Puppy
Mills and Backyard Breeders and Reputable Breeders
DOG BREEDERS, TERMINOLOGY
AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES
PUPPY MILL
A large-scale commercial
breeding facility with many different breeds of dogs. Sells primarily to retail
pet shops (usually via a broker), but occasionally sells directly to individual
consumers. Dogs are bred solely for profit, with no concern for their physical
health or psychological well-being - most are disease-ridden; all are
force-bred continuously. Often uses "Kennels" or "Farms" in
its business
name. Dogs' and puppies'
squalid living conditions are off-limits to the public. There are more
than 4,000 puppy mills in the United States producing more than half a
million puppies a year. See the literature for a detailed description.
BACKYARD BREEDER
A scaled-down version of
commercial puppy mills, operating on residential property, with fewer (usually
no more than three) different breeds of dogs. Living conditions are as squalid
as puppy mills. Sells to pet shops and to individual consumers (from a
"clean room" on the premises), relying on newspaper
advertising for the latter.
May pass itself off as a benign little "mom & pop" home-based
enterprise, but just like its puppy mill counterpart, breeds not for quality
but strictly for the money. Note: Because of growing public awareness of the
horrors of puppy mills, many pet shops now claim their puppies come from
"loving & caring private breeders." These are the for-profit
backyard breeders. Reputable breeders never use pet shops as a middleman. For
the most part unlicensed, unregulated, and likely to be operating in secrecy
(for-profit breeding on residential-zoned property is illegal in most
localities), it can only be estimated that there are tens of thousands of
backyard breeders in the U.S.
HOBBY BREEDER
An individual or family who
breeds the family pet from time to time, not necessarily or primarily for money
but presumably for love of the breed or love of their particular dog. Puppies
are given away or sold to friends and acquaintances, or to strangers via ads in
local newspapers. When homes can't be found for the entire litter, the
remaining puppies may end up at a pet shop, either taken on consignment or
purchased outright from the hobby breeder. Once in possession of such
"quality" home-bred animals, the pet shop (or the stranger) may in
turn sell them to puppy mills or backyard breeders for use as future breeding
stock (Some of the puppies may actually be mixed-breed.).
ACCIDENTAL BREEDER
Just that. Failure to
spay/neuter the family pet. Education and/or access to affordable spay/neuter
services usually "fixes" the problem. The majority of mixed-breed
dogs are the result of "accidental" breeding. [This category also
includes "collectors," who, for pathological reasons, never
spay/neuter or take proper care of their pets.]
Warning
Puppy mill operators and
backyard breeders routinely purchase quantities of Pedigree Puppy Certificates
from the AKC. In April 2000, it was revealed in a nationally televised exposé
of the puppy mill/pet shop industry that the AKC unquestioningly registered
(for its $20 fee) the birth of a non-existent litter of eight puppies
("born" to a spayed female and a long-dead male), and issued with no
hesitation its highly prized Pedigree Puppy Certificates ($27 apiece) to two
13-year-old cats - proving once and for all, beyond any doubt, the absolute
worthlessness of that "prized" piece of AKC paper.
REPUTABLE or
RESPONSIBLE BREEDER
An individual who breeds one
or two specific breeds for "quality of the breed"
("quality" according to breeding-industry standards, which in the
United States most often means AKC standards…these breeders typically also
exhibit their dogs. Puppies are either (a) "show quality" (a
relatively infrequent occurrence, with characteristics that generally aren't
discernable to the breeder until the puppy is several months to a year old), or
(b) "pet quality." The reputable breeder sells puppies directly to
the individual consumer - never sells or consigns to pet shops. Buyers are
invited - indeed required - to visit the breeder's premises, to see where the
puppies were born and how they're being raised. Buyers are likely to see the
mother dog, and sometimes the sire, living on the premises, where they're
treated as beloved family pets. The reputable breeder demands of buyers that
puppies not of "show quality" will be spayed/neutered and kept as
house pets. Remember:
A REPUTABLE BREEDER NEVER
USES PET SHOPS AS A MIDDLEMAN.
prepared
by TheCaring Corps, Inc. Copied and pasted from boxerrescue.com/puppy_mills.htm
(the following was revised by WMBC - 11/13)
Keep in mind that NOT ALL PUPPIES SOLD ON THE INTERNET are from puppymills and backyard breeders.
How
ever ALL puppymills and backyard breeders DO sell their pups on the internet.
So how do you tell
the difference, when looking to purchase a puppy or adult?
Its recommended to contact
your local breed specialty club for a breeder referral.
