CAPS’ Short Documentary Reveals the Deceptive Sales Practices and Puppy Mill Breeders Associated with Internet Puppy Sellers
As CAPS’ work decreases the number of pet shops, more people are buying puppies online. USDA breeders who were previously selling to pet shop are now selling online. CAPS has been investigating online puppy sales since 2010.
The Truth Behind Online Puppy Sales shows CAPS’ undercover investigations of puppy millers who sell online, often without a required USDA license. There are also interviews with customers who bought puppies over the internet, They discuss how they relied on the deceit and misrepresentations made by these online puppy sellers and their websites.
During Covid, people weren’t out shopping, and this created a demand for online dogs. While many people went to shelters and rescues, many others started buying puppies online.
Craigslist and Recycler feature numerous puppy sellers. These puppies often come from Mexico and can have parvovirus, distemper, or other highly contagious diseases. Facebook and Instagram also have an abundance of puppy sellers. Some online sellers have websites.
PuppyFind, now called Puppies.com is the leading online marketplace. Other online sellers include: puppyspot.com, greenfieldpuppies.com, lancasterpuppies.com, and nextdaypets.com. Puppy Spot’s advisory board includes Ron DeHaven, the former APHIS/USDA administrator, whose interview on the Dateline story we generated, elicited the most anger by viewers.
The lesson is: Never buy online, never buy a dog sight unseen, it doesn’t matter how reputable the breeder seems. The rule is: if you buy the dog sight-unseen – in other words, you see the puppy in a photo, video or through FaceTime or Zoom – and then the company or breeder delivers the puppy to you, that is still a sight-unseen purchase. And that seller needs a USDA license.
Online sellers follow standard protocol: they show pictures of children playing with the dogs, and testimonials, making it look like the dogs are part of their families. Online sellers also run “guardian programs,” where they will give dogs to customers for free as long as they promise to breed the dogs and then give the sellers the puppies.
Puppy Heaven in Las Vegas — CAPS recently won a false advertising case against this pet shop, which we investigated several times — and other pet shops also sell online and transport puppies to other states. Many of these pet shops, including Puppy Heaven, do not have a USDA license.
CAPS gets calls or emails from people who are about to buy online or who have already put down a deposit, especially if they google the name of the breeder and find a CAPS investigation. For mills CAPS has not investigated, we look on the USDA inspection reports to obtain the number of dogs and puppies. This information in useful in proving to the buyer that the breeder in question runs a puppy mill. For example, a woman contacted us after putting down a deposit on a Norfolk Terrier from a Seymour, Missouri-based breeder that CAPS has not investigated. His inspection reports list more than 100 dogs and puppies, which was enough to convince the woman to rescue a dog. She was very grateful for our assistance and said the following:
Thank you for all the information. I will keep looking for the right dog to rescue. By the way, I got my deposit back. When I mentioned the info I got from you to the seller, he wanted nothing more to do with me. After watching your video, I will never support puppy mills by purchasing a dog. Thanks again.
Here are some of the online puppy sellers/breeders investigated by CAPS, many of whom we feature in The Truth Behind Online Puppy Sales:
No USDA license
Iowa
Tom Grove
Oklahoma
Cindy Lancaster
Crystal Savage
Ohio
Marilyn Yoder
Texas
Vicky Harman
Debra Lott
Tricia Lyles
Theresa Martin
Young Van Roekel
USDA license
Iowa
Steve Kruse
Ed Van Doorn
Lucky Puppy Co (Select Puppies)
Kansas
Roger and Marla Campbell
Kelly Chandler and Wayne Prentice
Judy Koehn
Missouri
Danny and Tina Boyd
Melanie Moore
Esther Pointer
Paige Robinson
Angela Stephens
Ed Van Doorn
Oklahoma
Lisa Fielder
Texas
Vicki Tidwell
Wisconsin
Amos Allgyer
How you can help:
- Watch the full documentary.
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