One of the most important questions to answer when deciding to choose a breeder instead of adoption is what and whom are you supporting. If you visit a puppy mill and feel guilty leaving the puppy, so you purchase him or her just know that you are supporting that business, and they will continue being a puppy mill. Choose a breeder that you trust and one who raises their pups with the highest standard.
It is much better to wait and get the perfect puppy, then rush and buy from a puppy mill because you wanted one by Christmas.
*Below will include generalizations and my personal opinion. I am giving my testimony on what I have seen.
Puppy Mills
I would say these are the worst of the worst. These are the ones you will see being raided by the Humane Society on the nightly news. Basically, it is a ton of dogs crammed in small spaces and being bred. Conditions are not sanitary, the health needs of the animals are not met, and it is purely about profit. Lancaster, PA is a hotbed for these. The Amish may have 100+ dogs in one barn for breeding purposes. Almost all sales are done online and shipped around the country. Typically they will have someone come in when the pups are old enough, clean them up, and take decent enough pictures to sell them online. Do not expect any health testing to have been done on the parents, and possibly some may offer a 12 month health guarantee, but do not expect them to honor it.
Puppy Stores
Have you ever seen a puppy for sale in a pet store before? Yes they exist. My biggest issue is you have no idea who raised this puppy, the conditions it was raised in, and you don’t even know what the parents look like. If they say they were raised by local families in amazing conditions, blah blah blah, I highly doubt there is proof of it. There are such things as Puppy Brokers that will buy wholesale from the Puppy Mills and then disperse them around the country at these stores. So you may be at a pet store in Alabama, but that puppy drove in a large cargo van from a puppy mill in PA. These stores are also terrible for spreading infectious diseases like Parvovirus. It makes sense because you have puppies from mills and breeders all over the country coming together, increasing the risk of spread.
BackYard Breeder
This is the term thrown around the most to basically describe all breeders. I’m sure some would even consider SCP a BYB. To me, I would say it is a breeder using low-quality bloodlines, not genetic-health testing, and just after a little profit as their motivation. They don’t really know what they are doing, and they would rather use the neighbor’s dog down the street rather than finding a high-quality stud to sire the litter. Essentially they are a Puppy Mill, but on a smaller scale. Temperament, Health, and Genetics are less important than a Profit. Yes, they are much cheaper to purchase from and people don’t feel as guilty getting one from them than an actual puppy mill. Will your goldendoodle shed and develop diseases that could have been screened? Maybe. But people will see the lower price tag and take the risk. Most common on Facebook “sale pages” and Craigslist.
Large Scale “Popular” Breeders
I don’t know the official name to call these, haha, but there is usually one found in every state. They have all the IG and FB followers, first to pop up on Google, and typically have a whole staff of workers. They may have 100+ puppies at any given time and typically have the most expensive puppies. How and where their puppies are raised is not always made evident. Typically they have professional photographers and videographers, but you don’t really get to see puppies in the environment they are being raised. Genetic Health-Testing is possible. If you do not see the moms and dads on the website, or if it is not accurate then you know why. If a breeder has 70+ Breeding Adults they would not want you to know this and would not have them on their website. At the end of the day it is a business at its core and you may get an awesome puppy from them, but I personally feel they lack the intimate passion you can find in other breeders.
Medium/Large Scale Breeders
This group is probably the fastest-growing I am observing in the doodle world. Typically they have over 15 breeding dogs with the majority of them living in Guardian Homes. However, they may or not be raising the puppies themselves. Other smaller breeders or families may raise the puppies, and then they are all sold by the Medium/Large scale breeders. If you only get 3 or 4 sets of pictures and 1 or 2 videos of the puppies over the 8 weeks, then this is usually what is happening. Breeders may or may not reveal that the pups are actually being raised by other people, but you can always ask. Genetic Health Testing is common, and you can get quality pups from them. The biggest concern is the quality of the person actually raising the pups and giving them proper socialization and care.
Medium Scale Breeders
This group is identified by 6-15 breeding adult dogs and typically utilizes Guardian Homes. There is no staff and the breeder raises all of the puppies. They sell the majority of their puppies locally but do have some sparsely located across the country. The exception being maybe they live in an unpopulated area and must ship out to reach the doodle clientele. Genetic Health Testing is common. However, some will only do the DNA Genetic Testing and not the OFA hips, eyes, etc. The majority have a website and social media presence. However, if you only see photos or videos of your puppy rarely, do be wary. It is not uncommon for breeders to pretend to be medium scale when in fact they are large scale or puppy mills. An example would be they do not list or show the parents they own on their website. Another example is they may only show some of the parents they own, so people do not think they are a puppy mill. They will be taken aback by the question, but do not be afraid to ask them how many adult dogs they own.
Small Scale Breeders
Most often this group only has 2-3 females and then a male as well. It is very common for AKC breeders of show dogs to be small scale breeders. The breeder is typically retired from their main career and enjoys breeding high-quality dogs as a hobby. I love to source my bloodlines from small scale breeders, but they are not the easiest to find. The best ones have a 12+ month waitlist as well. Often they do not have a big social media presence, but would love to talk to you on the phone about their puppies. It is VERY important to differentiate between these breeders and Backyard Breeders. Backyard breeders have profit or “just wanting the experience” as their motivation, or it could have been an accidental breeding. Small scale breeders have the love of the puppies or the breed as the motivation, and want to make sure their pups are only going to great homes.