Lessons Learned the Hard Way

No different than the Wild West of a bygone era, Internet puppy sellers are largely unregulated and not licensed.  Whether interstate or intrastate, there are no Federal laws to protect the buyer and few states have consumer protection laws enacted.

• My mother was the one who had purchased the puppy from North Carolina.   We live in Pennsylvania and picked up our puppy at the Pittsburg Airport  11/19/08. We had gave the puppy a few days to come around but he never did.  He became sick and wanted to do nothing but sleep. He ran a high fever that was uncontrollable and was vomiting with diarrhea. We knew it was time to take him to the vet this was more than home sick. He was diagnosed with 'The Parvovirus'.  (December 2008 - Ripoff report source)
   
• "The dog was $450, and that seems like a steal of a price for an English bulldog," online puppy buyer T.J. Gajda told CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago. But the woman he dealt with for more than a month kept adding expenses, totaling more than $1,000. He never got the puppy, and she didn't return phone calls to WBBM-TV.  "She threw the bait, she reeled me in," Gajda says. "She scammed me and she conned me." (source)
   
• One couple learned that lesson the hard way after they ordered a puppy from Puppies On Wheels. They paid $900 - $100 of it for delivery by a truck they had to meet at 1 a.m. along the highway. The dog appeared sick.  Puppies On Wheels is operated by Kathy Bauck. As WBBM-TV Investigators disclosed last month, Bauck now faces animal-cruelty charges in Minnesota. The cruelty charges were based on video taken by an investigator for the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS). It shows Bauck dunking dogs in a diluted but toxic insecticide.  The CAPS investigator did see a veterinarian examining puppies before they're shipped, as required by the Department of Agriculture. The couple's puppy came with a certificate saying it had no signs of infectious, contagious and communicable diseases.  The USDA is reviewing the CAPS video and could revoke Bauck's breeding license, but that won't necessarily change things.  "Internet sales are not regulated by the USDA," Deborah Howard of CAPS says. "Even if she's convicted … she'll still be able to run Puppies On Wheels." (source)
   
• Chad Mullins bought a bulldog pup named Otis as a surprise engagement gift for his girlfriend, Lisa Lekowski.  But the surprise turned to shock when Otis started developing health problems — he had worms and trouble breathing. As time wore on, Otis developed pneumonia and heart problems.  Mullins and Lekowski now believe Otis was imported.  "We had an appointment with the cardiologist, which he never made it to, because he passed away," Lekowski said.  Otis lived for eight months after the engagement surprise and died on Mullins' birthday.  (source)
   
• I bought a 'show quality' female english bulldog.  Within a couple weeks the dog was in the ER following a seizure.  At that time the vet told me my little puppy has hip dysphasia. After much ado and a second opinion by the UW Vet hospital I convinced the seller to honor the contract with a replacement dog. She hemmed and hawed and finally sent me a dog that was advertised on her website. The dog arrived with worms, cherry eye and underweight. I took her to the vet, got the eyes and worms fixed and fattened her up. I kept the first dog but had to get her fixed. To complicate matters the first dog and the second did not get along and many terrible bloody fights ensued. I had to make a hard decision to sell one of the dogs. I decided to sell the young one since how do you sell a dog with hip dysphasia unless you are like Edye.  I just got a phone call that the little one is dead, she died of an apparent heart attack. (May 2008 - Ripoff Report source)
   
• When Dr. Helen Hamilton of Fremont, Calif., noticed an upswing in very sick puppies coming into her veterinary practice, she started asking her clients where they got their pets.  What she found surprised her: They were coming from the Internet. (source)
   
• After grieving over a year for our previous Yorkie, we purchased a  male puppy over the Internet for $2800.00.   The seller assured us he was healthy, and she had both parents, who never experienced any health issues. She guaranteed that he should be 4 pounds at the most, since the dad was 2 1/2 pounds and the mother 4 pounds. When he arrived, he looked nothing like the photo listed on the website, but she claimed it was the same pup, and the photos were recent. He was not even the same colors, but she stated that Yorkie colors 'often change.'   When our veterinarian said he would likely become a 8 or 9 pound dog, we still did not complain. He ended up weighing 8 1/2 pounds, not 4. We were just grateful to have a baby to love, and never made a big issue about the inconsistencies.  The poor pup started having seizures (not of a hypoglycemic nature) at about 6 months of age. We had blood work done several times, and monitored him carefully. It was tragic, but of course we loved him and did all we could. Suddenly, when he was not even 3 years old, overnight he began spinning around uncontrollably, not focusing on us, staggering, and acting strange. We got him to the vet that day, and I was understandably EXTREMELY upset. After even more blood work, he was diagnosed with portosystemic shunt. This is an inherited liver disease that results in irreversible brain damage. We immediately took him to an expert at Ohio State University. They said he would be medicated for 4 weeks before attempting surgery, in which the outcome was 'doubtful at best.' In other words, he would suffer for at least 4 weeks, plus endure complicated surgery, with an uncertain recovery. At that point, he did not even recognize us. After getting several medical opinions, we euthanized my baby. (December 2008 - Ripoff Report source)
   
• You could wind up paying for but not receiving a dog, as happened to one Cookeville, Tennessee  woman recently. The victim told Cookeville Police Officer Anthony Reep that she recently found a dog advertised for sale on the Internet. She emailed the seller, a woman, who then "replied about the dogs and quoted her a price" for a Teacup Morkie dog. The Cookeville woman wired $450 to the seller on Aug. 15, 2007 and the seller replied by email, telling her she would ship the dog, named Tina, by airline the next day. But two days later, the seller emailed again, saying the dog had died during shipment. "She offered to send another dog in place of Tina, but the Cookeville woman told her to just wire her money back to her," the officer's report says. The seller did not reply to that message. Later, the victim's friend emailed the dog seller inquiring about the dogs, and allegedly, she received an email in response stating that "Tina was alive and available if she would wire her $450," the officer said. The case was turned over to detectives.  (source)
   
• I bought a 4 month old Shih-tzu puppy from Pet Palace in July, assuming it would be in good health. After doing research on the breeder I have come to find that he has had numerous investigations of puppy mills. When I called the pet store they had no sympathy. My dog has kennel cough and has sever allergies to everything. I am very distraught and upset with the situation. (Source)
   
• We purchased a puppy from Lobo Puppies. The puppy arrived off the plane very sick. She had an advanced stage of Cherry Eye (only fixed by surgery) and a very bad cold that required antibiotics immediately from our Vet. My Vet inspected her that day and found that her knees were very deformed, the knee caps were almost not attached to her legs. When we contacted Melody at Lobo Puppies, she said that the dog was fine 12 hours before.  (March, 2008 - Ripoff report source)
   
• Violet Gail Howard and Esley Rose Justice of 188 White Oak Gap Road in Asheville, NC each pled guilty to one count of Larceny by Trick and one count of Cruelty to Animals as part of a plea arrangement.   The defendants had been under investigation since February 2004 by the Department of Animal Control and the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department after it was reported that they had sold sick, inbred dogs with fraudulent registration papers to persons throughout the United States and Canada after advertising the dogs over the Internet as being healthy, registered purebreds.  (Source)
   
• On 07/12/06 I purchase a Pomeranian puppy from shalene Feltner 10192 Carmel valley way in elk grove, ca 95624 and 2 days later the dog died. The dog died just after only having him for 2 days due to it being hypoglycemic which is conveniently not covered under the health guarantee that she gave me. (Source)
   
• On June 19th I purchased a 10 week old Pomeranian puppy from Pomsource.com. Carol and Scott Miller own this operation, and sell puppies over the internet. After signing a contract and pay paling them the purchase price, they shipped me the puppy.  The contract I signed stated that once I received the puppy, I had 48 hours to take it to a vet to ensure it was healthy. I did this. And the vet diagnosed the puppy with a severe heart murmur.  (Source)
   
• Even MORE hard learned lessons here from PetStore Cruelty