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There are many places where it is possible to purchase a puppy. However, only one of them--from a responsible breeder--is a good choice. The following are some other options, and some reasons why you shouldn't purchase a dog from these sources. You can click on a link to go directly to that area. When you have finished here, then check out Finding a Breeder to learn about where you do want to buy a dog.
Pet Stores
A pet store is absolutely the
worst place to purchase a puppy. Although it can be hard to resist the
sad, pleading eyes of the adorable dogs in the window, you are not helping
anyone but the store (and the commercial breeders who supply them) if you give
in to impulse and take a dog home. No matter what the pet store employees
might tell you about the puppies coming from good breeders and being raised in
a "home-like" environment, puppies in pet stores come from high-volume
commercial breeders, more commonly known as "puppy mills." There
is absolutely no reputable breeder (one with the breed and the individual dogs'
best interests at heart) who would ever sell puppies to a pet store.
None.
Puppy mills can vary quite a bit in terms of size and quality of care the dogs receive, but the bottom line is that the people who breed for the pet store market are concerned with one thing and one thing only: making money. Many of the dogs bred for the pet store market are kept in deplorable conditions, living in wire cages in their own feces; bitches being bred every heat cycle (starting with the first) until they die from exhaustion; puppies receiving no human contact other than the person who throws them some food until they are taken from their mother (usually by the age of 4-5 weeks) and shipped by truck to pet stores all over the country, so they can arrive young enough to still be "cute."
Although this can represent the extreme (and it's not that uncommon) even the best puppy mill (one who at least keeps the cages clean, and maybe waits until the bitch is over a year old before breeding her the first time) is still breeding strictly to make money and will cut costs where they can to increase profits. This means that they do none of the standard health checks; they breed without regard for pedigree, or appearance, or (most importantly) temperament of the animals used; and they do not have the time or resources to adequately socialize puppies whose problems are further compounded by being removed from their mothers much too early. Many of these dogs have health and temperament problems and quite a few of them barely resemble the breed they are supposed to be. And due to the proclivity of some puppy mills for "stretching the truth" when it comes to filling out registration papers, they may not actually be the breed you are told you are getting. Or at the very least, the pedigree may not be accurate.
While it may be possible to get a healthy puppy with a sound temperament from a pet store (and perhaps you even know someone who has been this lucky) that is probably the exception rather than the norm. The majority of puppies who come from pet stores will eventually have a host of health problems, as well as temperament problems such as shyness or aggression as a result of the lack of socialization and early removal from the dam. We have known several people who purchased varying breeds of dogs from pet stores, and all of them have had dogs with health or temperament issues or both.
The only advantage to purchasing a puppy at a pet store is that you can have it right now. And that is really not an advantage; purchasing a dog is a decision that should not be made lightly or on the spur of the moment. If you are willing to consider your decision, find a good breeder, and wait for a puppy, you will not only get a healthy, sound dog, and a relationship with a breeder who can help you, but you will also likely spend hundreds of dollars less than you would at a pet store. Pet store puppies go through several price mark-ups between the puppy mill, the puppy broker who purchases the dogs from the mills and resells them to pet stores, and finally the pet store. The end result is an inferior dog that costs a lot more than a quality dog from a good breeder. Why would you want to purchase that? It makes no sense. Sadly, people do it, however, because they want a dog and they want it now.
Unless you want to practically guarantee yourself a dog who will bring you tons of emotional and financial costs, ultimately resulting in heartbreak, please avoid pet stores like the plague. And do not give in to the temptation to "rescue" that adorable puppy to save it from a terrible fate. By doing that, you are only assuring that the pet store will purchase another puppy just like it to replace the one they just sold. Then you are responsible for encouraging the puppy mills to continue to churn out puppies because there is money to be made. The only way to end puppy mills would be for the market to dry up. If nobody bought puppies at pet stores then there would be no money for the mills, and they would have to stop producing puppies. Unfortunately, there will always be people who want a dog, and they want it now, so the pet stores will have a market. But hopefully you will choose not to contribute to the problem, at least.
Back Yard
Breeders/Newspaper Ads
Back yard breeders (or BYBs) are people who
happen to own one or two "purebred" dogs, and decide to breed their dog for
a variety of reasons. These could include making money, or experiencing the miracle of birth,
or because Muffy came into season and they didn't keep the neighbor's dog out of
the yard. Many of these people will claim that their dog "has
papers" so it should be bred. They typically do not participate in
any type of activities with their dog that might prove some of the merit of the
dog as a breeding candidate. Most of the ads you see in the newspaper were
placed there by BYBs.
These people are generally not keeping their dogs in deplorable condition and breeding as many dogs as possible, like the puppy mills, and they may not even be doing it strictly for the money (although these are the people who will tell you how easy it is to make easy money "breeding dogs"). While a back yard breeder may be a nice person, and may even have a nice dog or two, they are not an ideal place to acquire a puppy. For the most part they are operating out of ignorance, but the end result can still be problematic, and ultimately heartbreaking, for the person who purchases the dog.
BYBs breed their dog because it's a purebred, without the knowledge or understanding that not every purebred animal is of the quality that should be bred. As a result, while their dogs still resemble the breed they are supposed to be, they will not look much like the ones you see in the show ring. In Springers, for example, dogs from BYBs tend to be MUCH larger than a Springer should be. We'll have people stop us all the time to say "Oh, are those Springers? I have/had one of those. He looks just like yours, only he weighs 70 pounds." A dog that looks like a Springer but weighs twice as much as a Springer should is not really a Springer, no matter what the papers say.
Even if you don't care what your dog looks like, there are other concerns with getting a back-yard-bred dog. The biggest concern is the lack of health checks. Most BYBs have no idea what genetic problems are common to the dogs they breed. They don't know what OFA is, let alone that they should be having their dog's hips screened prior to breeding. Therefore, they do none of the health checks that a responsible breeder will do before breeding a dog. As a result of this, eye problems, hip dysplasia, epilepsy, and allergies are extremely common in Springers purchased from BYBs. It is also possible to run into temperament problems in Springers from BYBs. Temperament issues are a real concern in ESS and something that all responsible breeders take very seriously, but the BYB may not. Even if Muffy is a friendly dog, the BYB may not know that the dog they bred Muffy to (who belongs to the neighbor down the street) cannot be within 100 yards of another male dog without attacking him. Or that two of Muffy's siblings were put down for biting people. These are very real concerns that can show up even in carefully planned breedings, but are much more likely in a breeding done by someone without proper knowledge and experience. It is also likely that the BYB has not spent the time and effort socializing the puppies the way a good breeder would do, because it simply doesn't occur to them that they should do so. And while they do not typically sell puppies at four weeks like puppy mills, they will frequently sell puppies at six or seven seeks, which is still too young and can result in problems.
The bottom line is that you really don't know what you're getting from a BYB. It is unlikely that they have a dog that is of high enough quality to be bred, and also unlikely that they have done any of the necessary health clearances before breeding. And they frequently sell under-socialized puppies, and at too young an age. By all means, ask the breeder all the questions you should ask a breeder, and if you are comfortable with the answers then you may decide to go ahead and get a puppy from them. However, if they can provide satisfactory answers to your questions they are probably not actually a BYB after all.
The Internet
The internet can be a very good
place to get information about Springers and to make first contact with a
breeder. However, you must be very careful when deciding to purchase a dog
from a website. With the advent of the internet, many puppy mills have
found a way to increase their profits by selling directly to the public.
They can put up a nice-looking website with pictures of clean facilities and
happy, well-cared for dogs (which may even be pictures stolen from the websites
of others), and easily fool an unsuspecting purchaser into thinking they are
dealing with a reputable breeder. There are some things you can watch out
for, though, which can help you avoid being fooled by these cleaned up puppy
mill fronts. the following are some red flags you may see on a website:
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