How to Find a Puppy and Avoid Puppy Mills: Looking at Pet Stores

Some stores, like PetSmart and PetCo, don’t sell puppies. Instead, they work with local rescue groups and humane societies to adopt pets. However, many other pet stores get their puppies from puppy mills.

Puppy mills have breeding dogs that are kept in small kennels with little human contact and minimal health care. I won’t go into details here – I am sure you’ve heard about the recent raids in the midwest, Texas, and Alabama, and you can look up the details elsewhere.

Pet store puppies may be registered, but the lineage isn’t monitored to ensure puppies that will remain healthy. Stores may be willing to treat puppies that are sick when you buy them, but not work with you when a genetic illness develops. They seldom provide other services despite prices being comparable to breeders or humane societies. Purchasing puppies from stores encourages puppies for profit, poor breeding, and the birth of more puppies than there are homes.

Before purchasing a puppy through a pet store, ask to see the paperwork identifying the puppy’s breeder and origins. If they are unwilling to provide this information, find another source. If they show you the paperwork,  puppies shipped from out of state by a broker service are a red flag. Go home and do a little research before considering the puppies.

Sometimes you can find information about the pet store by searching their name along with “puppy mill.” Check the source though, the Internet loves rumors.  Snope the story, or look for information from organizations that do criminal investigations and rescues, such as the Humane Society of the United States and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or local agencies.

Note: This information is also true for kittens and other live animals sold by pet stores. Almost every pet store “pet” including reptiles, birds, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc. have reputable breeders and adoption rescue groups.

Next, private advertising – in the paper, on the Internet, and on the street. Other entries in this series:

• How to Find a Puppy and Avoid Puppy Mills – Puppy Checklist
• Evaluating Breeders
• Through Private Advertisements (next)
• Adopting from Rescue Groups

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