The Top Dog Store: Selling Puppies Online

Hello Readers!

What does it mean to sell puppies online? Selling online includes various forms of transactions. It can mean the entire transaction occurs online through bank transfers or paypal, or it can mean advertising online and meeting up in person to do the exchange. You can find all sorts of things online from cars, to furniture, jewellery to clothes, or even pets. Yes, buying and selling pets online has become a norm, a fact that I am sure you are all aware of.

Kijiji has taken great strides in reducing the capabilities that puppy mills have with the site. They offer a "shelter pets online" feature so that adoption agencies can promote rescues on the site as well. Additionally, they charge a fee when posting to sell animals so that backyard breeders are less inclined to sell on this particular site - but there are still other sites out there.

So here is the thing, with this new form of finding homes for animals, many people are using to as an easy way to become backyard breeders. To be clear, backyard breeders are essentially universal with puppy mills. They both breed irresponsibly for profit. You have to be so careful that the puppy you are about to buy is coming from a good home because you want it to be mentally and physically healthy.

Now here is the catch, we all know that buying dogs on kijiji is not a could idea unless you are confident in determining who is and is not a reputable breeder, but guess who is advertising on kijiji? You guessed it, The Top Dog Store, Calgary AB.

Why is this a problem?

Kijiji has a Pet Code of Conduct which outlines what every seller has to adhere to when posting an ad to sell animals on their site. http://help.kijiji.ca/helpdesk/policies/pets-code-of-conduct
There are a couple of codes that I want to address:
1. Visit the pet seller's home or business and see how they raise and care for their animals. If the seller is a breeder and will not make the parents of a puppy or kitten animal available for inspection, there may be a problem. Ask for as much information as possible about the animal's history in terms of source, health records, and behaviour information.

• Yes, you can go and see how they care for their animals at the store. However, is it not the equivalent of going to a person's house and not seeing the parents? You don't get the full picture because you have no idea what their life was like for those first 8 weeks - 8 critical weeks for socializing and nourishment. 
• The parents of these puppies are not available. Sure, they will show you the evaluations but they will not reveal who the actual breeder is so you cannot do your own inspection. This blog has exposed a couple of these breeders as puppy mills already so clearly the parents are not living fulfilled lives. 

2. Get references, including other customers, and the seller's veterinarian. Check them out and be vigilant to ensure that the pet is in good health

• I would be curious to hear what the veterinarian of the Top Dog Store would say about their puppies. How often do they have to go to get medicine because a puppy is sick? Can they attest to the overall health of the puppy considering they are from puppy mills? 

Granted what we have learned from previous blog posts, The Top Dog Store is not accurately meeting these codes, especially the first one. Not to mention they are mixing their ads with non-reputable breeders on an online site. The Top Dog Store claims to not support the puppy mill business and wants to be ethical and yet they are acting just like one of them - in it for the money and not for the wellbeing of the pets. 

One final question: Why are we, fellow citizens of Calgary, allowing this unethical store to continue? It is such a stain on our wonderful city. By returning to the puppy-in-the-window days, we are being retracted from being progressive within the community both big and small. There is only one answer that is clear: boycott this store for supporting puppy mills, lying to the public, and being unethical. 

Cheers.