Reply #110: Good post, LM.

[Lyric]

I have a purebred dog myself, but I was educated enough ahead of time to know what to look for when buying my puppy. Let me use my own experience to illustrate the differences between a responsible breeder and a puppy mill.

--My dog Toby came from a breeder whose female Golden had been bred only twice in her life--once when she was three, and once when she was five--and who will never be bred again. She was (and IS) a companion animal first and foremost. Her name is Lacey, and she is a darling.
--Puppy mill bitches are bred over and over and over until they are worn out, and then they are either killed or tossed aside into rescues and shelters. They are NOT loved companion animals. They are bred early and often, long before their personalities and bodies are mature enough to detect a lot of problems, and they are horribly neglected and unsocialized.

--My breeders were part of a Golden Retriever rescue group--they had five healthy adult dogs on premises, all of whom were INDOORS animals, and three of whom were neutered/spayed rescues. I got to meet my own puppy's Mom AND maternal grandfather (who was neutered at that point,) and was given the name and address of the owner of the stud dog who fathered my puppy in case we wanted to meet him too.
--Puppy mill breeders don't give a damn about keeping the breed healthy. Profit is their primary motivation, and they are more than willing to ignore health problems in order to sell more puppies. Often, their records are falsified, as there are often so many dogs on-premises that even THEY cannot be entirely sure which stud fathered which litter--assuming that they even bother trying to honestly keep track at ALL. Other than with an expensive DNA test, there is no way to truly be sure that a puppy mill's registered "sire" is actually the dog that fathered the litter. In other words--you have no idea what kind of background and genetic history the puppies are inheriting.

--My breeder's puppies were well cared-for, with a room of their own in the basement of a nice house out in the country, and there were no kennels, no cages, and no illness. They were all well-socialized, and had already received some basic training, vaccinations, deworming, and Vet care.
--Puppy mill puppies are hardly cared-for at ALL. They live in cages, often in stinky, dirty, wet, miserable conditions, and receive little to no socialization. Their "vet care" is a laugh--puppy millers who bother to vaccinate and worm *at all* typically just buy large lots of vaccine on the internet and administer the shots at home. Some don't even bother with *that*. If the breed happens to be something like a Rottweiler, where tails are commonly docked, the puppies' tails are crudely cut off either at home by the puppy millers, or by a shady vet who doesn't concern himself with anything more than getting the procedure done and getting paid.

--My breeder interviewed me extensively, did a home visit, spent two hours watching all three of us (including my then-four-year-old) interact with the puppies in *her* home and then in *our* home, and talked to me extensively about the pros and cons of the breed. I then had to wait a week to be "approved," as my breeder contacted my references and sorted through applications to choose homes for her puppies.
--Puppy mill breeders don't give a damn who buys their dogs, or what happens to them afterward. Most owners of puppy mill puppies never even realize where their dog came from, as they probably bought it from a pet store.

--I signed a detailed contract about the puppy's care, and agreed to accept "limited" registration papers so any progeny of our dog cannot be registered with the AKC. If Toby had turned out to be worthy of breeding, then the breeder would have lifted the limits on registration after we presented proof of the OFA hip examinations, because our breeder's group is devoted to getting rid of hip dysplasia within the Golden Retriever breed.
--Puppy millers don't care about the health of the breed. If they sell with limited registration, it isn't for the sake of the breed or of the dog, but only to try and reduce the competition for profits. They have no "noble" ulterior motives. With puppy millers, money comes first, and little else matters at all.

--Most of the time, well-bred puppies from responsible owners are expensive; the costs of the vet care for the pups, prenatal and after-birth care for the Mom, time-consuming in-home puppy care, quality dog supplies, and time spent training are all very high, and the good breeders are NOT making much (if any) profit. My own breeder actually sold at a bit of a loss. I paid a total of $600 for my pet-quality Golden puppy which was far, far less than my breeder had invested into him. The most important return on her investment was to see eight *extremely* healthy Golden pups go to loving, responsible homes, with families who shared her belief in bettering the Golden Retriever breed. She was in it for the sake of the dogs--not for the sake of making money.
--Puppy millers sell their puppies cheap, and there's a good reason for this: with dogs, you get what you pay for. They are fed on dirt-cheap crap food, they receive little to no vet care, they are housed in the cheapest (and often, most inhumane) possible way, and their parents got the same treatment.

Sure, it's less expensive to buy a milled puppy--in the short-term. In the long-term, puppy mill dogs are far more costly, because they often have hidden health problems that don't show up until later. In the four years that we've had Toby, the ONLY vet care he has required are his yearly shots and preventative care. His teeth are perfectly healthy, his joints are in excellent condition, and he has no problem behaviors--like biting, chewing, digging, etc. He's never even had a COLD. How many owners of puppy mill dogs can say the same thing?

Bottom line--mills are not only inhumane in the worst way, but it makes NO financial sense to buy a puppy mill dog. They'll cost you an arm and a leg later on in vet care. It's much wiser (and also more humane) to buy from a responsible breeder who truly cares about the breed.