Puppy farm or not, that is the question?

[Jane S]

What's the difference between a 'commercial breeder' and a 'puppy farmer'?  Seems to me that the first is just a more polite name for the second!

There can be a fine line between the two that's for sure and also it can depend on what your definition of a puppy farm is - it can vary depending on who you're talking to. You can definitely distinguish between those that breed puppies on an industrial scale from hundreds of bitches (often kept in squalid conditions in remote areas) with no health testing or veterinary care and those who keep say 20 bitches and a couple of stud dogs in clean, licensed conditions and who do at least some health testing. Both are breeding dogs for profit but there is a clear difference between these two types of volume breeder, wouldn't you agree?

[Toni-UK]

Absolutely agree 

[Snoopy]

What's the difference between a 'commercial breeder' and a 'puppy farmer'?  Seems to me that the first is just a more polite name for the second!

There can be a fine line between the two that's for sure and also it can depend on what your definition of a puppy farm is - it can vary depending on who you're talking to. You can definitely distinguish between those that breed puppies on an industrial scale from hundreds of bitches (often kept in squalid conditions in remote areas) with no health testing or veterinary care and those who keep say 20 bitches and a couple of stud dogs in clean, licensed conditions and who do at least some health testing. Both are breeding dogs for profit but there is a clear difference between these two types of volume breeder, wouldn't you agree?

Very well put. 

[black taz]

i think you have to go with your gut feeling - if something doesnt feel right then it probably isnt.

When i got my lab, the breeder had 9 dogs of her own - who were kept in kennels outside, but they were working labradors (as in the sense they were "worked")  so i think this is fairly standard.  She had had two litters of pups within a week and had 18 pups for sale.  However, at no point did she rush me to make a decision, although i didnt check the kennels she bought the mum and dad in and both were in excellent condition.  The three pups she bought in were all confident, clean and happy, and i felt very confident that they were all well looked after.

I bumped into one of Kira's 1/2 sister a couple of months later, and the breeder had given a number of the puppies to the police force for them to train for various tasks, which apparently she had done in the past.  She had also kept the pups and extra 3 weeks so that they did get bought as christmas presents.