The reality is that it just isn’t that black and white, however much people want to distinguish between puppy farms/backyard breeders and so called reputable breeders.
The reality is that all poodle crosses are bred for the money pure and simple. They’re designer mongrels with a high price tag which is only attainable because people are prepared to pay for them.
But the other reality is that while many puppy farms really are the horrible places we see on watchdog and the like, many are simply backyard breeders who have allowed the family pet to fall pregnant by the neighbour’s dog or whatever. And the other reality, however much people would like to dispute it is that very few puppies have serious health problems which would have been picked up if they’d been bred through so-called reputable means, and as such most people who buy a puppy from a backyard breeder will get a dog which will live out its days happy and healthy. Which is why the trade continues to be successful.
I will state at this point that I am not in the market for any kind of doG so have no agenda here. But what I will say is that of three people I know who bought puppies, two bought from questionable sources i.e. one almost certainly a puppy farm given it was a maltese and had nine puppies (maltese just don’t have that many,) and the other had been bought from a couple who originally bought it from gumtree, those two dogs are crossbreeds and are perfectly healthy with no underlying health problems associated with their various breeds. Whereas the third is a pure breed, where the breeder was long researched, had a good reputation, known within the dog circles, the individual waited several months for a puppy, and that dog has had all manner of health problems throughout its life despite the parents having been health tested and the owner having proof of that fact.
So even with pure bred dogs there are absolutely no guarantees even if you go with a reputable breeder.