How do you buy a puppy? Did you enter into a pet shop on a whim and see a cute litle bundle, all fluff and with the cutest pink tongue and little brown eyes? Did you pay the pet shop $500, $300 or $700 for that little fluff-ball?

Or did you research breeds, finding several that would suit you, your family and lifestyle then search for a reputable breeder. Did you contact that breeder and go visit their kennel; whether they had puppies at that time or not; to make sure they had a proper facility?

When you picked your puppy from the assortment at the breeders, were you careful and got the one that looked friendly, played with its siblings, played with you and your family and showed no signs of any illness?

I hope you did the latter. I hope that if you picked a puppy you did the responsible thing and did not spontaneously buy one because it was cute. I hope you thought long and carefully about the purchase.

I always tell first time dog owners to not buy a puppy. I tell them to go to the pound or any rescue operation and find a 2-5 year old female and bring her home. Why would I give first time dog owners such a one-sided, rather harsh piece of advice?

Because most people do not know what in the world they are doing when it comes to “dog shopping”.

I always advocate dog rescue operations, whether it be greyhound, Doberman, pug, poodle. The people that run these operations are incredibly dedicated and usually focus on a single breed. They know this breed inside and out and can, with a few questions, evaluate your family’s lifestyle and determine if this breed is for you. They foster these dogs, eradicate any bad habits they may have, retrain them then rehome.

Pet stores are, in my opinion, the whore houses of animals. These pore creatures, whether they be dogs, cats, birds or lizards, are sold to these stores because they are defective in some way. These are typically unhealthy, poorly bred animals that have been rejected by the breeder for any reason. These puppies, especially, are an embarassment to the breeder and they don’t want anyone to know their dogs produced this puppy. In a litter of say, five, there may be one whose jaw is slightly deformed, legs too long, tail too short, any number of minor things. But to a breeder who wants top dollar for a “perfect” puppy, that little imperfection can reduce not only the price of the puppy, but their reputation. So they sell them cheap to pet stores, who then jack up the price to cover their overhead.

The dog in the photo above is named Dawson. He is absolutely adorable isn’t he? He weighs about 32 pounds, so he’s a nice sized little guy and with a sweet and funny personality. He was NOT purchased from a pet store. Afriend of mine, we’ll call “A” lost her beloved Pomeranian after 14 years. She was grief-stricken and overwhelmed with sadness. She wanted another Pom to replace her little boy who died of congestive heart failure. She did all the right things. “A” looked in the newspaper and on-line for Pomeranian breeders, called a couple of area vets for recommendations and really searched and searched for a new puppy.

She finally found a breeder in Lakeland, FL who advertises on-line. After numerous phone calls, the breeder told her she had a pure white baby boy Pom available for adoption. They haggled a little about the price and came to terms. So she and I and another friend, Sue, took a drive down to Lakeland to see the puppies.

We stopped for breakfst along the way and Sue and I told “A” that whe had to listen to us and not go by the emotion factor. She agreed that we were going to be rational and clear-headed and would pay attention to what we thought.

As soon as we got to the breeder’s house, my alarms went off. Where were the dogs? The breeder took us to the utility room off the carport and opened to door. We all four squeezsed into this tiny closet of a room and behind a piece of cardboard, next to the hot water heater, stood two tiny white puppies. We could hardly stand in there, much less sit down on the floor to play with the pups. But we picked them up, one at a time and they were way too sweet and cute for words, well you know how puppies are!

Sue asked the breeder if she could use her restroom. Visibly uncomfortable about having people in her home, she agreed and let Sue to the bathroom. The breeder waited for Sue to exit and walked her back out. Sue looked around for dogs, crates, beds, kennels…saw nothing that looked like a dog even lived there, much less a kennel operation.

“A” asked the breeder to see the parents. She led “A” to the living room and had her look out the window at two adult Poms in a kennel on the back porch. There were no other puppies or dogs in sight.

When they returned I asked the breeder a series of questions, which she really could not answer:

A. How many puppies were in the litter?

B. How old is the mother dog?

C. Where are the other puppies?

D. Where are your other breeding dogs?

E. Why won’t you let us play with the puppies and their parents together?

F. Why are these puppies so docile?

Sue and I both felt there was something wrong here and we told “A” not to go through with this purchase. We felt the breeder was lying or pulling some kind of con and we were both very uncomfortable.

“A” paid $500 for this puppy in spite of what we told her and in strict contrast to our agreement with her. She was working on sheer emotion and he was a cute, cuddly little teddy bear that was going to mend her broken heart.

During the hour and a half drive home, Dawson sat on the seat next to Sue as quiet as a mouse. He just sat and stared ahead. Most puppies wiggle all over the place and usually get car sick during their first car ride. We got him home and began attending to his needs, and introducing him to the other dogs.

The next day the drug the breeder gave him wore off. We still don’t know what she did to these puppies, but he was so wound up he was bouncing all over the place. He could barely eat a bite of food without running from here to there, jumping, barking, barking, barking. This was more than exuberant puppy behavior. This was psycho.

Dawson was nightmare for me. “A” ws living temporarily with me aqt the time, so I was home with him while she was at work. He and Amber stayed in a play pen when they weren’t out on a walk and he barked incessantly, constantly, for no reason. At night, “A” put him in a crate in her room with her and he sat there, awake all night, staring at her.

Dawson was sold with papers registering him as a pure-bred Pomeranian. Only hitch, it was a CKC registration, (Contenintal Kennel Club) not the AKC (American Kennel Club) which is more strict. The CKC, I’ve been told, will register anything. All you have to do is fill out the paperwork and send in the money and voila! You have a purebred whatever. The AKC is very picky and currently even requires DNA proof of breeds before they will register.

“A”’s purebred Pom grew and grew until he was over 30 pounds. His hyperactivity never diminished andshe had to put him on “doggie-downers” just to get through the day. Her mother told me how unnerving it was to have a dog follow you all over the house, just staring at you constantly. Dawson could not hold still, like a kid with ADD.

I convinced “A” to sue the breeder and get her money back for this GIGANTIC so called Pom she sold her. After a few phone calls and letters to the breekder, “A” did just that. I went to court with her and she agreed to settle ad mediation. I told her the next step was to have a DNA test run on Dawson to see what exactly he consists of, what breeds, because there’s no Pom in him!

Unfortunately, Dawson was rehomed before this could occur. “A” was unable to keep him due to his health issue. He needed a home where there was someone home all day to take him out and give him long walks throughout the day. Not a working woman like “A”.

(Coincidently, I saw him year later at the dog park. Amber Lynn found him and brought him to me. I never was able to find the owner, but I did hear a male voice calling for him -- still named Dawson!)

If “A” had performed a DNA test on Dawson and found what he really was, I wanted to notify the Attorney General’s office and have that breeder shut down. She sells puppies via a puppy mill somewhere, acting as a broker for some sleazy breeder. She plays on peoples emotions and is a liar.

Most breeders are not like this woman. Most are serious about breeding the best dogs they can, they enter their dogs into shows and win awards and ribbons, are careful as to the number of times their females are bred and the age they are first bred. They won’t breed dogs that are not perfect, by AKC standards, and would never, never, never “bait and switch”.

Be careful when you buy a puppy. You may get a gem, or you may get a dud. It is up to you to do the right thing. And please, don’t buy puppies from pet stores. If enough of us refust to do this, they will have to stop selling and if they stop selling, these lying, cheating breeders will go out of business. Lots of little puppies suffer because of this racket. We have to stop it.

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