It has recently been brought to my attention that there has been an increase in online fraud by Puppy Mills that wish to just simply make a buck off innocent people that are wanting a quality pet for their family. These large breeders are either breeding sick, unhealthy dogs or dogs that are not purebred and yet passing them off as such to make quick money. They do not care about the dogs or the people that they are ripping off. It is such a shame for the rest of us out there that tend to get lumped into this group, as understandably it can be a little hard to tell the difference (between honesty & frauds). I decided to add this page to my site to put my two cents worth in, & perhaps some suggestions on how to tell the difference (between honesty & frauds) in hopes that someone might read it & avoid becoming another statistic.

When purchasing online, always be aware if any of your questions asked are not answered. Look for a thorough response to your email &/or questions asked on the phone. If a question is missed, ask it again until you get the answer that satisfies you. If you aren't satisfied, move on.

Ask for additional pictures. Look for inconsistencies from one set of pics to the next. If you see any, ask for another set. Another suggestion is to ask that something be placed in the picture that would be impossible to duplicate, this way you know the pictures are authentic & recent. For instance, a piece of paper placed where it can be clearly read in the picture with your name clearly printed on it.

Ask for references. Now one side note on this: I have had lots of people request information from past families that have purchased from me. I NEVER give this information out to just anyone emailing and asking for it. This would be a violation of privacy in my view. And to be fair, I am not sure who is on the other end of that email just as the inquirer isn't  sure of this as well. I will provide my vet clinic's phone number, as this is a business & public information anyway. However I will provide your information (once requested) to my puppy families to then contact you. There are a few very kind (& very proud of their baby!) families that do not mind if I give their email addresses out, so there are a few exceptions but this is just my general rule across the board. Privacy of my puppy families is always set ABOVE the sale of another puppy.

GET VET REFERENCES!!!!!!!!!!!! This is SO IMPORTANT. A dog cannot be properly taken care of without the assistance of a vet. If they cannot give you this there is a real good chance that their dogs are NOT being properly taken care of. If the parents aren't healthy, how do you expect to produce a healthy puppy?

And last, but not least, go with your gut. It is usually right. If at any point in your interaction with the breeder you get that check that we all know feels like, & no matter what you do to try to resolve it (ask for pics, talk to references, etc) it just will not go away, walk away.

This is in no way a complete checklist, it is just a few pointers that I have learned in my experience with buying dogs online. I have been ripped off before (in some instances out of several thousand dollars when it was all said & done) & my list include the mistakes that I made & learned from. I hope my lessons learned (& published :) will be helpful to someone else out there.

For those of you out there that have been ripped off, I feel your pain! But on the same token I must say that I have benefited greatly by having good experiences with the web as well, & have acquired some great dogs that I still have today. The web is a great tool for accomplishing the goal of acquiring a pet, as there is no way I would have found these dogs without it, just use caution.

Good luck on your search to find that perfect pet & be safe!

~ PUGS 'N PUGGLES KENNEL ~