How do you know if a breeder is really a puppy mill?

[Anonymous]

Mennonite, Ohio almost certainly a puppy mill. Do not buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would they let you meet the mom? Never, ever, ever buy a puppy if you can't meet the mom.

Yes, we can meet the mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

Walk talking to a breeder recently and he said they only breed each mom 3x. They are AKC registered I couldn’t bare to ask what happens when they can’t be bread anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

Walk talking to a breeder recently and he said they only breed each mom 3x. They are AKC registered I couldn’t bare to ask what happens when they can’t be bread anymore.

They probably keep her as a house pet or adopt her out to a family? People love pure breeds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. That community is not known for medically-sound or sensitive breeding practices.

You want to find a breeder that you can visit, OP. Breeders who care for their animals will NEVER ship them out. Those who care also don't want to sell them to just anyone, and will require an in-person visit to check you out. This is what our breeder did. We drove to Pennsylvania and met with her and the litter when the puppies were 5 weeks old. She approved of us, we approved of her and the puppies, and we selected one. Then we went to her home to pick him up at 11 weeks, and visited her home, where she lived with her dam, a couple of other dogs of the same breed, and her dam's litter. No kennels, no volume, in-house training by her, genetic screens, the works! It should be a labor of love, not a cash cow.

How do you find these breeders who are doing it as a labor of love and not a cash cow? Because honestly the breeders that are more local want eye popping fees for this same breed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

Walk talking to a breeder recently and he said they only breed each mom 3x. They are AKC registered I couldn’t bare to ask what happens when they can’t be bread anymore.

FWIW my grandma was a registered breeder and she only bred her female dog one or two times each, she just had 5 or 10 year gaps between litters. The moms were just family pets. But she was a hobby breeder and she always lost money on it.

[Anonymous]

Huge red flag. No facility, breeding only 1-2 dogs at a time, dogs live in house with breeder, and no staff, just family taking care of dogs was my criteria. We used this breeder and she was wonderful, purebreed with AKC papers. https://itsahavaneseworld.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

Walk talking to a breeder recently and he said they only breed each mom 3x. They are AKC registered I couldn’t bare to ask what happens when they can’t be bread anymore.

Each mom, how many moms? Are they offering you AKC papers?

[Anonymous]

You had your answer at “Mennonite”. They, and the Amish, are big puppy mill operators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many different puppies do they have available? Are those puppies the same breed or multiple different breeds? Do they have health screenings for the parents?

Generally speaking, Amish or Mennonite breeders think of the dogs the same way they would think about any other kind of farm animal. They aren't going to mistreat them on purpose, but they aren't going to baby it any more than they would a calf. They probably are not that worried about breed standards or genetic issues. They are selling cute puppies for money.

That's a vast, vast understatement about the brutality of these places.

NP. Do you think all Amish and mennonites run the same operations? Or is that making a sweeping generalization?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

Walk talking to a breeder recently and he said they only breed each mom 3x. They are AKC registered I couldn’t bare to ask what happens when they can’t be bread anymore.

They either sell them, give them to "rescues" for sale or keep them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many different puppies do they have available? Are those puppies the same breed or multiple different breeds? Do they have health screenings for the parents?

Generally speaking, Amish or Mennonite breeders think of the dogs the same way they would think about any other kind of farm animal. They aren't going to mistreat them on purpose, but they aren't going to baby it any more than they would a calf. They probably are not that worried about breed standards or genetic issues. They are selling cute puppies for money.

That's a vast, vast understatement about the brutality of these places.

NP. Do you think all Amish and mennonites run the same operations? Or is that making a sweeping generalization?

Most of them are big breeding facilities, not personal at all. You want to get one AKC registered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

One a year is fine. Do they have AKC paperwork?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

It’s not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend’s family are Mennonite dog breeders. They have one female they breed at a time but she has a litter basically every year. The dogs do always seem well cared for, clean, live in their house with them, etc. But I don’t know how good it is to be bred that often. Or maybe that isn’t often for a purebred breeder?

Walk talking to a breeder recently and he said they only breed each mom 3x. They are AKC registered I couldn’t bare to ask what happens when they can’t be bread anymore.

Well that sounds like a legitimate breeder—which means dams are likely adopted out.