legit breeder, puppy mill or scam?

[Leo]

hi all, 

Im new and naive to the puppy world and am in need of some advice. my wife recently researched puppies for our family, we have a few children who are getting older and are ready for the responsibility of having a pet. 

she also has allergies to pet dander and has been hesitant to adopt a dog. her research led her to the "doodle" family and she focused on a specific breeder who breeds exclusively american labadoodles. the website claims that the dogs are "purebred, multi generational Labradoodles that
have perfect, fleecy, HYPO-ALLERGENIC,NON-SHEDDING Coats, square lines and great   conformation!  Premium lineage, Premium breed!"

my wife called the number and spent an hour on the phone with the breeder. everything seemed great. The breeder even arraigned for us to visit someone local who had adopted a labradoodle from her three years ago. the owner had nothing but complementary things to say about the breeder, and my wife reacted well to the dog. The breeder was warm and friendly, she answered all our questions and was readily available by phone and email. my wife decided to go with this breeder and made two payments three weeks apart. 

since then she has been very difficult to get in touch with her. for the past two and a half weeks she hasn't answered the phone once and has only responded to a few emails when the tone has turned somewhat aggressive. every time we call the business phone number it rings twice and gets forwarded to a cell phone which says the voicemail is full. she did email that there was a death of a young child in the family and she has been extremely busy. she sent a picture of the puppy my wife had chosen and said there would be more pictures coming. that was a week and a half ago and we havent gotten another picture. the only contact we had since then was this past Friday when she tried calling and left a message that she tried to call but wouldn't be available for a few hours. I've tried to call and surprise surprise, it went to a full voicemail box. my wife has emailed her on friday and yesterday and hasent gotten a response. 

at this point im very concerned about the whole transaction. I am very untrusting and think that we are being scamed.  I also dont want to over react and panic about something which is taking the normal course. How much contact should i be having with the breeder before the dog is delivered?

the puppy is now 6 weeks old and the breeder says she doesnt release them before 10 weeks.

thanks for listening 

any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I agree with everyone else - way too many red flags.  No proof of genetic testing, they ask you return your puppy (vs. giving replacement price back), the claim they are non-shedding, etc..

I know your kids have their hearts set on this pup, but I think you should wait and find a reputable breeder.  I bet if you did, you would find yourself having a completely different experience....

[Agape Essentials]

Hi, just new here...

I being enjoy reading all your insights here.

Just a bit of reminder I think...

A good way to determine if a picture of a dog or puppy posted for sale is really for sale, or is simply a stolen picture, is to ask the seller to send you a picture of that same dog or puppy with something in the picture that you can identify, such as a piece of paper with the date written on it, or even with your own name written on it. Beware of doctored pictures, so ask to see different shots of the same dog in different poses with your identifiable object in the picture.

[Leo]

I was able to check the properties of the picture when I downloaded it and noticed that the picture was take with a Samsung galaxy note 2 on Saturday. i don't know why the breeder didn't send it to us until Tuesday morning when we have been flooding her with phone calls and emails asking for pictures and communication. it also has the gps coordinates of where it was taken, which is consistent with other pictures gps tags have been.

 

I know the picture is of a dog in Indiana. I don't know if the person I've spoken with in may and took our money last month is in Indiana or if she has mills across the country. one thought is that she has to wait for someone to send her the picture and then she forwards it to me.  

who knows...

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

You can check the source of Internet photo's by saving the image to your desktop and going to google.images.com and uploading the image there. The source will then pop up. I do this all the time.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good tip, Nicky.

[Robin and Libby Louise]

Please see my responses under the other thread - I believe this is where Libby came from (my God-dog).  The breeder is legit, I know of 3 other people who got pups from her after meeting Libby.  Her website is not the most professional, agreed, but she is not a scam artist.  I have no idea if there was a death in her family or not, but considering that Libby is 6 and the breeder still responds to my e-mails, I would tend to think there is a personal problem.  She doesn't make you buy her food products - it has nothing to do with the warranty - and once the pups are spayed or neutered you get all the papers with the health testing and other info on the pup's parents, grandparents, etc.  There are many breeder websites that offer non-shedding and hypoallergenic doodles - this isn't the only one.  It is unfortunate that you had a bad experience - no one deserves that, and it's certainly everyone's choice to buy from a breeder that makes them comfortable with the situation.  I'm so happy you got a wonderful puppy - the videos are priceless - and that is the main thing.  But I think people could be a bit more tolerant in the absence of any concrete proof that there was a scam going on.  Just my opinion, of course.