I've always heard about stories of puppies scams, but I guess I never took them too seriously....until recently that is. I like to keep an eye on all the puppy sites and see who has beagle puppies listed. I have learned a lot from the way others list their puppies, their websites and how they choose to promote them.
A week ago, I searched one of the top sites for the most recent listings of beagle puppies. I was shocked! There was a puppy listed in San Diego, CA with a picture I recognized. It was a picture we had taken of Buster and had listed on another site. The listing has been offline for sometime and someone had saved this picture (it is the cutest Beagle picture I have to say) and was using it to try to scam others. Needless to say, I was more than a little unhappy.
This person also had 40 other puppies for sale of 40 other breeds, and all with the same birth date! Thankfully the scam alert department there is very responsive even on the weekend and had the listings removed within hours.... but in the week since then, the same scammer has tried twice more. Once they listed from Virginia with 49 puppies and today again with 41 puppies in Oklahoma City. I had no idea that ruthless people were so persistent.
Anyway, just please be careful when searching for your next puppy.
Here are a few things that are warning signs:
1. Listings of many different breeds by one user.
2. Prices that seem too good to be true.
3. Listings with only one picture of the puppy.
4. Listings with very little information given.
5. Someone who is unwilling to show pictures of their parent dogs.
6. Someone who says their dogs have never had any health problems of any kind ever.
7. Someone who promises a fully house-trained puppy.
5. Someone who is unwilling to show pictures of their parent dogs.
6. Someone who says their dogs have never had any health problems of any kind ever.
7. Someone who promises a fully house-trained puppy.
Here are a few signs indicating a respectable breeder:
1. Someone who raises only one breed of dogs.
2. Reasonable prices and policies.
3. Listings with the full amount of pictures possible.
4. Listings with as much information as space will allow.
5. A breeder who has taken time to put together and continually update a website on their dogs.
6. A breeder that will show pictures and descriptions of their parent dogs.
7. A breeder who will discuss the negatives as well as the positives of their particular bloodlines.
7. A breeder who will discuss the negatives as well as the positives of their particular bloodlines.