They have learned to answer the most often naïve questions of prospective new buyers as if they themselves were breeders, as if they were reputable and as if they had the best interest of the dog at heart. In a lot of cases, these people have talked in great length to reputable breeders, asked lots of questions, picked the brains of the reputable breeders ONLY to be able to represent themselves later on to unsuspecting buyers as the 'real thing' - as a person you can confidently purchase a puppy from. They even venture into giving the buyer a 'health guarantee' on the puppy, for example for a year (most genuine and reputable breeders will give a two year health guarantee).

If the prospective new owner asks for information on the parents of the puppy he is thinking of purchasing, he is usually informed that the puppy 'has been checked by our vet and is found to be fit and healthy', that the registration papers 'will arrive with the puppy' and that the full purchase price, and any expenses are due BEFORE the puppy is sent en route to its final destination.

The problems start pretty soon after the arrival of the new puppy. There were no registration papers with the puppy, when it arrived, neither was there an official pedigree. The health certificate could fit any puppy, is not specific for the puppy you picked up from the airport. A vaccination record is hand written and could have been wrtten for any puppy of the same breed. The new buyer then gets back in touch with the vendor, to enquire about the missing items, and the answers are usually the same: the registration papers are not back from the registry, in a lot of cases FIC or some other registering body, occasionally the AKC (American Kennel Club); the vaccination record is the only one the vendor has, and the pedigree will be mailed tomorrow.

In the purchase contract it stated that the buyer has 3 - 5 days time to take the puppy to a veterinary surgeon of his choice. Normally puppies arrive on or close to the weekend, so at least one day, if not more, are missed because the vets are closed on weekends. The following Monday the vet of the new owner determines that the puppy has worms, is too thin, has an ear infection in one or both ears, which is severe; in case of a male, has only one testicle, or has any other defects/illnesses, which it should not have had - after all, didn't the 'health certificate' from the vendor state that the puppy was in excellent health??

Now is the time to really get worried, because the buyer is unable to contact the vendor again, to tell the vendor about the illnesses and shortcomings, and the buyer has only 3 - 5 days in which to inform the vendor about this and in which to demand either his money back and to be able to send the puppy back, or in which to ask for reimbursement of the vet costs and treatment costs.

Usually it takes the buyer about 2 - 4 weeks after the arrival of the puppy, in which the buyer in vain tries to contact the vendor. By the time, they finally manage to hook up, the warranty to return the puppy, is expired, and the vendor informs the buyer accordingly and 'after all, the puppy was in perfect health when it left the vendor, so any illness must have been as a result of the carelessness of the new owner, and the vendor is not responsible for this".

In most cases, the new owner gets bullied into keeping the puppy, into not seeking the advise of a lawyer, into not informing the registering bodies, like AKC, and of course, into keeping the puppy. And that is the worst of all, because ALL of these vendors KNOW that once the new owner has had that puppy in his possession for a few days, there is no way that new owner wants to send the puppy back to a place, which by now the new owner deems totally undesirable for 'his' puppy.

And that is the way, most brokers, dealers, importers and puppy mills make their money!

So, what's the advise for the general public?? Be careful, ask lots of questions and VISIT if at all possible, the breeder you are thinking of buying a puppy from. If this breeder lives too far away, ask for references of more than two people who have bought puppies from that breeder, also you can ask someone in their area to see their dogs, or get in touch with a dog club in that area to see, if they have any adverse information on the breeder you want to buy a puppy from!! And there are people who keep information of 'undesirables' and who are willing to share that information (confidentially) with you!!

So, please be careful and be aware of the above when looking for a puppy!