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?

Didn't mean to post then, my previous dog although not KC registered was a beautiful example of his breed and never had any health problems.

You need to use common sense, not all sellers on ads are puppy farmers and not all KC registered breeders are reputable.

@HarrietKettle was that a specific dog she was turned down for? We all make mistakes with our first dog (Lord knows I have) and some dogs do genuinely need an owner that's had a dog before and made most of their mistakes already. Typically it's because that dog has some behavioural issues that need work.

I'm pretty sure Battersea don't have a blanket policy of no first time owners.

We were turned down by a rescue for a specific dog. They felt she would do better in a house with an existing dog. If it goes wrong the charity has to pick up the pieces. They want to rehome once and find the best place for the animal so I understood.

Funny thing is I contacted a reputable breeder via her website and was interested in her cats but, as a responsible owner continued to search for other cats only to shock horror find her on pets 4 homes also. What does that tell you about reputation? How do you judge a good breeder is it one that advertises via a website and you can visit the family? Does that rule out the farming side? No.

@70isalimit I've done similar with hamsters - on the various that the rescue network for small furries is very limited and there's much less that can go wrong with a hamster than a dog. Plus, Pets at Home source their hamsters from the rodent equivalent of puppy farms, so they are no better. I typically go for ones where the child has got bored, and avoid litters like the plague.

Anyway, I've had people hand over animals without even asking my name, let alone what I planned to do with it. One woman memorably handed me a hamster she was keeping in a bucket (that one died three weeks later). Another is still with me, having come in a tiny cage that didn't even have a house let alone a wheel.

I would always rescue where possible. All our cats are.
Our dog came from a breeder. We chose an actual breed. Not a cross. Contacted the breed club. Went to shows. Made friends and contacts. Asked questions and got put on breeders’ lists. And waited. And waited.
We now have a two year old dog. Our breeder doesn’t have a website. She only breeds when she wants the next generation. Having a website would put me off TBH. Too much like a business.

X post.
Hamster in a bucket
Some people shouldn’t be allowed pets.

We got our puppy from Pets4Homes. We tried for a rescue dog but were turned down because we openly said there may possibly be a single day per week that the house could be empty from 08.00 till 4pm and would arrange a dog walker. They said we were unsuitable because of this.

We then decided to go for a puppy and googled ‘xxx puppies near xxxx. Pets4Homes came and we browsed. He’s healthy & beautiful. I had no idea prior to buying him that buying via a Pet website was so badly thought of and risky. We had read the cautionary advice on the website & puppy sites and followed that.

I can see why it’s important to be vigilant and not impulsive , but I don’t agree that everyone who uses a website is irresponsible. Our puppy was one of 10 in the litter.. we visited to ‘reserve’ at 3 weeks, visited again at 5 weeks and took home at 9 weeks.

Saw KC registered mum each time. Pup came with first month insurance included, chipped & first vaccinations.
We were given a toy & blanket from the whelping box to take away when we collected.
The pups were bred deliberately via a KC registered dad (we were told, didn’t meet).

Got KC registration through the post couple of weeks after collecting. Pet checks show the dog is healthy - he’s ten months now and wonderful.

We may have just got lucky but If we were going to have a second puppy I would certainly look at Pets4Homes again, and assess the mum, environment & breeder as and when it came to it.

Because they are
A) ignorant twats
B) don't care/ can't be arsed to find out about animal welfare
C) don't give a flying fuck about actually researching responsible dog ownership, but just want a cute ickle puppy of the right flavour, and want it right now.

The mum can be a stunt bitch
The home may be rented.
The breeder may be a good actor.
I would never buy online.

I bought my cat through gumtree. I tried rescues as was turned down because I have a dog (fantastic with cats), live near a main road (it isn't, it services the houses in my street and is a dead end so no through traffic) and work (but there are other people in the house)

I had a pair of older cats and one had been pts due to ill health. My other cat was desperately lonely and she needed a friend. I tried doing it was the proper way and was turned down.

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

Well of course it shouldn’t, @HarrietKettleWasHere but some people think that way and aren’t prepared to wait up to 18 months on a breeder’s list, nor do they care or even know about health testing. Also, the current popular breeds are on there, Frenchies, pugs, poo crosses.

Disgusting, adopt,adopt,adopt!! If you want a pedigree for some insane reason, you should be forced to neuter.

Aside from working dogs they should be no reason to breed.

I got my beautiful boy from gumtree ... never had a problem with him so glad I got him x

Avocados no, this was at the Old Windsor site. They said they didn’t have a dog available that could be considered suitable for a first time dog owner.

She didn’t want a huge dog, but wasn’t bothered about breed and was fully prepared to take on an older one.

I got my beautiful boy from gumtree.... so glad I got him x

I want a pedigree lab, after working on this for several months we've decided on show breed rather than working. Now what? I don't have time for dog shows every weekend that are miles away and going through a breed club is no guarantee of quality.

You judgy fuckers are so unhelpful

Harriet they said they didn’t have a dog available at that moment in time. Not that you could never adopt from them. And there are rescues.
Stressed you’d hate me. I have an unneutered pedigree show dog. Show dogs are generally unneutered but I have zero interest in breeding and will always keep her away from other dogs when she’s in season.

My Dsis bought her bull dog on Gumtree. She went to the breeders home a few times, he had both parents there.

Is it always wrong, do some genuine breeders advertise on internet sites.

If you don’t have time to go to a couple of shows then do you really have time to have a high energy dog?
In my breed the breed club is absolutely a guarantee of a decent breeder.

Wolfiefan I do understand that but there were so many dogs awaiting a decent home (and totally not all suitable for her I get that) and they made her feel like she was really chancing her arm wanting a dog from a rescue when she’d never had one before. The implication was that they had a lot of experienced dog owners wanting a dog before they’d offer one to her.

a relative of mine sold her puppies on gumtree and two men bought one and paid her £700 in counterfit money, silly woman didnt even check it just “stuffed it in her bra”

How do some of you that bought on Gumtree not accept that the set-up you see the puppies in might be totally fake? Or do you just not want to admit that?

Charities often have such restrictive adoption rules that some of them seem more like animal hoarders rather than actually wanting to rehome their animals.

This. We were getting nowhere trying to adopt a cat with charities. We live in a flat. Got ours from FB selling site. The guy was a twat. Was first wanting 50 quid for her, a photo of just her backside. So people starting asking questions and finally he said, 'Whatever, you have her for nuthin'. Travelled hours to collect her on a bank holiday. He was living in some dive and a pit bull type dog growling at us and practically shoved the cat, whom he called 'cat' at us. She's so lovely! Someone had been to the trouble of spaying her already and we had her vet checked and microchipped. It's a very large flat and she has 2 cat trees, one on each floor. She's settled wonderfully and we're so happy to have her.

Because people are really fucking stupid.

Because people are really fucking impatient.

Because people are really fucking lazy.

Those are the only reasons, and anything else is just excuses.

Oh, and StylishMummy - I can already tell you're not the type of person for a Lab. Please don't buy one.