With shipping puppies becoming more and more the norm it is easier and easier for people not to disclose how their dogs and pups are raised and housed.

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Dog-breeder-charged-with-animal-cruelty-2340620.php

This was not a backyard breeder. She was someone that was fairly known in the show circles.

CHECK OUT YOUR BREEDER!!! If you can not visit invent an imaginary friend that will visit on your behalf. The reaction may be telling.....

And your imaginary friend wants to visit the home. Not the park, not the club to meet the pups, but the home.

Sadly this is not all that uncommon.

I called the veterinarian in the small town where my dog is from. I asked if they would get a pup from those people.
They said they would, that HD screening had been done. A tech even had a pup similar to mine and said it was a great dog.
I learned more later. The grand sire and dam of my dog live in a bonafide puppy mill.
You can't do too much checking.

Both my GSD's were out of imported dogs. My first GSD's mom was bred in the Slavic Republic and whelped over here. I met the owners of both dogs's moms at Schutzhund club.
With all my terriers, be it pet, show or working, I made it a point to get to know the breeders first and ask a lot of questions.
Other then a number of mix breeds I don't think I got a dog in the past 40+ yrs that I didn't know when, where, who and how. In my younger days I did a couple of midnight "rescues" on Pits but I'm to damn old to be hopping fences with a dog in my arms now.

It was a contractual obligation for all the family to meet the breeder and both parents of the Pointers and the Boerboels, but I wouldn't have done otherwise because I wanted to see what the breeders home and husbandry was like, as much as I wanted to see what the pups were like!

When I was starting to look for Boerboel breeders, I was handed a copy of a free newspaper by someone at work and was idly flicking through it at lunchtime break, and was horrified at the adverts for pups of all breeds coming from a single email address, so I emailed the 'breeder' a very fluffy and gushing email about how much I wanted a pup, and gosh, weren't they cheap etc, and I got a barely legible email back telling me where to send the money, and where and when the pup would be shipped to, to save me the trouble of going over to Ireland to get it.

I actually contacted one of the more militant welfare organizations, who told me they were watching the puppy farm, following the 'shipments' to the ferries, and intercepting the wooden crates crammed with pups; there was an obvious amount of threat and intimidation involved on both sides, and while many pups were rescued and placed in the care of vets and welfare groups, a hell of a lot more were smuggled out of Ireland and ended up god knows where.

I am appalled at the amount of 'sensible' and 'educated' people I know that buy pups through free ad papers, my own son and his girlfriend among them, and while Louis, their new pup is a sweetie and has been given the all clear by our vet, if he was 8 weeks old when they picked him up, I'm a Dutchman, he is allegedly 11 weeks old now, but to my untrained eye, and going on the size and weight all my pups were when I brought them home, he is maybe 7 weeks old now, and of course the fact there was no paper work on the parents or any veterinary record of the birth date and checks done before they were sold on, we will never know.

I am laughed at and mocked at work for my 'ridiculous' concerns over the purchasing and subsequent raising of pups by people with a dismissive attitude to exercise, discipline methods and welfare, especially if the pup is just expected to 'fit in' with its environment, but I have been told I am excessively obsessed with my lot, and, according to these folk, I need to lighten up and get a life.

And they all wonder why I yearn to pack up my 'burdens' and head for the hills!

Sorry, that turned into another rant

We adopted Gunner from a family who planned to breed him. The problem was that he was kept outside with no shelter living under their boat eating only table scraps. Either the Family really convinced a good breeder that they were going to take care of Gun or they got him from a BYB. He came with papers, have not looked at them yet but will in a minute, and he looks like he is possibly from stocky show lines. But he is really tall and he would have been classified as pet quality. Now that he is older and it looks like HD or some other joint disease is developing in one of his hips I am thinking he came from a breeder who never tested for HD. When we got Gun neutered My mom called the family back and they were FURIOUS!!! They never wanted to talk to us again.

Skipper was picked up from beside a highway. He had been in the shelter a month when we adopted him. Jethro had been abandoned in an apartment when the family moved away. We met him the day after he arrived at the shelter. Jethro and Skipper had already made friends at the shelter, so we adopted both of them.

Every once in a while Skipper performs a new trick trying to get a treat. He has a whole repetoire that I haven't taught him. He's a real mystery dog.

Jethro is sensitive to the roar of motorcycles, but that might just be because he is sensitive to every little thing that happens in the environment around him.

Skipper was picked up from beside a highway. He had been in the shelter a month when we adopted him. Jethro had been abandoned in an apartment when the family moved away. We met him the day after he arrived at the shelter. Jethro and Skipper had already made friends at the shelter, so we adopted both of them.

Every once in a while Skipper performs a new trick trying to get a treat. He has a whole repetoire that I haven't taught him. He's a real mystery dog.

Jethro is sensitive to the roar of motorcycles, but that might just be because he is sensitive to every little thing that happens in the environment around him.

Shyner I know nothing other than she was found on the side of the highway by the teenaged girls that lived in the group home I worked at. She had been a pet, I think. She had nice manners in the house, walked great on leash, and had a BEAUTIFUL recall with a sit in front. Her weight was good and she wasn't too dirty when she was found. She was terrified of the car, and wouldn't get in without being leashed.

Tyra was my brother's for 6 years. I have no idea where he got her, but she supposedly has papers somewhere...

Toni, Cat and Drift I was lucky enough to watch grow from the day they were born. In Drift's case, I even got to sit in the welping room with the litter to make sure they all got to nurse equally. It's hard to believe that my big spoiled rotten brat dogs were once teeny tiny little squeaky pupkins that fit in the palm of my hand. I even have a pic of Toni as a 7 week old pup crashed out on Paul's chest- I think that's the last time she took a real nap

I will always have at least one rescue dog, but I think I will have at least one purebred (Mal or GSD) at all times as well. For the purebred, I have a short list of breeders that I trust to produce the kind of dog that I am looking for. If they don't have a puppy for me I will wait until one of them has a litter.

It's very important to do your research when you are getting a purebred dog. Get to know the breeders, go out and see the facilities and the breeding stock. Most breeders will welcome a visitor- if they don't that should be a red flag for you.

If you are getting a puppy for a certain purpose, like agility or ring sport, make sure the breeder knows the sport you are going to do. If they don't know anything about the sport, how can they possibly pick the best puppy for you out of the litter?

The article Betty linked to is heartbreaking, but all too common. I've seen a Lab breeder that lived in a double wide trailer with 10 or more full grown dogs. She would alternate who was out- boys, then girls... but it amounted to the dogs only being out of crates for a total of about 5 hours a day. The Labs grew up in crates, and did not even know how to fetch a ball.... Very very sad.

My female, Zasha, is a Leerburg Otis line dog. She is a super nice working dog & a great all around dog. Ed was very impressed with her when he saw her work as a 9 month old. He wanted her back. LOL

Bodie is from a local working line breeder that I have know for a number of years. His sire was the 2005 BSP winner. Dam was imported, Belgium bred, Sch titled. He is a good dog with great OB & companion dog.