Your home is ready to welcome some puppy dog eyes. The cuteness. The mischief. The love. Every family needs a dog, so before you search puppies for sale near me, consider what you’re buying into.
Not all puppies come from a happy home. So how do you avoid a puppy mill (or puppy farm)? How do you know that the little pup selling online comes from a cruelty-free home? Here’s what you need to know about puppy mills, backyard breeders, reputable breeders and rescue dogs.
Puppy Farms – also known as Puppy Mills
These are intensive breeding sites where the mothers are usually kept in pens or cages (think factory farming of pigs) and kept pregnant for prolonged periods. The mothers are considered a product and treated as such. This may mean that they’re malnourished, denied vet care (despite many having physical and mental health problems) and may live in their own waste.
Dogs as a commodity
With purebred puppies selling upwards of $2000 each, and mothers producing 6 or more puppies a litter, puppy mills make big profits on their breeding dogs – until they don’t. When a breeder dog’s fertility slows or overbreeding results in problem pregnancies, the dogs are often simply put down (or in some horrific cases, slaughtered or shot). If they’re lucky, these poor girls are surrendered to a dog rescue organisation where we take them in, provide them long overdue health care, training and love.
Puppies for sale from puppy mills
Puppies for sale from puppy mills may have health issues as a result of malnutrition in the womb or inbreeding practices. Each breed of dog has its own common health issues – be it bad joints (generally bigger dogs) or brachycephalic complications (think Bulldogs and Cavvies) or any of a host of issues that come from prolonged mating within a single breed.
Professional breeders track the pedigree of each puppy they sell. This isn’t just about winning shows, but to ensure that the parents don’t possess genetic traits associated with known health issues.
Puppy mills will do no such thing. What does it mean for your beloved puppy? It could mean tens of thousands of dollars in vet bills treating preventable disease, mental or physical disability or even premature death. It may not be until your puppy is a fully fledged dog that these problems kick in.
How to avoid a puppy farm puppy
You walk into a puppy shop, and there are big pens filled with purebred puppies across multiple breeds. Yes, they’re adorable – but they’re also wrapped in big red flags.
Multiple breeds at a single location (ethical, reputable pet shops aside) may be a sign that the store sells puppy mill puppies. When searching for pure bred puppies for sale near you, be very careful going to a puppy shop.
When you see the puppies, look for puppy acne – a rash that appears on the pup’s skin that may indicate they’ve been kept in a dirty pen. Puppies that are lethargic or fearful may also be displaying signs of poor origin.
Important questions to ask before buying a puppy
If the seller passes these first few tests, dig a little deeper by asking the following questions.
- Can I meet the mother? This will allow you to see the conditions in which the puppy was bred.
- Have you met the mother? If meeting the mother yourself isn’t possible, ask the seller where they acquired the puppy and do some online research.
- Do you have a history of health checks? Most sellers will provide some vet records to show that the pup has been vaccinated and checked. Before you buy, call the vet and check in on the breeder.
- How often do you get new litters? If they’re advertising puppies for sale every week, then there’s a system in place for guaranteeing puppies will be available. This is a big red flag.
- How old are these puppies? We know everyone loves baby animals, but puppies shouldn’t be removed from their mothers before eight weeks for their health and well-being. Shady puppy sellers like them young because the younger the dog, the longer the shelf life of new puppy cuteness.
- Is there a breeder contract? Most reputable breeders will have a contract that dictates how you must treat the dog. This may include your agreement to desex the dog before its first birthday. This is to protect the breeder’s bloodlines and also to make sure you’re not planning to start a puppy mill yourself.
- Does the puppy come with a breeder certificate? If the answer is no, ask for the breeder’s registration number. All breeders must be registered. If the seller won’t provide this, consider carefully whether this is the puppy for you.
- Can I return this puppy after a vet check? Most vets will do a free or low-cost vet check on new puppies to make sure they aren’t showing obvious signs of disease or disability. If the seller won’t allow for returns, then you’ve likely found a poorly bred pup. Note that not all genetic issues can be detected in puppies, and many are impossible to uncover without advanced testing.
Rescue Dogs from puppy farms
For large-scale dog rescues like Labrador Rescue or the RSPCA, puppy mill dogs are, unfortunately, among our bigger (and most expensive) clients. Like the RSPCA, Labrador Rescue is contracted by councils to intervene and remove puppy mill dogs if the breeder has been deemed cruel or in contravention of local laws. The process is sometimes harrowing for our volunteers. We’ve seen dogs experiencing unimaginable cruelty. It stays with you.
Rehabilitation of puppy mill dogs
Our volunteers collect the dogs (sometimes driving across country) and distribute them to our many carers. The carers then work with our saintly vets (see our list of Australia’s best vets) to get a full health check. This usually involves desexing, removal of teeth (overbreeding causes weak teeth and dogs may chew at their cages from stress), skin and joint care and an array of tests and treatments that can take months to complete.
Read Some of Our Success Stories
During that time, our foster families work on the psychological damage that puppy mills do. We check for any signs of abuse and aggression (note that we do not rehome any dog that displays signs of aggression). We help the dogs regain confidence, we toilet and lead train, and we teach them what being a pet means. In some cases, we can even teach these girls to play as most have never learned what playing means.
The process is extremely expensive and takes an experienced foster carer to manage. That’s why we’re always looking for foster families – don’t worry, newbies always get the easy dogs! Learn how to become a dog foster carer.
We’re a not-for-profit run 100% by volunteers, so when you donate to our dog rescue organisation, 100% of your donation goes directly to helping dogs in crisis.
Puppies for sale from backyard breeders vs professional breeders
Anyone can get a breeder’s license. In fact, if you’ve got a non-desexed female dog, your local council may insist on it. Anyone can list puppies for sale on online marketplaces – and that’s where you’re likely to find these pups.
The accidental backyard breeder
Not all backyard breeders intend to be. Even loving and responsible dog owners can find their cheeky girl has managed to escape, only to return home pregnant – unfortunately, they don’t cover contraception at puppy pre-school! The chances she met up with another pure-bred are slim, and that typically means that accidental backyard breeders won’t have purebred puppies for sale. Instead, they’ll have mixed-breed puppies and a date locked in for desexing their dog. Lesson learned.
You will usually find these puppies listed for sale by the RSPCA or local animal shelter. The dog owner has little knowledge of breeding, so they approach a local organisation to handle their safe rehoming – no profit involved.
The profit-making backyard breeder
With puppies selling for $2000 or more, there’s been a rise in backyard breeders across Australia – and these ones operate like a puppy mill, just on a much smaller scale. The owners are deliberately breeding for the money, usually without knowledge of the breed and best breeding practices. They may enter into backyard breeding, imagining a giant profit, but between the vet bills, the time, and the mess (a litter of puppies is a messy experience), the profits are lower than anticipated. This can lead to poor vet care and poor general care for the dogs. Placement of these dogs also goes to the person with enough money. This leads to “bad matches” between the dog’s personality and the adoptive family’s needs. We rescue so many labrador retrievers simply because they were badly placed. These dogs may or may not be beloved family pets – but in the end, they’re also being used to generate income.
If you’ve found a purebred puppy for sale on an online marketplace, you may be dealing with a backyard breeder. So how do you know if they’re a proper breeder or not?
Purebred puppies for sale on Gumtree?
If a local is selling purebred puppies on Gumtree or similar, you’ve found your first backyard breeder red flag. Like puppy mills, you should ask all the questions above, and check out the mother’s condition, the living conditions, and the vet check information. Then ask about the sire and dame. Not just who the parents are, but their genetic history. If the answers aren’t specific, you’ve got your next red flag. If purebred puppies are sold on these random marketplaces, it could also be that the puppies don’t meet a breeder’s standards and they want to “be rid of them” without damaging their kennel’s reputation. Be careful buying puppies for sale on low-reputation marketplaces.
How professional breeders operate
The difference between a professional breeder and a backyard breeder is in the quality of the puppy. Professional breeders carefully choose the parents to ensure healthy puppies. Backyard breeders tend to breed the same pair over and over, regardless of their health and genetic traits.
- Professional breeders will have detailed information on the sire and dame, their ancestry and health information. If the seller doesn’t have a detailed family tree (often kept with pride), you might not be dealing with a professional.
- Professional breeders will provide a breeder contract that you must sign, agreeing to standards of care (and possible desexing) of the dog.
- Professional breeders tend to list their dogs on specialised marketplaces – not Gumtree or social media – because their dogs have a reputation for excellence and are in demand.
- Professionally bred dogs may be more expensive than backyard-bred dogs as the dame and sire are of high pedigree, and their health care, food quality, and lifestyle are excellent.
Vet checks for private sales are still essential
Nothing ruins a professional breeder’s reputation like a batch of puppies who don’t meet pedigree expectations. If a dame produces puppies that have poor scores for mobility or other issues, they may sell them off quietly. So, never, ever skip the vet check – even if you’re confident that your new puppy has been ethically sourced.
Puppies vs Dogs
Fun fact – most of our foster carers choose dogs over puppies when they put their hand up to foster. We have a team of over a hundred foster carers, and they all know the intricacies of dog and puppy care. They choose dogs. Every time. Become a foster carer who prefers to train up puppies to mature dogs and we’ll love you forever! Puppies are cute. There’s no way to deny the utter cuteness of a puppy. And you might want to raise your dog YOUR way, so you choose puppies for sale rather than dogs.
Learn More About Labradors As Pets.
But don’t forget that puppies are a full-time responsibility. In the same way that leaving a toddler unsupervised can quickly lead to mischief, puppies can become very naughty when their humans aren’t home to care for them. Unless you’re ready to invest a lot of time in training and caring for your new puppy, a dog may be a better choice.
How to get the right dog
When you adopt a dog from a reputable rescue organisation, the dog’s behaviours, health, and personality have been carefully assessed. The foster carer has spent weeks, or even months, with the dog, preparing them to be the best family member they can be.
Our process means you get the right dog. In fact, we narrow down the list for every dog to the top ten suitable forever homes, out of hundreds of applications. We go to extreme efforts to make sure you get the dog you want. We’re proud of our successful adoption rates. We’re proud that our hundred-strong team of volunteers work so tirelessly to find happy stories for dogs in crisis. You can be part of that story.
So before you search puppies for sale near me, check out our available dogs for adoption.