Never ever buy a Puppy from anywhere or anyone without being able to see at least one or preferably both the parents. There are places called Puppy Farms that are absolutely deplorable.
Puppies from these farms normally have major health and behavioural problems throughout their lives. This is caused mainly through poor breeding, not health testing, bad sanitation, cheap food and bad handling.
They are generally taken from their mother and siblings far too early causing socialisation problems with people and other dogs.
Do not let the word FARM give you the wrong impression. It may not be a farm but kennels that are clean, airy and bright. On the face of it, look like a professional establishment. If you cannot meet at least one parent or there are lots of different breeds of pups around then do not even consider buying a puppy, you will almost certainly live to regret that rash decision.
Quite often these people will buy the whole litter at say £45.00 per dog from puppy farms in Ireland or Wales then sell them onto you at £500.00 complete with fancy bogus pedigree certification.
Never buy a puppy from a pet shop or any other similar outlet; other animals are OK but not dogs. You could be supporting the horrific trade in puppy-farmed dogs. I have even seen pups being sold at car boot sales. Many of the dogs sold in Pet Shops are from puppy farmers.
Never buy on impulse or because you feel sorry for a frightened or timid puppy.
Never take the word of a breeder or any seller who says you cannot meet any of the parents, or they skirt around your questions re the parents. The excuses commonly used are the mothers ill or not available or at a friends or they are selling a pup for someone else. Another scam is to meet you somewhere away from the breeder’s home. Or they will bring the pup to you. You must see the house, the kennels and where the puppies are being kept. It is better if they are reared indoors.
Do not automatically believe that your dog is a pedigree, just because they have supplied a certificate. I have just re-homed a cocker spaniel through the rescue scheme whose owner thought he was KC registered in fact he was registered with The Dog Lovers Registration Club which is nothing to do with the kennel club, nor is the pedigree worth the paper it is written on. This was from a breeder who has a very nice web site, declaring that her puppies are registered and health tested. The thing is she never shows her health certificates nor sends them on to the new owners (I wonder why?) Perspective owners are also told that the health certificates were an extra cost and therefore the breeder didn’t get a copy. This is utter rubbish you can check on a sire / dams health status via this link www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/mateselect/test
You always get a certificate for health testing via e-mail and through the post at no extra cost! And if the puppies are clear through parentage it will be on their KC registration documents.
These are given to new owners who think they are getting a Kennel Club registration document. They are purely based on the information the breeder has given the club. They do not have a database like the Kennel Club and have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE KENNEL CLUB REGISTRATION DOCUMENT!