Online purchase of a Doodle

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

We cannot find a breeder of minidoodles anywhere in our state of Massachusetts or surrounding states so we are looking online. This scares me because you cannot tell the difference between puppy mills and legitimate Doodle breeders. Anyone can set up a website and make everything look wonderful when in fact it's a mill. Anyone have advice or a recommendation? How does shipping via air affect the pup? Thanks for your help. Dottie

[susan kaput]

Hi, Dot. I live in Dartmouth, MA and I have a one yr. old mini goldendoodle. I purchased him through a breeder in Illinois. Did lots of research and contacting several breeders via email and phone. I finally decided to go with the Paw Pad in Deer Creek, IL (Christine Phillips) She was SO helpful in guiding me towards the right puppy choice. He flew in from Chicago (about a 2 hr. flight) and I picked him up at the airport outside of Providence; we bonded immediately! Angus is now 13 mos. old, about 34 lbs., which is about as big as he's going to get. Absolutely the best dog. You're welcome to come and meet him if you like.

[Ali]

Hello, I understand your concern. That is the last thing I want is to support some puppy mill. I researched online for a year and a half. I e-mailed a couple of breeders from their websites 7 months before I was going to actually make a purchase or decide on the breeder. I based my decision on how fast they responded to that e-mail and to other e-mails. I also made sure they were constantly updating there website and references were provided. They should be able to give you e-mail addresses of past customers. Don't be afraid of getting a puppy from another state or somewhere farther if that breeder has a great reputation. Of course I will recommend mine, I got my Lola from Timshell Farms. I was in Massachusetts this summer visiting Cape Cod and saw so many doodles there. It was before I had my puppy but they had also heard of Timshell Farms, so that put my mother at ease. They also have a group on the website. So check out the groups from this website, a lot of them are due because they have dogs from the same breeder.

[Jackie]

I got my puppy online too. It is alittle scary but I went on goldendoodles.com and looked at breeders. I'm from Mass. too. I couldn't find a breeder around here. I wanted an english mini goldendoodle after seeing a few online. I found a breeder in Illinois that I liked. (The Paw Pad, like Susan who also replied here) I checked references with a few people who got a pup from Christine. I have nothing but good things to say about her. She was a great help from start to finish! I've even asked her some questions after we brought Beckett home. She's always answered any questions I had right away. Beckett also seemed to take the flight in stride. I was nervous about that too. But everything turned out fine. I couldn't be happier with Becket (and Christine, too!) Best advise...check out goldendoodles.com, and get references. Good luck