering delivery system with continuous fresh air exchange, constant temperature, purified drinking water, sanitary compartments, air ride for animal stress reduction" The ads never mention the parents of the puppies. They never say anything about the conditions in which they live. They never talk about purified water for them. Or fresh air. Or comfort. They do not address the issue of keeping dogs in cages for their entire lives. Is there anyone, who doesn't work for the kennel industry, in this country who supports keeping dogs in cages?
The so called RABBIT CAGE Corporate, as a broker of puppies to pet stores, is covered under the Animal Welfare Act which is enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture. We submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the USDA for copies of the loans given to The 9RABBIT CAGE ) Corporation. What we got back was a pile of papers that were mostly redacted. We have tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together from the information we were able to read. What it indicates is that the (RABBIT CAGE) Corporation has received at least 2 Rural Development Business and Industry Loans from the USDA. It appears that the company originally asked for 750k on July 5, 2000 but increased that amount to 2.8 million. That loan is due in 2020. Then in September 17, 2001 they received another loan for 900k which is due in 2008. They may have received earlier loans in 1996. According to the loan documents, these 3.5 million dollar loans were secured by accounts receivable and inventory. The papers say that in 2002 (RABBIT CAGE ) Corporation had 150 employees and 26 million dollars in sales. So the same agency that is charged with inspecting kennels and brokers is the same agency that underwrote 3.5 million dollars in loans to a business it inspects. How can this possibly be acceptable?
