Buying a dog from the local pet store may be an easy option for you, but there are many cases out there where owners have been fooled about the breed of the puppy, have overpaid for cheaper breeds, or have bought unhealthy dogs for a hefty sum. So it is important to do your research before you invest into buying a dog. Make sure everything fits your requirements because the dog is soon going to be part of your house! Here are a few things you need to consider before investing in your four legged best friend.
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Buying from a pet store
This can be the easiest option as you get to see the puppy first hand before you buy it. However, have you considered where these puppies may be coming from? The store owner won’t always tell you the truth about it, will he? For him it is a business in the end.
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Your local pet store puppy may have come from a large-scale, substandard commercial breeding facility, commonly known as a puppy mill. Here is where dogs are caged and bred and they give birth to puppies as often as possible. These puppies could have some costly medical problems that you may not have the finances to deal with! And most often, you won’t know about it until the puppy is already home for a few months.
Buying from the Internet
One of the riskiest ways to buy a puppy is off the internet. Buying a puppy whose picture you may have seen or whose owner you may have spoken to has no guarantee of being healthy. Not only this, owners could also lie about the breed and post fake pictures which could surprise you when the pet actually reaches your doorstep and you have paid for it.
So if you want to know about the quality of your puppy and where he was born and bred, it is a good practice to ask the breeder if he can show you the place your pup came from. If he refrains from showing you, then that is evidence enough that your puppy wasn’t necessarily in safe hands and may have been born unhealthy.
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One more thing you can do is to make sure your dog is registered with a kennel club. The registration certificate carries the pedigree of your dog’s ancestry. So if you want to be absolutely sure of the quality of the pup you have purchased, a kennel club registration is a must!
If your dog isn’t registered yet, you can register it at a recognised kennel club in your area.