With the dawning of the aged of the internet, the buying of anything online continues to become more and more popular. Puppies and dogs for sale are no exception, with breeders now able to offer their puppies for sale from across town, the other side of the state, across the country – even the world.

Of course just like with buying anything off the internet, buying a puppy off the internet requires a certain amount of care be taken.

  • Only buy from registered breeders. This is the best way to ensure you are buying from a breeder that actually exists. Check references regarding the breeder.
  • See the health records of the parents and grandparents of your potential new puppy.
  • See photos of the puppy you are going to buy. View a video even, in this day and age where even cheap cameras do high definition video and its free to load such videos to Youtube seeing a video of your potential puppy should be no problem. The amount of people that just assume they are getting a wonderful dog, and don’t bother to see a photo first…
  • Discuss with the breeder whether they neuter their puppies before sale. Some do, as they only sell their puppies as pets, keeping their breed stock for their own breeding program. If you were expecting to breed your puppy later on, this is important!
  • Consider using an escrow agent if it’s a very expensive puppy or dog, so that funds are released only when you sign for that the dog or puppy has arrived.

Things to watch out for.

  • Offers that sound too good to be true, simply are.  If you see a puppy for sale well below the asking price of most breeders, it’s likely the puppy does not exist.
  • If someone is claiming they are going overseas and need to sell their dog fast and can you put your money in their foreign bank account or wire it via Western Union? It’s a scam, don’t do it.
  • Yorkies, designer mixes, huskies and bulldogs are popular breeds, so are especially targeted by scammers.
  • Beware private sellers looking to rehome their wonderful dog, free to a good home, if you will just forward the freight costs. It’s a scam.
  • Don’t buy a puppy from a pet shop. The breeding history will be dubious, perhaps coming from a puppy farm. Certainly no reputable breeder would ever let their puppies be sold in a pet shop so the puppies offered there MUST be coming from a suspect source.
  • Don’t buy from overseas unless you are an experienced dog breeder with the knowledge as to how to make it work out. Many overseas deals are scams or at best, you don’t get the quality of animal you were promised.