The Greater Moncton SPCA is a proud member of Humane Canada, the federation of humane societies and SPCAs.

You can help make puppy mills a thing of the past. Source: Humane Canada

As the global pandemic continues, the demand for dogs, especially puppies, keeps increasing. Shelters, rescues and ethical breeders can’t keep up with the high demand. Thus, creating a perfect opportunity for unscrupulous breeders to profit from the situation. We need to curb the demand to put a halt on the supply. Before bringing a dog home, take the time to learn about your options and weigh the pros and cons.

Know your options

Adopting Humane Canada always encourages adoption from a local humane society, SPCA, or rescue. The reason why animals end up in a shelter or foster home vary dramatically: some were lost, some were born homeless, some were rescued from abuse and some were surrendered because an owner developed allergies, had to move, passed away, could no longer afford to care for them or whose lifestyle was a mismatch with an animal’s needs.

Why Adopt Here are some key reasons for adopting from a shelter! Reward. An obvious benefit is the rewarding experience of having saved an animal’s life. Value. The cost of adopting a pet at an animal shelter is a fraction of what you’d pay to buy from a breeder or pet store. In fact, it’s often “cheaper” than getting an animal for free because the adoption fee usually includes spay/neuter surgery, a complete veterinary check-up, vaccinations and a microchip ID. These services would cost you at least $500 if you had to pay for them yourself. A match made for you. All reputable humane societies, SPCAs and rescue groups conduct temperament tests on the dogs to ensure they are safe to be adopted out, and many also have programs to match up adopters with dogs whose personalities will best fit their lifestyles and preferences. Making a difference. Adopting from a shelter means you are helping rather than contributing to the pet overpopulation problem. Adult = less hassle! While shelters do sometimes have puppies up for adoption, adolescent or adult dogs are much more common. Adopting an adult dog means that you don’t have to go through the trials and tribulations of house-training and raising a puppy. What you see is what you get. Unlike a puppy, an adult dog’s personality and temperament are already well-established. They have also reached their full adult size, and their coat has come in, so you get a better idea of what it would be like to live with the dog.

Buying Ethical Breeders Humane Canada™ will always encourage adoption. However, if you choose to acquire a dog through a breeder, please refer to this handy list of essential questions to ask a breeder to ensure you are not inadvertently supporting a puppy mill or an international puppy broker.

If you don’t take the time to carefully choose where you get your puppy, you could end up with a dog that suffers from serious medical issues or behavioural problems, causing you a great deal of heartache, frustration and expense. Worse, you could end up unknowingly supporting the cruel puppy mill industry.

Internet classified sites can be a problematic place to look for a purebred dog. It is virtually impossible to tell the difference between a reputable breeder and a puppy mill unless you do an in-person or a video call visit. Puppy mills and backyard breeders are known to use internet classifieds to promote their business and find potential customers. In fact, the Better Business Bureau estimates that 80 per cent of sponsored search links for pet sales may be fraudulent, advertising animals the supposed sellers don’t own.

Here are some warning signs that you want to look out for when searching for a companion animal online.

Many reputable breeders rely on their own websites, word of mouth and their national or regional breed clubs for referrals. That said, having a website or not, it is never a guarantee. Humane Canada recommends that if you are searching for a puppy online, you refer to the essential questions noted above, and you do not complete the purchase unless you are fully confident that you are dealing with a reputable breeder or an SPCA/humane society who is utilizing the online classified platform to adopt out their animals.

The only way you can know for sure that a breeder is responsible and humane is to visit (whether in person or via video call) and see first-hand the conditions their breeding dogs and puppies are kept in. Be sure you visit before you hand over any money. The Better Business Bureau released a statement in December 2020 estimating the total losses related to pet scams to top $3 million dollars. How do you know that you are dealing with a responsible, ethical breeder? Refer to this list to learn the hallmarks of a good breeder.

You’ll need to ask specific questions and ask to see certain paperwork to make sure they meet the standards of a good breeder. If the health or vaccine certificates that are provided to you seem dubious, please call the veterinary hospital listed on the record to ensure these aren’t fraudulent.

Here are a few red flags.

Reputable Pet Stores There are many good pet supply stores that don’t sell animals. And there are many stores that operate “satellite adoption centres” for humane societies, SPCAs and rescue groups. Instead of selling cats and dogs, they house and display adoptable animals in their stores. Customers who express an interest in the animals must go through the adoption procedure via the humane society, SPCA or rescue group. By supporting these types of pet stores, you are adopting an animal, saving a life and sending a clear message to other pet stores that the humane option is to operate a satellite adoption centre rather than selling animals. Learn more about reputable pet stores.

Importing Canada has animal health requirements for the commercial import of dogs that are less than 8 months of age but it is possible that dogs bred for commercial sale may have been exposed to zoonotic diseases (those transmissible to humans) or parasites that are not apparent when they are imported. Learn more about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)’s import rules for dogs here. Searching for a dog on classified ads site is not the ideal place to look for your companion animal (unless a humane society, SPCA, or reputable rescue is utilizing said platform to adopt out their animals)

Before taking a dog home, you should consider asking for: the dog’s vaccination records and other veterinary medical history additional information about where the dog was located before being offered for sale information about policies on returns or assistance with medical bills if health issues are found after buying or adopting

Learn how to identify a Puppy Mill Puppy mills (also called puppy farms) are horrendous places that churn out as many puppies as possible, in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest expense. That means terrible, filthy, crowded housing, minimal human contact, no veterinary care and unspeakable suffering. Their main focus is to profit from the sale of the puppies with no regard for the animals’ well-being.

Common features of puppy mills: Animals kept in crowded, filthy barns, sheds or basements Often, cages are piled in stacks and the waste from the upper levels falls onto the dogs beneath Unbearable stench of ammonia from the build-up of urine and feces Animals are fed the cheapest food Breeding dogs are bred continuously from a young age till they can no longer produce enough to make it worth keeping them Physical and mental suffering from long-term, extreme confinement and deprivation Animals receive little to no veterinary care No positive human interaction No toys, no exercise, no stimulation Puppies are not socialized to people, other dogs, household noises, etc. Learn more here about how to identify a puppy mill.

The system in Canada is “buyer’s beware”, which means we have to do our due diligence to ensure that we aren’t inadvertently supporting a puppy mill operation.

We continue our public education campaign and our lobbying efforts with the Government, advising them on how to make changes both to our laws and our regulations so that we can see puppy mills and puppy brokers as a thing of the past.

Do you have it in you to bring a companion animal into your life? Don’t forget that cats, rabbits and other small animals need homes too. Check with your local humane society, SPCA, municipal shelter and rescue for available adoptable animals. You may just find your perfect match!