What happens to the puppies?

[Bruisername]

Dd likes to browse pets4homes (in the same way I browse Rightmove!). She looks at 2 specific breeds normally and there aren’t that many for sale normally (10-15 litters). Often they are ready to go - 12-15 weeks.

what happens to these puppies if they are not sold? I never see these breeds at rescues. Dd asked the question when she was an ad for a 4 month old and asked why you don’t see ads for older dogs

(I’m aware there will be puppy farms on there and we are not buying - she just likes to look at photos of puppies and we have talked about puppy farms etc)

We have border collies, they seem to sell pretty quickly. I wouldn't get one at 12/16 weeks,you have missed the very important window for socialising. I have bought puppies on these sites, BUT, only locally,(well within 100 mile radius,) and having seen them and the parent dogs. I have a 13 week old puppy,we first met her at 2 weeks,and followed her progress by video.

Nothing wrong with browsing these sites. Normally they will reduce the price as they get older and advertise more.

I would no more buy a dog from one of these sites than I would buy one form Fbk marketplace.

sorry I didn’t want to have a discussion around using the sites but more what happens to unsold puppies - particularly pure bred.

in the past we have not been able to adopt as we had young kids. Now when we look at adoption the dogs are rarely of a breed we would consider - and we are not set on a puppy either - would be happy with an older dog

If you contact the breed clubs for the breeds you are interested in they have a network which would know about older dogs who are available for rehoming.

Contact them now and build a relationship with them so that they will bear you in mind if a suitable dog becomes available.

The price just gets lowered, they eventually sell.

Well that’s good to know!

They definitely do end up in rescues, just people bite their hands off for puppies so they go very quickly.
Look at Many Tears rescue, full of puppies from unsold litters

I should add I spoke to 2/3 big rescues when I was looking for a dog and they mentioned they had puppies, but they don’t put them on the website as they get flooded with unsuitable applicants.

From puppy farms (which they are when advertising ready to go pups), unfortunatly most won't end up in rescue if unsold. They'll be used for dog fighting or go in a ditch

That’s what my concern was cmot.

we do have a dog who we would like to get a companion for but it’s very difficult so we’ve pretty much decided not to

Have a look at Many Tears. They prefer to re-home where there is already a resident dog. We rescued an ex-stud dog from them earlier this year and he is an absolutely amazing dog😍

12 week old pup tied to a fence in south Manchester, there are increasing puppy dumps appearing

Many of them get dumped at the side of the road or worse, unfortunately.

I have an occasional weird obsession with pets4homes, though mostly in a 'how utterly disgusting is back yard breeding' kind of way. The prices just seem to drop as the puppies get older. There were a worrying amount of xl bully puppies still for sale past the socialisation window when I last had a look. My closest rescue centre (where I got my puppy from) often has litters, but they are usually seized as welfare cases. I agree that it's really horrible to consider what might happen to unsold and unwanted pups, just feeding them adequately will cost a lot if they're a big breed, and back yard breeders are soley in it for the profit. Maybe that's why malnourished puppies end up at my local rescue centre :(