So it begins...

[DotTheCaddy]

(Not buying a pet through pets4homes but look often through curiosity at older pets for sale)

Seen these two this afternoon. Is this the start of people selling all their lockdown puppies now the restrictions are easing?

[Sitdowncupoftea]

Dogs are for life not just for lockdown.
Unfortunately they are idiots about that dont consider properly. Rescues will be full shortly. I adopted my rescue just after lockdown was relaxed. We wanted another dog and I waited until there was an unwanted lockdown puppy.

[TheoriginalLEM]

This is heart breaking but entirely predictable.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

[Ellmau]

Of course the poor puppy in the OP is a poodle mix and has a cutesy name. Now surplus to requirements bc of absolutely predictable matters.

If circs genuinely do change unexpectedly then these people should be surrendering poor pet to a reputable rescue, not trying to get their money back by selling online.

[BiteyShark]

bloodywhitecat I have seen your posts and no one would think bad of you. That's why fostering is there for when shit gets thrown at you. hope your DH is getting the treatment he needs.

I do think we need to remember that not all people who got pups in lockdown are irresponsible and will abandon them. My dog walker has had calls from people wanting their dogs looked after. In some cases that time with them would have been beneficial to settle them in.

Equally I have seen youngish puppies advertised from the same person as they used the same photos in both adverts. A couple of weeks apart so they decided to get two and want to sell both of them. Now I have no words for that

[bloodywhitecat]

We've had to put our Bitey McBiteFace into foster care while OH is undergoing endless tests for pancreatic cancer and it broke my heart doing so. OH has missed him more than he thought possible so 'owners' like this make me so sad. It worries me that people think badly of us but I have had endless hospital runs to do with OH and one of our fosterlings and our poor boy would've been spending much of his day in a crate which seemed cruel. Instead he has been with his foster mum who was there when he was born and his litter sister, having a blast.

[leafeater]

I'm more worried about the ones who will be left all day with one visit a day, if lucky, from a disinterested dog walker. Then you have a whole heap of mal adjusted puppies going for sale or rescue next Spring..

[stophuggingme]

@RandomMess

I keep checking my local rescue but no lockdown rejects on there yet... I don't particularly want a puppy but would love a 2nd dog.

I just looked where I am and a few cropping up including ten week old lab puppies who have destroyed kids’ lives with allergies in all but seven day’s

[RandomMess]

I keep checking my local rescue but no lockdown rejects on there yet... I don't particularly want a puppy but would love a 2nd dog.

[stophuggingme]

@Wolfiefan
They are not decent people though are they?
I knew who buys a dog because a virus has left them housebound for a few months?

The rescue centres will be full of them soon I fear and then what happens to the dogs nobody ever wanted?

So sad and so wrong
Says a lot about our tacky consumerist society

[stophuggingme]

The people to blame are the people that bought them for the grossly inflated prices these despicable backyard breeders charged during lockdown.
It makes me so angry that we live in a country where grown adults who were a bit bored when the virus and lockdown hit decided to amuse three selves with a “fur baby” for a few months
Then they had to go back to work wherever or get the boot and hey presto. Selling their “baby” like they’re a bundle of children’s toys.

If I read “it’s with a heavy heart” or “due to work commitments” one more time .........

[Wolfiefan]

@lynsey91 but no half decent breeder would sell to someone who wanted a cute pup to amuse the kids in lockdown and hadn’t thought beyond that.
Of course people can face unforeseen circumstances. But no one who gives a shit about their animal flogs it on that site to a total stranger.
People are arseholes so much of the time.

[Soubriquet]

Just had a look for my area and it’s either all dogs being studded out of puppies still being sold for 4 figures. Not even kennel clubbed. Just jack russells and poodles.

No rehoming ads. Yet

[Soubriquet]

Not surprised

Poor pups

All these dogs being sold for stupid prices and I bet they are being re-sold at almost the same price to try and recoup their “costs”

[lynsey91]

Well unwanted dogs/puppies should be going back to their breeder. Any half decent breeder will get you to sign papers saying that if you need to get rid of the dog they MUST go back to the breeder.

Of course there are breeders who don't care what happens to the dog once it has been sold but they are certainly not all like that. Also, obviously, if you give the dog back to the breeder you don't get any money for it. I guess that is a big reason for advertising them.

So many selfish idiots who get a dog with little or no thought.

[Speckledhen617]

BiteyShark I also think that's what a lot of it is. To be perfectly honest I would have rehomed our pup many many times over the last year, its been so much harder than I ever anticipated and the adolescent stage has been awful but I'm not that kind of person. We've made a commitment and we take that commitment seriously plus we do all love him (on the good days!)

[DotTheCaddy]

Another...

[DotTheCaddy]

I agree that some people have had their lives turn upside down, but a lot of the ads I saw were by people just going back to work not losing their jobs.

[RoseAndRose]

I don't think anyone can predict what their lives will be like for the next 15 years.

Yes, there will be some twats who really don't think through the pros and cons properly. But alongside them will be those who have found their lives upended in ways they could not possibly have anticipated

[BiteyShark]

I'm not sure it is about going back to work because if people can afford a couple of thousand pounds for a lockdown puppy I would have though a few pounds on daycare or a walker would be a drop in the ocean.

I think it boils down to the fact that puppies are biting, peeing, pooing, monsters and then the teenage attitude kicks in. They look as if they should be easy but aren't and unless you understand that phase will pass I think it's easy to think WTF have I done and find an excuse like 'circumstances have change' and rehome.

[SBTLove]

@RoseAndRose
These are all the things you have to consider when taking on a dog, hence why rescues do thorough home checks unlike breeders who just sell to anyone.
If you can’t commit to 15 years and will adapt to suit your dogs needs them dont get one.

[thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter]

@RoseAndRose

Not everyone predicted that they might be made unemployed after furlough, an dhave to take a new job with dog-unfriendly hours and no money left over for a sitter. Or that they would separate and have both housing and income thrown into uproar.

None of us have a magic spell that will guarantee the life will not throw us highly disruptive events.

So yes, this was seen coming because of the likelihood of people not being able to keep to a dog-friendly life, but also no not every person will have seen it coming to them.

This might bring down the prices of new puppies?

Obviously no one has a crystal ball and I do really feel for people who get a wild curveball like a sudden serious illness. But to get a puppy whilst furloughed, during a global pandemic where economies are so uncertain and we face a future of austerity is shortsighted to say the least.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

Also, notify Pets4Home and they should pull the add. They did with the one I saw yesterday.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

I saw one on a breed FB page yesterday, copied from Pets4Homes: 12 week old dog.

TBF there are always dogs coming up for rehoming, and in this case the owner wasn't looking to make a profit, but at minimum he should have checked the breeder out more carefully, and the breeder.... well, she is known in the breed for less-than-ideal practices. I'd already heard of her reputation before this.

I had hoped that this wouldn't happen, but it looks as if it's going to.

Does anyone know at what Lucy's law ceases to apply (that a puppy must be seen with its mother at the time of sale)?

[RoseAndRose]

Not everyone predicted that they might be made unemployed after furlough, an dhave to take a new job with dog-unfriendly hours and no money left over for a sitter. Or that they would separate and have both housing and income thrown into uproar.

None of us have a magic spell that will guarantee the life will not throw us highly disruptive events.

So yes, this was seen coming because of the likelihood of people not being able to keep to a dog-friendly life, but also no not every person will have seen it coming to them.

This might bring down the prices of new puppies?

[DotTheCaddy]

In my area it seems every other dog for sale is a french bulldog - obviously people just having them as a lockdown fashion accessory without thinking it through. Makes me so cross.