The puppies of Craigslist

[bock]

Just in time for the holidays, Craigslist seems to be overflowing with puppies. A variety of "chugawas", "pugawas", "doodles", and "pocket pitbulls", as well as all the "pet quality" purebreeds. All ranging anywhere between $50 and $450. Then, there is the lovely, "Puppys, call for info." Can't they at least spell puppies right? In addition, there are the ever-present "pet quality" German shepherd and pomeranian, with a stud fee of only $100!

Not to mention, the German shepherd does not even LOOK pure breed. Also, many of these puppies are advertised as only being 6, sometimes 5 weeks old. WAY to young to be leaving mom.

It is a sad sight.

Although breeding pets for profit is not supposed to be allowed on cl, all these byb's have to do is call their outrageous prices a rehoming fee. It is sad seeing all these innocent animals being sold like a worthless piece of furniture. Preying on people who either don't know any better, or flat out don't care. I wonder what I should do when I see these ads. Flag them in hopes of preventing future litters, or let them sell the puppies so they don't end up dumped on the side of the road or abandoned at the shelter. I feel helpless when I see the countless ads, people selling puppies for a quick buck. On the other hand, there are the people legitimately trying to rehome their pets, or trying to find good homes for rescued puppies. It is hard to tell who is honest and who isn't. Craigslist is good for many things, but they seriously need to do something about all the byb's in the pets section. To me, it is inexcusable and has been allowed to go on for far too long. Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get it off my chest. Praying for all the puppies of craigslist...

 

[LyonFuzz]

I whole-heartedly agree with you Bock....it's heartbreaking when companion animals are used for filling someone's pockets with $$. Even sadder when a child gets a much too young puppy or sick one for Christmas Too many impulse buys and not enough education/research for sure.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

It's sad. I blame the byb's just as much as I blame the impulse buyers... it's always the animals that suffer.

 

[dainerra]

our wal-mart parking lot is full of people selling puppies this time of year. Last Saturday, there were 3 that I saw. A litter of lab/akita puppies for $40. Pitbull puppies for $100. The other truck didn't have a sign, but some kind of small fluffy poo-looking dogs. Those sold out first, but all of them were doing a steady business.
I know one of the women who was buying a puppy - she was a co-worker. I know that they can barely afford to feed themselves and the kids, but they were buying a lab/akita puppy. I could hear her and her husband arguing over it. "Oh it will be a great Christmas gift for the kids" "We won't have to buy anything for him. We have rope and he can sleep under the porch. He'll eat scraps so we won't have to buy dogfood."

Honestly, just sickening. They ended up taking home a little girl and I felt like crying. It was supposed to be in the mid-20s that night and this little girl would be all alone under someone's porch. Of course, the people didn't care. After the money changes hands, the dog is yours - do whatever you want with it. It's like the rant a few days ago about breeders making up rules for what you can do with their dogs - this is why!!! It's part of the screening process to weed out people that shouldn't own a chia pet, let alone a dog.

Of course, Singe got propositioned several times. I know he's gorgeous (I'm not biased, honestly!

) but these people knew nothing about him except that he had "boy parts". For all they knew he was a walking vet bill, but it didn't matter. Puppies would be cute and would sell fast. Of course, with his drive they'd go to the pound even faster because he is more than the average person would want to deal with.

Flag the ads. Craigslist is pretty cool about removing them quickly. Sometimes an honest ad gets flagged by mistake, but they can just repost. Flag away!

 

[dainerra]

Quote:
I put 99.9999% on the buyer. If the money wasn't there, the byb wouldn't be either. Even if they sell the last pups for $50 or dump them at the pound (where a lot of them go) they have made enough of a profit that doing it again seems like a good idea. Of course, they can make a profit selling pups cheaply because they don't do anything to make sure they are healthy. No vet checks on mom and dad, no prenatal care for mom (even if that just meant better food), no vet checks for the puppies, no shots, often no worming.

 

[zazouse]

Sad as it is alot of folks don't think far enough ahead to relize that it cost more to raise a litter than to have there dog fixed most of the time, like the folks that say i am gonna have um fixed with the money i make off the pups

.
Seems we have turned into a disposable world, pretty sad.

 

[Mattemma]

Sad to see them all.I cringe when I see free pets.Have read stories of people taking in the animals(into nasty conditions) and then trying to resell them. Poor animals.

 

[carolinagirl58]

It's all about supply and demand. If the world wasn't full of idiot buyers who are happy to buy a puppy out of the back of a truck in Walmart's parking lot or at the flea market, then there would be no need for the backyard breeders. Eliminate the impulse pet store puppy buyers and there would be no need for puppy mills. There is no getting through to most people. They look at the up-front cost of the puppy instead of the long term costs associated with a poorly bred dog. It's just so sad for all of those poor puppies and also the poor breeding stock who spend their short lives cranking out puppies just to supply an uneducated puppy buyer's whims.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Around here, breeders get flagged on CL. CL is for rehoming pets. Puppy mills and BYB can go buy an ad somewhere like any other business or use some other site that allows breeders.

You'll never see a good breeder peddling puppies on CL.

 

[AuroraSprings]

Quote:

I've even tried persuading my family (including my husband - before we were dating), no luck. No one listens, they just see a cheap and easy fix. Now, we have a HUGE Great Dane with severe fear issues and mange. The newest Great Dane BYB-buy is only 6 months old and has such back hocks and hips, I wonder if he'll even make it to 2 years old. Which is what happened to the impulse-bought German Shepherd that had to be put to sleep.

It's shameful that my own family is so ignorant and I've spent so much time rescuing and attempting to educate.