To wonder why anyone would buy a puppy through gumtree or the like?

[SummerGems]

I’m not talking so much about why people would buy a puppy from a backyard breeder as that’s a discussion in its own right, but why anyone would log on to their local gumtree, look up the pets for sale adverts, and call the owner and arrange to go and collect a living breathing animal without having first met the “breeder” the dogs or had anything to do with them before jumping in the car and coming home with said puppy, usually at vast expense.

Looking at my local gumtree there are puppies for sale for as much as £2000, and even one for £1700 which is described at being available at “the bargain price of.....” . A bargain? For a living animal? .

Why?

On some level I can sort of see how someone might know someone locally with puppies and end up taking one. I wouldn’t but I can see how it happens. But answering an advert on a buying/selling website and collecting an animal from a complete stranger after handing over often upwards of a grand for what might even be a mongrel masquerading as a genuine breed (i.e. cockerpoo/cavachon/labradoodle and I even saw one described as a pomchi the other day, just why would anyone do that?

They are probably just not as good as you!

Probably because they don’t know any better. How should you go about buying a puppy or kitten?

Well the ones that are given away for free or sold at a token price...

A lot of those end up as dog-fight bait.

Charities often have such restrictive adoption rules that some of them seem more like animal hoarders rather than actually wanting to rehome their animals. And I say that as a vegetarian who would always rather "adopt than shop". I don't have a dog, but a friend who had wanted one for years was turned down by the RSPCA because she worked full time - even though she was going to get a dog walker to come in every day, and she has a well-paid job where the money for this was not a problem. She ended up going to Gumtree, and she and her pup are very happy. People work, its a fact, and rescue centres need to have a more modern way of thinking.

A friend of a friend bought a puppy from something like this....

That evening the dog had to be put down by the vet.....

Having a puppy go to a full time worker could be a potential disaster. Not all dogs can cope being left. And the charity has to pick up the pieces.
@Digggers there can’t be a single person alive who hasn’t heard of puppy farmers. It’s not a case of being naive. These people choose not to do appropriate research before taking on a pet.

That’s a good point, my friend was turned down for a dog by Battersea as even though the dog would have someone at home pretty much all re time, they says no as she’d never had a dog before

She was after an older dog too, not a pup. She did end up getting one being advertised over the internet- a dog that just wasn’t getting on with the family’s other dogs. It’s a reactive dog tbh and is going to need a lot of patience and training.

I rehomed a lab puppy from Gumtree as I wanted a slightly older dog as My existing dog is too old to cope with a 12 week old puppy. We rehomed a beautiful golden lab who was 6 months old and too much of a handful for the people who owned him as he was no longer an andrex puppy. I was unable to find this sort of dog from anywhere else. Rescue places rarely get labs, and we need to make sure our existing lab was able to tolerate the newcomer before committing.

I got a fab pup and fab kitten on gumtree. Didn’t really know where to look so researched everything. Went to all the dog pounds and none had a single dog suitable for us (small children and they only had older dogs not suitable with children at all). Researched breeders but they were crazy money. Gumtree had a small few mentioned (cats and dogs) and with the pup, it was an excellent price because she had no papers, but was exactly the dog we were looking for. Phoned, met dog in its own home with its siblings and parents and grandmother. She’s an amazing dog 4 yrs later. And constantly commented on as show quality. I’m still in touch with the seller to give the odd update. The cat was the same. Cross breed and just gorgeous. Not a big price. Went and picked her up. Best cat ever. I would buy on gumtree because it’s just a tool for finding things. You can still do due diligence. I wouldn’t sell an animal on it because you can’t do due diligence on it in that direction. If it becomes clear it’s a puppy farm sale on gumtree you can walk away. I’ve got two of the best pets I’ve ever had from there.

@sohelpmegoad there are breed specific places.
@Hideandgo you were lucky. Too many people get suckered into buying from puppy farmers or people who CBA to spay their cats when they can make money out of kittens. Puppy farms aren’t always obvious.
Nobody who truly gave a shit about their animals would flog them online.

And it can sometimes be very obvious when it’s not a puppy farm.....

Puppy farmers hire houses. They draft in “families” and a stunt bitch and claim they are home reared. It’s bloody hard to spot.

Not a puppy but I bought my cat from preloved, we tried to adopt but neither of our local cat charities would allow us to as we both work full time! I know my cat was the result of a very young unneutered female escaping. If I could've adopted I would have. The owner of the female seemed genuine, she'd been keeping her in until she was old enough to be spayed but she got out of an upstairs window. Also she was charging £25 a kitten and they'd been dewormed, defleaed and seen by a vet (given paperwork) so I think she was literally not even covering her costs. If there hadn't been someone else there at the same time I probably would've taken both kittens.

Because it's easy and quick.

Not everyone wants to jump through the hoops that an animal charity requires to rehome a puppy. Not everyone wants to spend weeks researching breeders and getting their names on a waiting list for a puppy, then potentially wait months or years.

People are prepared to risk it.

Unfortunately people either don't realise that a lot of the family home puppies are actually puppy farm dogs or they believe the advert.....

I recently sent loads of information about buying a puppy to my colleague after I saw them on gumtree looking at puppies!

Where do people buy mongrols from them or any kind of cross breed? When I was looking I wanted an adult dog, I looked at several rehoming charities but none had small dogs which is what I wanted.
I then looked on gumtree and found a lady who had several dogs she was having to rehome as she was moving to a smaller house. We visited her twice and actually got two little dogs from her as they were brother and sister and she didn't want them separated. They were obviously her much loved pets, she was quite upset and had all the paperwork and chip details. Nothing wrong with that, surely.

We're involved with a reasonably rare breed needing expert handling. We've bought adults and puppies online with the intention of donating them straight on to our specialist rescue organisation foster carers to get them out of the situations they're in and eventually on to experienced homes.

None had small dogs at the time. Others would have been prepared to wait.

The fashion for ‘oodles’ has meant big business for puppy farming, I think. And if you think most pups on gumtree are coming from happy family homes and the owner just breeds them as a little side venture or simply has to rehome due to some unforeseen circumstance I’m afraid in most cases you’re being conned.

Interesting question and I think that
A) because you can compare prices (I idly did for my breed this week)
B) it says if the parents are KC registered/health tested
C) it lets you look for puppies available immediately people don’t like waiting
D) there are actually what appear to be reasonable breeders on there.

The immediacy is appealing: many people buy on impulse and shock, horror, it does work out ok occasionally. Plus people like a bargain. I could buy a puppy of my breed on there for about £300 less than I would from health tested working proven parents (not that I would) but I see why people do.

Not dogs but guinea-pigs.

I read the Gumtree adverts , there are a good few breeders and many more who "want to get rid" because the owner has no time/ moving to a smaller house/kids allergies/kids lost interest/kids got a puppy or kitten /going on holiday (and obvs don't want to pay boarding)

They usually ask for " £30 to ensure a good home" bi ironic as they paid and offered a shit home .
Sometimes the added incentive of the "huge cage" (it isn't)
And many young single males , they should not be kept alone.

I phoned a couple of adverts where they "needed rehomed urgently" and there was the £20 tag. I offered to donate to a Rescue and get the reciept sent to them to prove I had the animals' interest . Met with a "No I want the money"

I said I was offering a good, full lifetime knowledgeable home but I wasn't prepared to let them profit from their pets situation ( ie misery)

My rational was , I would and have paid between £10-£60 for my pigs from Rescue , so I don;t expect a freebie. But I could avoid the animal going from A-B-C.

Though in reality , getting from Rescue (even though it's more time consuming , more travel, and they do check up on the facilities for them) is better all round . It frees up space and they get the £.

Funny how many Gumtree sellers only accept Buyer Collects, they obviously don't give a shit where the animal ends up or they are fantastic judges of character with an inbuilt lie detector

Wanting a ‘bargain price’ and ‘available immediately’ should not be on the most wanted list for a responsible dog owner, though.

I bought our dog from an ad and I'm fully aware of puppy farms and that it is best to buy from a reputable breeder.

I was looking online for a certain breed and well as breeders you get the usual links to Gumtree and Pets at Home. Imo not everyone who advertisers on these sites is some heartless breeder or running a puppy farm.

Our puppy came from a lovely family who vetted me before they'd even let me go and see the puppy. The mum and dad dogs are their pets and both were present at all our visits. Both parents and puppies are KC registered with full health checks and our pup came with a bed, toys, food and temporary insurance. I'm still in touch with the sellers 5 years later and have met up a few times with mum & dad dog and the siblings.

My previous dog was non KC registered and I bought him from a newspaper ad (before the internet) as a puppy. Again the owner had both mum and dad and tbey were present when I went to visit. I had him 14 years and he w

For the most part I expect it's that people don't know where to look.

We are first time dog owners, and wanted a 'fashionable cross breed' (not because they are fashionable), and it was because I lurked on the doghouse threads on here for a few years before hand that I knew how to approach getting a dog from a reputable breeder. Otherwise, I might not have realised.

We have just rehomed a Lab bitch via a proper rescue. She will be 3 in November, and has already had 2 or possibly 3 litters. She is gorgeous in every way, good looking, fantastic temperament etc etc.

I am sure her puppies were sold as 'bred at home', you can see mum and maybe even dad etc. But somehow, now she's a bit worn out from breeding with the saggy belly etc she ended up in rescue. Luckily she has fallen on all four paws with us, but this is what people do with animals when they can see a profit.

Yep. They do. People say “I got a doodle off Gumtree and he’s lovely”. Completely misses the point. The mum? Putting money in these people’s pockets?
If people need to rehome then they should do so through a rescue. If they don’t want kittens and puppies then they should spay or neuter. There’s no excuse.