There are so many sources to find a puppy for your family!!!
1. Shelters & Rescues. Yes, please check your local shelters and rescues for a puppy FIRST! There are so many pets that are waiting for you to give them a wonderful home. We support all of our local rescues and ask that you check them FIRST before looking online.
2. AKC.COM - Obviously I'm going to recommend you shop on www.AKC.org!! I highly recommend buying a purebred puppy, because there's so many people mixing breeds for "designer dogs", finding a purebred puppy is becoming difficult!
3. A Pet Store. This is NOT recommended as an option. These establishments utilize puppy mills as a source of product. And that's exactly how puppy mills and pet stores see these puppies, as a product. Not to mention, they are SERIOUSLY over priced, as many offer the option to get a LOAN to buy one. Please do not support establishments, unless of course they have one of your local rescues inside to find homes for their lost pets!
4. Puppy mills / Puppy brokers.
*A puppy MILL is a breeder who keeps their pets out back in a barn or other building. You won't find them in their home or yard. If you question if they're a puppy mill, ask to see the parents of your puppy IN PERSON or on VIDEO. If they deny you that option, then how do you know what your puppy will look like as an adult? Also, puppy mill breeders aren't spending ANY time socializing their puppies. Chances are, they are kept in a cage for most of their day. :(
*Puppy BROKERS are middleman dealers who obtain puppies from breeders and puppy mills and then transport and resell them. They are simply advertising puppies for high volume breeders. You'll never see (in person) the parents of your puppy nor know where and how they were raised. Please avoid these if possible.
5. Scam webpages. Yes, these are all over the internet. No one WANTS to buy from them, but they're very good at disguising themselves as having actual puppies by stealing pictures and putting fake addresses online.
a) When you do a Google search for a breed of puppy, don't click on the PAID ADS. Scammers spend some of the money they steal from prior "sales" on advertising for their next victims!
b) When you are talking to a prospective breeder, ALWAYS ask for their vets name and phone number. Any legitimate breeder can and will give this information out when asked and know that if you call their vet, they will give you a GLOWING review!
c) If you question whether a breeder is legit, ask them to video call with you. See the puppy before sending ANY money!
d) Ask for prior puppy family referrals. Obviously, a scammer won't have the ability to do this.
e) If the price is too good to be true.....yes, it probably IS too good to be true. This is a common tactic for scammers.
6. Legitimate Responsible home BREEDERS!!
How to know if you've found one?
They have a business page on social media, or their own website, that shows pictures of all their pets and previous litters.
They will allow you to call and/or meet them in person and meet the parents of your puppy! **there's a slight caveat to this, as some breeders don't allow strangers into their homes for bacterial and parasitic reasons (to avoid parvo). But we just ask that shoes be off and hands to be sanitized prior to entering.
They will have done DNA testing on their dogs or have AKC registrations to prove you are getting the breed that they claim they are selling.
Ask the breeder their full name!! Do a background check on them online. Google them!!
They should ask you a LOT of questions about you!! They'll have an application or an interview process to discover how their puppy would live, should you adopt one of their babies. Legitimate breeders CARE about the homes they put their puppies into.
WHAT DO WE OFFER AS A BREEDER FOR A PUPPY FOR YOU?
We are with our puppies 24/7. This isn't a part time job, at all!! We don't get a vacation, we've missed family holidays if a mother is due to go into labor, and we spend every day playing with, holding, socializing, grooming and loving our dogs and puppy litters!
Knowlege is Power! We spent years preparing to become a breeder! Buying books, watching videos and webinars, joining online groups, building a circle of breeder friends who can help with advice when those special situations arise!! The education is ongoing, every day!
Yes, we are fully aware that $1500-$2000 is a LOT of money! Please know that most of that goes back into our program. We spend a lot of money on dog and puppy food, DNA tests, grooming supplies (professional grade brushes, combs, clippers, dryers, scissors, nail clippers, ear cleaners, eye drops, dental equipment), vet bills (shots, ER visits, and c-sections happen. They are a minimum of $2000), we own an ultrasound machine, a doppler (to hear heartbeats before and during labor), oxygen tanks, an incubator, heat pads, whelping boxes, lactated ringers for dehydrated puppies, security cameras in every room and outdoor area, deworming medications, toys, microscope for stool samples, shampoos, laundry expenses and professional cleaning supplies for our main play room and home for our dogs, and we buy many things for our puppy starter bags to send home with our litters!
THIS IS A LABOR OF LOVE. Not a money making scheme at all. Being a breeder is our life LEGACY! If you count JUST the 8 weeks of life that we have a puppy (this doesn't count the 63 days of special care and feeding for the pregnant mother), if we only account for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 8 weeks, that's 448 hours. A purebred Maltese puppy, we are making $4.46/hour (2000/448). For a Malshi, that's $2.35/hr (1500/448). To the government, being a breeder is a HOBBY which means we cannot write any of our expenses off! It's awful, I know!
We are with your puppy from it's first breath until we hand it to you on puppy pick up day. From the day of deposit, you are a new member of OUR family! We will update you with pictures, videos and weights. We set up visitation days if you live close enough and will answer any and all questions you have about their parents and the breed behavior and health tendencies. Once you take your new baby home, we will be asking YOU for pictures and updates from then on! We love seeing how happy our new families are and how loved our puppies are in their forever homes. :)
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