How not to buy an English Mastiff puppy, or any puppy for that matter

What's the first thing you do when you want to buy something?  10 years ago you went to a store that sold that particular product or called someone you knew that had that particular item and asked them where they got it.  In today's day and age what do we do?  We go to Google.  It's a way of doing business, a lifeline to the outside world of basically everything, shopping, information, education, social networking, the list is infinite.

So what is the first thing that most people do when they've decided they want to buy an English Mastiff puppy?  They go to their computer, pull up their old friend Google and type in "English Mastiff puppies for sale in Missouri" or whatever state they are in.  We've been conditioned to go to the internet for every single scrap of everything we need, so why not to buy a puppy? Here's why.

Puppies and dogs are NOT products.  They are living creatures, a soul, a heartbeat.  You can't just add an English Mastiff puppy to your shopping cart and Paypal them instantly. Can you?  The problem is that you can.  Backyard Breeders, Puppy Mills and pretty much every single place you wouldn't want to buy a puppy from market their puppies in this way.  Online websites like puppyfind.com and nextdaypets.com make tons of money from these not so reputable breeders advertising their puppies in this manner.  I am by not any means saying a reputable breeder should not have a website.  I have gained countless knowlege from reading articles, blogs, etc from breeder websites.  I'm just saying don't buy a puppy directly from a webpage!

Most of these puppies have parents with not a lick of health testing done, oh and by the way, having a vet check is not the same thing as having health testing done.  There is a huge difference in having OFA's done on hips, elbows, knees; having a Cardiac and Thyroid screening done; completing DNA tests to rule out the development of blinding eye conditions like PRA and CMR.

Here's another thing to consider.  I personally (and assume most others do to) shop online to find the absolute best price on something.  The problem with this ideology is that a low priced puppy is more than likely a poorly bred puppy.  Responsible breeders spend large amounts of money on reproduction, health, showing, etc.  There are too many expenses to even list, but if you see a puppy priced very low, chances are you would not be getting a quality bred puppy.

Another indication that the breeder you found online is selling poorly bred puppies is if they allow their puppies to be purchased on credit. If a puppy must be purchased on credit, the family may not be financially secure enough to take care of unexpected medical expenses.  Mastiffs are a giant breed and vet care can become very expensive in no time. 

 I could go on and on, but for the effort of keeping this short enough people might actually read it I'll stop for now.  These are some very definate ways of how not to go about purchasing an English Mastiff puppy.  I'll give some information on some good ways to find a reputable breeder for your puppy purchase.  If you want to read more here's a link to the article on our website:

How to avoid poorly bred puppies and inferior pedigrees...

I'll throw out one more quick item of note!  RESCUE!