01/07/2026
If you’re looking for a puppy, this is something you need to hear — even if it makes people uncomfortable.
Ethical breeders are not the problem. Backyard breeders are. And the more time you spend actually learning how dogs should be bred, the harder it becomes to tolerate the excuses, half-truths, and outright manipulation that keeps fueling the animal welfare crisis.
Let’s clear something up right away:
Buying a well-bred, responsibly produced puppy did not sentence another dog to death.
It did not increase shelter numbers.
It did not take a home away from a rescue dog.
People who carefully research, wait, save, and support ethical breeders are not the villains here — and blaming them only distracts from the real causes.
🚩 Breeding a dog so she can “experience motherhood”
🚩 “Just one last litter before we fix her”
🚩 “Oopsie litters” (if it was preventable, it wasn’t an oops)
🚩 Breeding because a dog is cute, sweet, purebred, or well-mannered
That isn’t ethical breeding. That’s selfishness, ego, convenience, or a cash grab.
If you think you’re buying responsibly, you need to be asking harder questions — not trusting vibes, Facebook posts, or fancy websites.
Do you know what real health testing is?
Because “my vet says they’re healthy” and an Embark panel are not the same thing as:
• OFA or PennHIP (hips/elbows/patellas) based on the breeds requirements for health testing set by their AKC parent club
• Annual eye exams by a board-certified ophthalmologist
• Breed-specific DNA panels required for a CHIC number
If you can’t personally verify results on OFA.org using the dog’s registered name or number, the dog is not health tested. Yes, people are forging certificates now. Always verify.
“AKC registered” doesn’t mean ethical — it just means paperwork.
“Raised in our home” doesn’t mean responsible — puppy mills say that too.
“We only breed family pets” is not a breeding standard.
And when inspections roll around?
Guess who cleans up the fallout.
Rescues. Shelters. Volunteers. Taxpayers.
Genetic disasters no one wants to take responsibility for.
Take a look at any local shelter. You’ll find them full of backyard bred disasters, bred by irresponsible humans. Ask yourself how we got here. Most shelters no longer are accepting strays and telling the public to re-release them. Shelters are not taking owner surrenders without having you first pay the shelter a fee for your surrender without guarantees that animal wont be euthanized. This is due to the publics carelessness when buying and owning dogs.
A reputable breeder does the opposite:
• Breeds with intention, not impulse
• Microchips all puppies produced to ensure they always end up back with the breeder if lost or surrendered
• Health tests, temperament tests, studies pedigrees, and proves their dogs in AKC shows
• Does not have a constant supply of available puppies to choose from
• Provides lifelong support and requires their dogs be returned to them at any age, for any reason
Their dogs do not end up in shelters. Ever.
Spay and neuter should be the expectation — with rare, legitimate exceptions — not a loophole people exploit. If we want to fix the animal welfare crisis, we don’t just rescue dogs at the back end. We stop the flood at the source.
Now let’s talk about price — because this matters.
Ethical breeders aren’t “pricing people out.” They’re paying the real cost of doing things correctly. Health testing alone can cost thousands of dollars before a puppy is ever conceived. Add prenatal care, progesterone testing, stud fees, artificial insemination, emergency C-sections, puppy vet care, eye exams by specialists, microchips, registration, food, supplies, and hundreds of unpaid hours of labor — and that’s before titles, training, showing, or importing new lines.
Cheap puppies aren’t cheaper. The cost just shows up later as:
• Chronic allergies and skin issues
• Orthopedic problems
• Digestive disorders
• Anxiety and behavioral issues ⭐️ ⭐️
• Lifelong vet bills and management
• Preventable genetic diseases
Ethical breeding doesn’t guarantee perfection — dogs are living beings — but it dramatically reduces risk. And risk is expensive.
If the price of a well-bred puppy isn’t feasible right now, the responsible choice is to wait. Waiting is always cheaper than rushing into the wrong dog.
You also shouldn’t be “picking” a puppy based on color, photos, or who crawls into your lap first. Ethical breeders raise these puppies from birth. They know who is bold, soft, thoughtful, resilient, sensitive, or steady. Matching puppies correctly is how you get a lifetime placement, not just a sale.
And no — you don’t need to “meet the parents” to verify quality. Dams may not be available to strangers while pregnant or nursing, and sires are often across the country. What matters far more is health testing, titles, pedigree, structure, temperament, and why that pairing was chosen.
Contracts aren’t scary either. They exist to protect the dog for life. They outline spay/neuter terms, health guarantees, return policies, and expectations — because dogs deserve stability and clarity when life doesn’t go perfectly.
It’s understandable to be angry about homeless dogs. But if you look closely, you’ll see where the responsibility actually lies:
• The neighbor who won’t contain intact dogs
• The impulse buy from a pet store (ex. petland)
• The designer mix factory (doodles)
• The extoic breeder who produces unfunctional dogs who cant walk or breathe (exotic bullies & frenchies)
• The family down the street with the “i love my dog and one litter won’t hurt” mentality
• The family who bought a working breed without researching its needs
Ethical breeders — and the people who support them — are just as angry. We’re just pointing our fingers at the right causes.
Be smarter than the sales pitch.
Be louder than the excuses.
Stop funding the very problem you claim to care about.
Supporting responsible breeding isn’t the issue.
It’s part of the solution. It’s the only way we will have true breed standard purebred dogs in 100 years from now. If ethical breeders become unsupported, and stop breeding, we would only have muts and poorly bred purebreds left.
We do this for the PRESERVATION OF THE PUREBRED DOG BREED STANDARD.
