I stole a puppy from a backstreet breeder and hand reared her AMA

[pinafour]

'Puppy' is 9 now.

When I say 'stole' I did end up begrudgingly paying a small amount, only to avoid potential consequences. But breeder did want the puppy back.

Breed and age at rescue?

How did you first find out about the puppy , and what condition was she in when you found her ?

5 days. Mix of wolf-like breeds, hard to be 100% sure but the breeder did have Mum and Mum's Mum and Dad (alleged) at the house so I saw them.

Well you can't have been a very good thief if you got caught. How did you actually steal it?

Hang on you took a five-day-old puppy away from its mother and you think you are a better person than a backyard breeder?!!

Why?

Housemate of someone I knew. I was told a pup had been rejected, breeder wasn't registered with any vets and was trying to feed pup cows milk, soy milk.

Lethargic, listless. At least 48 hours without sustenance.

Well done 💪🏼

I said I would hand-rear and return once weaned. I couldn't, given the state of the house and I knew I'd not live with myself if I did that and hadn't a clue where the pup ended up. I got too attached and didn't trust the breeder.

Mum had rejected the pup.

Pup was a Dam reject. I said I would return once weaned, and then didn't.

What kind of milk do you use?

Did you literally sneak the puppy out under your jumper? Or pretend you wanted to buy it?

Did you report them to rspca?

I got some formula from a vet.

No, I said I would take her as the breeder could not get her to feed, even with the formula and the house was an absolute midden. Dog crap everywhere, clutter, rubbish. I am lucky the breeder agreed as they were incredibly dodgy and I did not want to get on the wrong side of them.

I reported, but only once the pup was legally mine and no consequences could come about. Nothing came of it, as far as I know they never did anything.

Thank you! I wonder if they're still doing it now?

I do know that the breeder has had at least one more litter since the one my dog came from.

That's a shame. Is it not potentially a police matter? Selling the dogs in itself for profit if they're produced in this way is illegal isn't it?

I hope you are continuing to badger the RSPCA to take action. If the house is full of dog crap, does the human need some sort of support too? Social services?

My friend did similar her "puppy " lived until he was 15, he was a mixed breed that some addicts were trying to sell so she "bought" him.he was 4 weeks old.

Anyway is your dog clingy to you. Because of the hand rearing ?

It is, but as is with most crimes there needs to be solid proof. With this breeder, she would just say she'd not turned a profit or the litter was accidental or both.

It would have all been cash and word of mouth, she was a 'career criminal'. I do wish the world was different but I cannot see any police officer being paid to painstakingly go through historical social media records of people they'd have to initially track down, and through the breeder's situation in order to prove that a profit had been turned or indeed that a dog had been bred purposely. It just wouldn't happen, the resources arenot there.

Larger operations, sure but not some random person breeding one dog on a dodgy estate to make a few £.

When I was more involved, in the early days, I actually did write a letter about her to her GP about her other difficulties (hoarding etc). With her permission of course. I am not sure if anything happened there.

4 weeks is still so young too. Mine didn't have her eyes open even when I got her. It was very touch and go, lots of vet appointments and lots of health worries. Good on your friend!

Very clingy, very closely bonded. And extremely protective of me.

I did make an effort to have her visit her siblings in the early days as I know this is important, but it wasn't as often as I would have liked jsut for logistical reasons and the breeder not being very diligent to get Mum dog out of the way meaning it wasn't for very long.

My dog has had some behavioural issues, but overall is fabulous and for a hand-reared dog of difficult breeding, is not bad at all.

Yeah I see the dilemma. Or rather the fact it's not big enough scale for them to bother. Really sad.

I don't nick dogs and cats - too much trouble. An telly's so bleedin' big these days you need a van to move 'em.

It's real 'ard these days to be a honest, hard-working, old-fashioned.tea-leaf.

I fink I may just try doing haircuts. Can't be difficult these days, just shave round the bowl and Bob's yer uncle ten quid in yer back.pocket.

In fairness, this wasn't a 'stick it up your jumper' type of theft.