Be careful

May 19, 2020 By erinison

During this time, we are getting a huge amount of enquiries about puppies. I’ll say once again, that we won’t be having any litters anytime soon. We only have one entire girl and she’s not even 2 yet.

Please ensure you are very careful about who you choose to get a puppy from. There are lots of scammers around at the moment trying to profiteer from those people desperately wanting a puppy.

Puppies unfortunately don’t grow on trees. From the time the bitch comes in to season, to the time you can take a puppy home at 8 weeks, that’s a 20 week process. During those 20 weeks, anything can happen. We would all like to think it’s sunshine and lollipops, but it’s not a simple task to provide a potential owner with a puppy.

Here are some ideas on what to ask breeders when looking for a puppy:

1. Ask if they are a registered breeder with the states canine control council and request their membership number. You can then email the state canine control council (DogsQLD for Queensland) to verify their membership.

2. If the breeder supplies a BIN number, this DOES NOT prove they are a registered breeder. Unfortunately the QLD Government brought in legislation that meant any Tom, Dick and Harry could simply apply online for a BIN, and be given one for having a litter. This registered number does not prove the puppies are from reputable breeder.

3. Request information on the parents and ask if you can meet them at a convenient time. This will also allow you to see the breeders premises. If they are requesting that you meet at a different location (Carpark, petrol station, shopping centre), alarm bells should be ringing.

4. Enquire if they do health testing, and request to see the results or the parents, and puppies if they are old enough. Most health test results will come from companies like Orivet, VGL, VetGen, Genomia to name a few.

5. In Queensland, breeders are required to DNA Parentage test all puppies placed on main register. My preference is to DNA Parentage test all puppies in a litter as owners should have the same information about their puppy as breeders/show people do.

6. Most registered breeders do not ask for the cost of the puppy up front. I don’t take any payments for a puppy until a few days before they are due to leave home and join their new family.

If the breeder does not have any of the above information, I would suggest looking around for another puppy.

Pedigree Registered Breeders will advertise any puppies they have for sale on The Beagle Club of QLD Website or DogzOnline.

The Queensland Police Service are always warning puppy buyers of unscrupulous breeders scamming owners. Please read this link:

Puppy Scam – Queensland Police Service