When a dog is bought from a pet store, it is very likely that the dog is bred from a puppy mill, which means that there is a high risk of the dog having problems that may appear either right after it is brought home, or later when it grows older, be it a few days, few months or even a few years later. Usually owners are more likely to be tempted into buying because of the vase marketing tactic and cheap price tag. I am not saying that expensive = good, but when someone sells a dog below the market price, there must be a reason behind, think about it, if you are on a budget and live on breeding dogs to survive, what would you do? Just do a simple calculation and you will get the idea.
Understanding how puppy mill works
Understanding how puppy mill breeders work will help you see the clear picture, first of all, these breeders will try to use up as much space as they can in a room, they will try to buy the cheapest and smallest cage/fence they can in bulk, then set them in such a way that can fit in as many dogs as possible, this risks the cages getting rusty sooner than expected, hygiene especially ventilation will be greatly sacrificed. The quality of male and female dogs used will not be of concern to them as long as they are of the same breed, sometimes they might even mix different breeds together, then labeling them as "rare breed" at a higher price tag. If the dogs are lucky enough, 1 male and 1 female will be cramped inside a small cage, where they are forced to breed with nowhere else to run, if not there will be a few male and females thrown in there to breed by themselves. Dog breeding is not as simple as what these breeders are doing, when the female dogs are being forced to mate, there is a high chance that she will reject the male and fights will occur, this is why you see a lot of ex breeding dogs that are in very bad conditions. When someone mixes two dogs without caring about the quality, it creates even more problems in the offspring, unwanted genes will get stronger and good ones will diminish, contrary to popular beliefs, an offspring does not always inherit only the genes of its parent, it will inherit the grandparents and any other dogs that is part of the line, for example, a puppy may inherit luxating patella from it's great great grandparents even if it's parent does not have such problem, and if the parents has fear aggression (example), the puppy may develop both luxating patella and fear aggression together. Now imagine the amount of unwanted genes from a line with hundreds of sick dogs, the cute puppies you see behind glasses of pet stores are carrying these hidden problems and it doesn't stop there.
Good breeders understands this logic and breed only dogs that have little to no existing health and behavior problems, it is actually very hard to pass on good genes to the offspring, not to mention having to breed one that looks good too. This is one of the reason why many breeders give up breeding good quality dogs, because it is very costly and the results are not always expected, it does not mean that you put a show female and show male together and the offspring will definitely be of quality. Unethical breeders know that many owners do not care about what's inside, most dog lovers think that having a cute look means that the dog is healthy, so in recent years, what puppy mills do is to breed dogs that 'look cute' to masses, some people may ask themselves this, "this puppy is so cute and cheap compared to the one sold from a famous breeder, why should I pay more?", well now you know, you are just buying a puppy that is carrying behavior and health problems that may just appear suddenly and causing your dog to suffer further, not only that, you are supporting puppy mills by giving them money, thus allowing them opportunities to set up even more puppy mills around the world.
The risk owners face when buying a dog from pet store:
Health
Canine distemper
Parvo virus
Undescended testicles
Luxating patella
Skin problems
Deformed skull
Liver shunt
Malnourish
Bald coat
Low immunity
Tick fever
Behavior
Extreme separation anxiety
Aggression (Fear, Impulsive)
Barking
Difficult to housebreak
Eating of feces
We urge everyone to screen breeders, look at their parents if possible and refrain from buying puppies at pet store unless you know the business owner very well. In the next article we will share on our opinions on screening a potential breeder.
Hope you have learned something new.
Understanding how puppy mill works
Understanding how puppy mill breeders work will help you see the clear picture, first of all, these breeders will try to use up as much space as they can in a room, they will try to buy the cheapest and smallest cage/fence they can in bulk, then set them in such a way that can fit in as many dogs as possible, this risks the cages getting rusty sooner than expected, hygiene especially ventilation will be greatly sacrificed. The quality of male and female dogs used will not be of concern to them as long as they are of the same breed, sometimes they might even mix different breeds together, then labeling them as "rare breed" at a higher price tag. If the dogs are lucky enough, 1 male and 1 female will be cramped inside a small cage, where they are forced to breed with nowhere else to run, if not there will be a few male and females thrown in there to breed by themselves. Dog breeding is not as simple as what these breeders are doing, when the female dogs are being forced to mate, there is a high chance that she will reject the male and fights will occur, this is why you see a lot of ex breeding dogs that are in very bad conditions. When someone mixes two dogs without caring about the quality, it creates even more problems in the offspring, unwanted genes will get stronger and good ones will diminish, contrary to popular beliefs, an offspring does not always inherit only the genes of its parent, it will inherit the grandparents and any other dogs that is part of the line, for example, a puppy may inherit luxating patella from it's great great grandparents even if it's parent does not have such problem, and if the parents has fear aggression (example), the puppy may develop both luxating patella and fear aggression together. Now imagine the amount of unwanted genes from a line with hundreds of sick dogs, the cute puppies you see behind glasses of pet stores are carrying these hidden problems and it doesn't stop there.
Good breeders understands this logic and breed only dogs that have little to no existing health and behavior problems, it is actually very hard to pass on good genes to the offspring, not to mention having to breed one that looks good too. This is one of the reason why many breeders give up breeding good quality dogs, because it is very costly and the results are not always expected, it does not mean that you put a show female and show male together and the offspring will definitely be of quality. Unethical breeders know that many owners do not care about what's inside, most dog lovers think that having a cute look means that the dog is healthy, so in recent years, what puppy mills do is to breed dogs that 'look cute' to masses, some people may ask themselves this, "this puppy is so cute and cheap compared to the one sold from a famous breeder, why should I pay more?", well now you know, you are just buying a puppy that is carrying behavior and health problems that may just appear suddenly and causing your dog to suffer further, not only that, you are supporting puppy mills by giving them money, thus allowing them opportunities to set up even more puppy mills around the world.
The risk owners face when buying a dog from pet store:
Health
Canine distemper
Parvo virus
Undescended testicles
Luxating patella
Skin problems
Deformed skull
Liver shunt
Malnourish
Bald coat
Low immunity
Tick fever
Behavior
Extreme separation anxiety
Aggression (Fear, Impulsive)
Barking
Difficult to housebreak
Eating of feces
We urge everyone to screen breeders, look at their parents if possible and refrain from buying puppies at pet store unless you know the business owner very well. In the next article we will share on our opinions on screening a potential breeder.
Hope you have learned something new.
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