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How I almost got a mill puppy

1K views 19 replies 16 participants last post by  mysugarbears 
#1 ·
I know I have told you guys this story in some form in various threads, but wanted to share my experience here in detail. I hope this is useful for members looking for a puppy.

The husband and I had been talking for months about getting a puppy. Then, when my husband was away for a month and I had nothing to do, I started looking into places to get puppies. My first target was Yelp, as it usually is for anything. My search was for, 'Pet Stores' in Los Angeles. I was very surprised to find most pet stores DON'T infact sell puppies. This was very surprising to me at that time. Finally, I found a store that sold puppies. I also saw they had really, really bad reviews. When I read the reviews most of them said, "Pet store puppies come from mills, these guys are bad" etc. I rationalized I am not gonna listen to these hippie dippie people and went to the store anyway.

And boy was I happy. They had so many puppies in there, all so cute. I chose a maltipoo and they put him in a small room where I could play with him. I was in love! He was the cutest puppy ever. I even chose a name for him, "Suvé". I put a deposit because my husband wasn't back yet and I know I couldn't take care of the puppy by myself. Then I went back home and started researching raising puppies obsessively. While I was doing that I ended up reading more about puppy mills. That's when I realized what an idiot I was for ignoring the Yelp reviews. So I went back to the store and asked for my money back. Well no surprise they didn't return me my money. And what's even worse, I knew Suvé would probably be euthanized now if no one bought him soon. That was definitely the hardest part about this. But I tried to forget about it.

Next I googled 'breeders' and found this one 'family owned pet store'. Now this place had better Yelp reviews so I decided to go visit them. This place had about 20 puppies, maltese and yorkies. Cuteness overload! I even picked a puppy I wanted. He was the cutest pup ever. White little ball of fluff, very feisty, wanted to push all the puppies from my lap to make space for himself. The owners clicked a lot of pics for me and I put a deposit on him again! Thankfully, my husband still wasn't back so I couldn't bring the puppy home yet.

Then I came home and started doing maltese specific research. That's when I found Spoiled Maltese. I read a post about how no reputable breeder would let a puppy go before 12 weeks. My puppy was 8 weeks old. This rang a bell. I spent the next few hours reading up about quality breeders and realized my puppy's breeder was a BYB! I think this was the hardest decision to make. I called my husband and talked to him and we decided to not get this puppy. Luckily, these people returned me 50% of my deposit. Still, I was heartbroken about not getting my puppy.

Thanks to Spoiled Maltese, I ended up finding a great breeder and that's where Gustave came from. But it does make me frustrated when I hear people use lame excuses to get puppy mill/BYB puppies even after finding out the truth —

Money: I am not rich, I lost a lot of money but I realized I could think about my money now and spend even more in medical bills later. That wasn't even an issue though. I work really hard to earn money. There is no way I am funding animal cruelty with my hard earned money. That is my biggest objection.

Getting attached to the puppy: Don't even get me started on this. I still think about both those puppies. I know how hard it is. But saving yourself heartache is not a good excuse to put animals through horrible conditions at puppymills. How can you love one dog if you are supporting cruelty to thousands?

Saving a puppy: No, no one becomes a hero by saving one pup at the cost of many, many other pups living life in ****. You're not a hero, just a disillusioned human being, move on.

I know you guys know all this. Yet, whenever we tell new members about perils of getting a pet store puppy I have often heard the argument, "Well, you wouldn't know!" which is why I wanted to post my story. I do know! I know how hard it is. It is still a lot easier than the alternative. The right thing might be hard to do at that moment, but you will never regret it in the long term .
 
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#4 ·
:goodpost:Of course it is very hard, especially thinking that the puppy might be cast off to a shelter...however, the ONLY way to stop puppy mills and ruthless BYBs is to NOT buy dogs from them. People have said that the government should put an end to puppy mills, but this is capitalism and money rules. Everyone who thinks they are an exception is, in truth, a part of the problem. Pet stores are still in business because people "fall in love" with puppies. On the other hand, there are fewer and fewer pet stores that sell live animals. There is not one within 40 miles of me...good!
 
#5 ·
When I got Pipper I only knew not to buy from a pet store. He came from a lady who owned both parents and had 3 puppies in the litter, I had never even heard of BYB's. I thought this was where you got puppies from unless you wanted to "show" your dog. Now since I joined this forum I know about reputable breeders and I worry and pray every day that I will be lucky and Pipper will stay healthy. It just about kills me to think that one day he might not be healthy. He is my whole world and I hate to always have to worry about this.
 
#9 ·
Honestly, I think we should have another classification for home/pet breeders. It just isn't the same as a puppy mill, and I know there are byb who are simply small puppy mills. They may have six or so dogs, who live outdoors in cages and are only held to breed. I think that is so much worse than people breeding their pets in a loving environment. I got my Bichons from such people, and they were healthy, happy, lived a long life and looked as correct to breed standard as MiMi does. In my mind the main reason we would like people to stop breeding their pets is because there are so many unwanted dogs in shelters, that the time has come to leave breeding to persons with a wealth of knowlegde who want to promote their beloved breed and contribute the betterment of the breed...if that is even possible. (improve perfection?)

Jeese...when I was a kid people didn't even have the option to spay or neuter. They tried to keep their girls safe at that time, but often the neighbor dog sneaked in. We had a minnie pinnie in the early fifties. The "terrior" next door nabbed her and she had two puppies. They were really cute and were placed with close friends. Times have changed, we need to stay abreast of change.
 
#6 ·
Money: I am not rich, I lost a lot of money but I realized I could think about my money now and spend even more in medical bills later. That wasn't even an issue though. I work really hard to earn money. There is no way I am funding animal cruelty with my hard earned money. That is my biggest objection.
Amen girl, this is the biggest issue for me too. We talk a lot about how these mill pups are unhealthy and all that, and the truth is statistically they probably are. But we all know a mill/BYB puppy is not guaranteed to be unhealthy any more than a show breeder puppy is guaranteed to be healthy (not talking about the health guarantee). But when purchasing from a puppy mill, you are lining the pockets of people who don't give a flying flip about animals. That's obvious because if they did there's no way would they subject them to the conditions they do. Why in the world would someone knowingly support that. Looking into your sweet spoiled dog's face knowing its parents are living outside in a cage in their own excrement, eating crappy food, never receiving loving kindness from humans and never being seen by a vet. BYBs are another story because undoubtedly many of them do love their dogs, but I think in many cases the dogs they are breeding originated from a puppy mill. So you just don't know what you're going to get looks/health/temperament wise because there's no history.

Anyway, I commend you for walking away, I know that was hard!
 
#11 ·
. Looking into your sweet spoiled dog's face knowing its parents are living outside in a cage in their own excrement, eating crappy food, never receiving loving kindness from humans and never being seen by a vet. !
It just breaks my heart to think of these mommy and daddy dogs. This is why I try to spread the word about buying from puppy mills. My own BROTHER bought a "designer" dog off the internet. He loves his dog to death, but I keep thinking about that poor little miniature poodle being INSEMINATED with Golden Retriever sperm to produce puppies to be sold over the internet. I was so damned furious with my brother. His excuse was he wanted a "small dog with a big dog temperament." Phooey.
 
#8 ·
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I agree that the most important factor in finding a good breeder is making sure that we do not support breeders (greeders) who would mistreat or misuse our beloved dogs. Having fostered dogs who had been kept in cages all their lives as Mill dogs until they were 10 years old, this is my most passionate reason for wishing everyone would do their research before buying a dog. Our dogs and their parents deserve to be loved and well cared for. I am so glad you found SM and the wonderful people here. And I am thrilled you found a beautiful little Maltese.
 
#10 ·
Great post, thanks for sharing. I have to admit I was lucky when I got Ben. I really didn't know about pet stores and puppy mills, but I knew I wanted a Maltese. Thankfully my search lead me to SM where I read hundreds of post and gained some much needed education. Thanks to all the members such as yourself who have shared their knowledge and impacted many new owners in their search.
 
#13 ·
We bought our Yorkie about 12-13 years ago from a Petland and we were so lucky that he didn't have worse health problems than he already did...

I soon realized our mistake... took my parents longer to realize it too. I feel like it is pretty common knowledge now not to shop at pet stores, but buying from "greeders" and the internet... people are either ignorant or in complete denial and don't want to know what they are funding.

People are even convinced their breeder is reputable... very few people know (except the veterans on this forum) that reputable breeders will not cross breed... all these poodle mixed "designer breed" owners would not want to know that their breeder isn't "reputable"... I wish people would actually listen instead of stick their heads in the sand.. sadly, I am pretty sure all my Facebook friends have already pegged me as the crazy dog lady.. :(
 
#16 ·
Thank you for sharing your story i know it couldn't have been easy to do. I can't imagine the heartache you felt walking away from not one puppy but two. Hopefully this post will come up in internet searches and will make future potential puppy owners to stop and think before buying.
 
#17 ·
:aktion033: Thanks for sharing this story! Something similar happened to me.
A few months ago I had no clue what was SM, and I REALLY wanted a Maltese. I didn't know anything about puppymills. For months I saw sooo many Maltese puppies here in Panama but I didn't like any of them because their parents didn't look purebred. They were all BYB, and I knew I didn't want some dog who didn't even have their papers. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but that was my guarantee it was a PURE Maltese! I almost got this one puppy who was soooo cute and she looked like a Maltese but didn't have a pedigree. In spite of that, I almost got her because she was just sooo cute, but after holding her for a while I realize she was COVERED in ticks so I didn't get her. She obviously wasn't healthy and I couldn't risk her infesting my house and Dolce. The BYB told me that was common on all dogs and blablabla but I knew it wasn't since Dolce has been with me for 5 years and has never had ticks THANK GOD. It showed how irresponsible they were as supposed "breeders". Anyways I gave up on dogs in Panama so my sister who lives in Venezuela found a show breeder where I got Kelly from. Then I found SM and realized how lucky I am to not have chosen that cute BYB puppy that had ticks. Ew.
 
#18 ·
I admire you for being able to walk away, twice. That's a hard thing to do. (I'm one of those who can't go near pet shops or even rescues etc as I'd want to take them all home as I hate seeing them like that as well as what I know about mills!)

My older girl Chelsea is from an older couple who had two Maltese that decided to have puppies. She was one of two girls in the litter. She is 14. And back then you either bought a dog from a pet shop (which I refused to because o hated them being in glass cages!) or from the classified ads. Where you go to the house of the owners etc..... Chelsea's mum and dad were beautiful dogs (no where near show material) and the puppies were clean, healthy and happy. I was very lucky with Chelsea - she has been very healthy most of her life with only the lymphoma scare and recent pyometra. But I realise I have been very very very lucky!! and this is no way the norm.
The recent years of designer breeds, especially the Maltese/Shih tzu combo (which is such a popular greeder mix in Aus) put me off purchasing from 'any mum and dad' breeders. I knew I wanted another pure maltese and knew the only way to go was to find a reputable breeder. Who has been fantastic and is a wealth of knowledge and loves her dogs and the breed to no end, and I would recommend in a heartbeat.
(All her dogs are CH titled)

The more people that tell their story the more people will see it when they research about buying a puppy. And soon they will realise we aren't being snobby (we love all dogs), that there is a pattern, there is a reason, and we have been there.
 
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