There are basically three classifications of dog breeders in this world: The Puppy Miller, The Backyard Breeder or BYB, and the Reputable Breeder. This paper will attempt to define each type of breeder in an effort to one, educate prospective puppy buyers to the extent that they can tell what type of breeder they are dealing with and two, help prospective breeders decide what type of breeder they want to become.

Puppy millers are people who make a living, or attempt to make a living breeding dogs. Breeding dogs responsibly by using only top quality breeding stock, proving that quality through competition, and testing that stock thoroughly for genetic defects prior to use in a breeding program is expensive. There is no significant money to be made breeding dogs responsibly and ethically. Puppy millers are not ethical, responsible breeders.

Puppy millers may acquire their breeding stock through any number of sources. They may pick up owner turn-ins at the local animal shelter, purchase from a backyard breeder, purchase from another broker, or as a last resort buy from a reputable breeder through misrepresentation. Most puppy miller stock is entirely unsuitable for breeding.

Generally purebred dogs that end up as owner turn-ins were originally sold as pets (if they were purchased from a reputable breeder), never intended for breeding, but the owner never bothered to perform the required neutering of the animal. Fortunately today, many animal shelters perform their own spaying and neutering before allowing an animal to be adopted out. If they were purchased as a pet shop puppy, they likely came from a puppy miller in the first place. If they came from a backyard breeder they are most likely descended from pet quality stock. Very, very few puppy millers actually possess breeding stock that could be considered of the quality necessary for breed improvement.

Secondly, the puppy miller knows very little if anything about his breeding stock, nor does he care. He knows nothing of the genetic background. He does not spend the money to perform any testing for genetically inherited problems. To do so would cut into his profit margin. He cares nothing about soundness or type. His main goal in breeding stock selection is to find animals that can breed unassisted, can whelp litters freely and produce large litter sizes. Productivity is the bottom line.

He may have several breeds he deals with and may have relatively little knowledge on any of these breeds. He may not really know the first thing about what constitutes good breed type. His dogs live in generally very small confined areas and are treated for the most part like any farmer might treat his livestock. As a result, puppies born at a puppy mill do not receive a great deal of individual handling or attention prior to being shipped out to their ultimate destination for point of sale.

Quite often the puppies are weaned early as younger puppies sell better than older ones. Pet shops prefer to receive their puppies as young as possible. Studies have shown that it is important that puppies remain with their littermates at least through seven weeks of age for them to develop normal healthy dog associations. It is often difficult for pet shop puppies to learn appropriate social pack behavior because of the circumstances surrounding the first few critical weeks of life.

Finally, because the puppy miller sells his puppies through a third party he never has to accept the responsibility for his product. He never speaks to the ultimate purchaser of his puppies. He is not informed of any health problems that his stock genetically transmits. Additionally, most pet shops do not accept responsibility for the puppies they sell much beyond the initial health check. Most genetically related health problems show up well after the first 30 days since purchase. Since pet shops do not sell puppies on spay/neuter contracts, many of these puppies end up being used for breeding by others that are either looking to make a little money back on their purchase, or by people who are simply not educated to realize that simply because it has AKC registration or is purebred doesn’t mean it is suitable for breeding.

The sad truth is, the puppy miller sets in motion the events which so often lead to purebred dogs in need of rescue. Yet, because he operates through a third party, he never has to accept the responsibility for what he has done. Puppy millers never get involved with rescue...unless it is a rescue that will provide them with fresh breeding stock. Until legislation is passed to no longer allow pet shops or brokers to act as third party re-sellers of puppies, there will always be a need for purebred rescue.

People shop on impulse and it is hard to resist the cute puppy in the pet shop. Sometimes rescue organizations in a misguided attempt to rescue a single puppy from a pet shop do a breed more harm than good. Every time a puppy is purchased from a pet shop, it creates another empty spot for the puppy miller to fill. Through noble intentions they keep the puppy miller in business.

Through public education hopefully puppy millers can eventually be put out of production forever. Don’t buy pet shop puppies. There is nothing to be gained by it. Generally pet shop puppies are significantly more expensive in both initial purchase price and eventual upkeep than to buy from a responsible breeder. In the case of pet shop puppies you do not get what you pay for.

A very general definition of a backyard breeder is anyone who breeds dog for a reason other than to improve the breed. These reasons range from wanting to recoup money spent on the purchase of a pet, to believing a bitch needs to be bred once before spaying, to thinking the children need to witness birth, to feeling that they have the best dog ever and all their neighbors and relatives want one just like it.

These are all the wrong reasons for breeding a litter of puppies. If genetics were that simple, we would all have the perfect dog. Chances are far greater that none of the puppies will be like one of the parents. Recent veterinary studies have shown that a bitch’s life will be extended on the average by one full year IF she is spayed before her first heat. Witnessing the birth of puppies is not all it is cut out to be either. It is possible that a puppy will be stillborn or even worse, alive but badly deformed. The miracle of life is only half the story. If your kids are ready for it, take them to a farm and let them see the full cycle, life and death. Finally, breeding a litter of puppies yields very little profit for a very lot of work. The more responsible you are, the less profit to be made. Which brings us back to exactly what this type of breeder tends to be ..... irresponsible.

While there are some people ignorant enough to be breeding puppies because they think their kids need to see this, or because they think everyone in the world needs a dog just like Fluffy, by far the vast majority of backyard breeders are motivated by money. Whatever the reason, these are not people who have any intention of being responsible for their actions.

Fluffy may be wonderful, but not wonderful enough for them to spend the money to prove just how wonderful she is. There will be no dog shows for Fluffy and she will not be tested for genetic disorders prior to breeding. No research into Fluffy’s background will be performed to ensure that an appropriate mate is found. Chances are, Fluffy came from a pet shop, an animal shelter, or was sold as a pet only (not for breeding purposes) by a reputable breeder (for a reason). So, irresponsible action number one is that this backyard breeder is going to breed Fluffy.

Next, here come the puppies. Fluffy is very fertile and there are a bunch of them. If Fluffy was AKC registered, and Fluffy’s mate, the stud down the street is also AKC Registered, then the money-motivated breeder will certainly send that litter registration form and some money to the AKC right away. Because, AKC Registered puppies are more valuable than non-registered ones. For some reason novices seem to think that AKC Registration is synonymous with quality. Yes, it does mean the dog is purebred, but no, it does not mean the dog is of good type and will be representative of the breed. The AKC is merely a registry, they get paid money to keep a database for all registered purebred dogs. The AKC does not personally certify the quality of any dog it registers. It does not send someone out to verify that every dog registered conforms to the type for its breed. The dog could have 3 legs and 4 eyes and the AKC will never know!

This breeder will not generally opt to spend any more money than is absolutely necessary to raise these puppies to selling age. Because this type of breeder is either motivated by money or simply ignorant, it is quite likely that little extra expenses such as dewclaw removal (dewclaw ... what’s that???) or vaccinations and worming will be foregone. Since these people will often find out that none of their friends or neighbors really wanted a replica of Fluffy after all, and because these people do not have contacts in the dog world, a newspaper ad will be the next absolutely required expense. Sometimes these breeders find they are getting tired of their responsibility and are ready to get rid of the puppies as soon as mom gets tired of cleaning up after them. Puppies for sale, 5 weeks old, ready to go, the ad might say. No puppy should leave before seven weeks and some breeds should remain with the breeder much longer.

Finally, the last puppy is sold. It’s over and life can get back to normal, right? For a responsible breeder it is never over. But backyard breeders end their responsibility at the point of sale. Let the buyer beware, if your puppy has a problem three years later are you confident you can call this person back and discuss the problem. Did this breeder tell you they wanted to know if the puppy they bred ever turns up a genetic defect? If they are a backyard breeder, they did not. The only type of breeder that would be interested in that type of information is someone looking to improve the breed.

Finally, the third class of breeders are known as reputable or responsible breeders. Within this category however there are many different levels of responsibility. While all of the breeders in this class are interested in breed improvement, not all of them are actually knowledgeable enough to know what constitutes improvement. After all, you cannot build a better mousetrap if you don’t know what’s wrong with the one you’ve got.

But, every long-time, knowledgeable, reputable, responsible, top quality breeder got his/her start somewhere. If an individual is breeding puppies before they have been actively involved with the breed for at least three or four years, chances are there is little, if any difference between them and a backyard breeder, except perhaps their motivation for doing it. Likewise, there are a number of people claiming to have been in the breed for 30+ years whose own breeding stock could hardly be classified as breed improvement. So why are these people considered reputable?

The fact that they are interested in attempting to improve the breed is what sets these people apart. But as was stated before, it is not enough to say you want to improve the breed, you need to be able to prove it by showing you know what it takes. This breeder cannot become a truly top breeder until he/she learns to recognize the faults in his/her dogs and makes a sincere attempt at reducing or eliminating those faults.

A reputable breeder is selective in placing his/her puppies in good homes. This breeder is careful about selecting breeding stock he believes can improve the breed. He is willing to incur the expenses necessary to prove the quality of his/her stock through competition and genetic screening. He keeps records regarding the genetic history behind his breeding stock and any offspring he produces. If something negative and genetic in nature crops up, he/she takes action to eliminate the problem. This breeder has ethical standards by which he operates. He is willing to educate his clients in the proper care of their puppy. He is proud of what he produces. He would not knowingly sell a sick puppy. He would not knowingly place a puppy of bad temperament in a home not suitable for that puppy. Because this type of breeder is generally breeding to produce something he would want to keep, his breedings are very well planned and his puppies generally of better type and health than those from a puppy mill or backyard breeder.

The important thing for a prospective puppy buyer to know is that the chances of getting a healthy, quality dog are far greater with this type of breeder than with anyone else. That does not mean that puppy millers and backyard breeders never sell healthy, quality puppies. Nor does it mean that all puppies from reputable, responsible breeders are guaranteed for life to be free of any type of health or temperament problem. It is all about odds. If you want to improve your odds of having a long-lived, happy, healthy, well-adjusted pet, buy from a reputable, responsible breeder.

The best way to tell what kind of breeder you are dealing with is to ask some specific questions designed to test the breeder’s knowledge. As stated before, a responsible breeder is interested in bettering the breed. One cannot better the breed unless one has enough knowledge to determine where improvement is needed. So, a responsible breeder, one you can trust, will be someone who has more than just a rudimentary understanding about the breed.

You should expect your breeder to know more about the breed than you do. For the Keeshond, the very first test I would give would be to see if they can pronounce the breed name correctly. Anyone who is interested in improving the breed should at least know how to say Keeshond correctly. The correct pronunciation is Kayz-hawnd ("hond" rhymes with pond and simply means "dog" in Dutch).

Next I would see if they know anything at all about the Breed Standard. To do this you will need to read it yourself. Many backyard breeders do not know that a tawny color to the coat is considered to be a fault. You might ask them if they have any brown puppies, tell them you prefer the brown color over the gray. See what they say. At a minimum they should explain that brown in the coat is extremely undesirable and that they are trying to breed it out, even if they do have a tawny puppy in the litter.

You might ask them if the puppies have spectacles. Spectacles are the delicately penciled in lines that extend from the outside corner of each eye to the lower corner of each ear. These little dark lines resemble the side pieces on a pair of glasses. Spectacles are not the lighter colored rings around each eye. If the breeder doesn’t know what spectacles are, or says the puppies all have great rings around their eyes, he isn’t very knowledgeable.

Ask the breeder what kind of feet the puppies have. If he says they have white feet, he isn’t very knowledgeable. The answer you would be looking for here would be "cat" feet.

Ask the breeder who the sire’s sire and dam were. If he has to get out a pedigree to tell you that, he doesn’t know the background of his breeding stock very well. If he can’t quote names what makes you think he knows anything about the genetics behind his breeding stock?

Ask the breeder if the sire and dam have been OFA’ed. If he at least knows you are referring to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals and asking if the parent’s hips have been x-rayed for hip dysplasia, a disorder which can result in arthritis in the hip joints which may be genetically transmitted, then at least he has done some homework. Not all breeders have the OFA review the x-rays and grade them as being FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT, or FAIL. If they do, then if the hips have passed with at least a FAIR rating, the OFA will assign the dog a number. If the breeder did not send the x-rays to OFA, then at least insist on an evaluation from a veterinarian stating that in his/her opinion the hips are free of dysplasia. Good progress has been made in many breeds towards lowering the incidence of this potentially crippling disorder because the public and breeders are being educated to insist that x-rays be done and dogs with dysplasia not be used for breeding. Understand however, nothing is certain in genetics, even parents with OFA ratings of EXCELLENT may produce offspring that are dysplastic. Responsible breeders do the best job they can to eliminate problems but don’t expect them to be able to guarantee Mother Nature won’t put her own two cents in.

Ask the breeder why he/she bred the litter. If you’re reading this, you’ll know what an acceptable answer should sound like. If there are more than one or two puppies in the litter, ask how many are "show" quality. If the breeder insists they are all show quality he is not knowledgeable enough to know the difference between pet and show quality. If the puppies are less than 6 weeks he should say it is too early to tell. If they are 8 weeks and he still can’t say, he is not very experienced. If the breeder does not compete with his dogs either in obedience or the show ring, remember what I said about a reputable breeder being willing to prove the quality of his stock. It costs money to show a dog. Even the best dog in the world has to go Winners at least 3 times under different judges to complete a championship. It costs time and money to make a champion. If this breeder isn’t willing to put any money behind what he breeds, what makes you think his word will be any more meaningful?

The more you know about the breed the better you will be prepared to determine if the breeder you are dealing with is a good breeder or not. The more you know about the breed the better you will be at picking out a good puppy for you. The best breeders will ask you questions too. Answer them honestly. Your answers will help the breeder direct you to the puppy best suited for you. If you plan to show, only buy your puppy from a successful show breeder. If you want a family pet, do not insist on show quality. The show quality puppy may not always be the best choice in the litter for a family pet.

This does not mean that puppies sold to families as pets are never show quality. Quite often there are more show quality puppies than there are show homes. A responsible breeder is more interested in home quality, even if it means a show puppy goes to a pet home. So why, if a show quality puppy is going to a pet home would the breeder insist the puppy not be bred? A responsible breeder knows that as soon as the puppy is sold, he loses a certain degree of control as to what happens to that dog. His reputation rides on every dog he sells. He has worked a long time to build his reputation up. If the puppy he sold to a pet home somehow ends up being used for breeding and that dog passes on a genetic problem or its offspring continually turn up in rescue, the first person to bear the blame is going to be the breeder that sold that puppy in the first place. It may not be his fault, but he will be blamed for not having been more responsible as his kennel name is the only recognizable name on the pedigrees. Every puppy we sell carries the Cari-On name, we stand behind what we breed. If a pet later ends up in a puppy mill, used for breeding and its offspring end up in rescue, the rescuer’s are going to call us, not some unknown puppy mill who won’t accept responsibility for his dogs. Even though we responsibly produced that puppy and did our best to place it in a good home in good faith, we will be the ones blamed for what that puppy miller has done. It is no wonder that some of the most reputable breeders are also the most protective about who they sell their puppies to.

On the other hand, good breeders as well as rescuers need to realize that some of their own actions may actually serve to perpetuate the existence of puppy millers and backyard breeders. By refusing to sell to some people, they must remember that pet shops aren’t picky about who they sell to. By refusing to work in a positive way with people bent on breeding a litter they are actually forcing that backyard breeder to choose lesser quality stock for breeding. By educating the public to believe that every dog ever bred by a reputable breeder should come with a guarantee to be completely healthy for life they may be misleading the public into thinking breeders can deliver the impossible.

My advice to people looking for a breeder from which to buy a puppy: talk to several breeders, find the one you feel the most comfortable with. Check out the breeder’s kennel, are the dogs there happy, healthy and clean? Are the puppies outgoing? Is the breeder someone you feel you could call when you need help? If so, you’re on the right track.

If you are looking to buy that very first show puppy, be sure and go to some shows, see who’s there and how they exhibit their dogs. Don’t however assume that the person who won that particular day necessarily has the best dogs. Do talk to them while they are grooming or after they exit the ring. If they seem genuinely interested in helping you find a good puppy and willing to teach you about the breed, and they have a few years behind them, they might be a good start. Watch out for the newcomer that already knows everything, they are going nowhere.