A
FEW WORDS OF ADVICE: Please be careful where you buy your pet. If you
want your Pom to LOOK like a Pom when it is grown, buy from a breeder who SHOWS. Please DON'T buy from a Pet Shop, where you have no way to know anything about the
puppy's parents or the breeder. Are you aware that most Pet Shop puppies come from large commercial puppy
farms in the midwest? Many toy puppies are taken away from their mothers too young before they are eating well,
and die while they are being shipped to the pet shops or shortly after.
Be very cautious of
the back yard breeder. Many don't know there is a Pomeranian Standard. And if they don't breed to the Pom
Standard, they will not have quality pets. Don't be fooled. A high price is not always
an indication of high quality.
To read
the Pomeranian Standard, click on the line below.
Is the puppy/dog you are looking at AKC registered? Many
websites advertise registered puppies, but what kind of registry do they have? If the puppies are registered with anything other than AKC, the chances of your
pup being bred by an irresponsible breeder rises dramatically. It's up to you, the potential puppy buyer, to educate yourself
and to avoid being part of the puppy mill/ backyard breeder problem. Do not put your money into the pockets of irresponsible
breeders under any circumstances. That only encourages them to breed more. Their registries do
not have the same integrity as AKC, who requires DNA testing of sires, and requires good records to be kept. MANY PET
breeders use poor quality Poms that weigh 10 to 20 pounds or more. These Poms are often the ones found discarded
in the shelters.
Pet
breeders often use registries such as CKC, APRI, ACA, APR, NAPDR, UABR, WKC, or another one of the MANY new
registries created by the COMMERCIAL PUPPY BREEDER INDUSTRY (puppy mills)
Some of these registries have been in existence less than 10 years. Some brag that they will register a dog without
papers, all you have to do tell them it is purebred. Some give out "papers" for any combination of mixed breeds.
Can you trust a breeder who uses any of these kinds of registries to have quality purebred puppies?
I know someone personally who bought a Pom puppy from a pet shop, expecting it's adult weight
to be around 7 or 8 lbs, and he now weighs over 25 lbs. Most likely he is from mixed breed parents, because
he cannot even be identified as a Pom. I know
of others (rescues) from back yard breeders that grew to be 12 -15
lbs. Often buyers are told by the breeder that the adult size will be about 5- 6 lbs. Fact: Adult weight cannot be estimated from birth weight. There are too many other factors
involved.
If you just want
a small or medium size pet to love, or don't care if your Pom doesn't look much like a show dog, please consider adopting
from a Pom Rescue or a shelter, and save the life of a discarded pet that did not meet someone's expectations.
Another
point to consider-- Having AKC reg Poms is not a guarantee
of quality! There are bad apples in every barrel! Be very cautious if the breeder has several different breeds and always has puppies to sell. Do some research
and go to the APC (American Pomeranian Club) website and see what a Pom should look like.
www.americanpomeranianclub.org Try to find a breeder referral in your area. Then you may be able to go see their puppies (and parents) in
person before buying.
Buyers
beware.... it is next to impossible to get your money back from irresponsible, unethical breeders when you realize
you didn't get the pretty little Pom you were expecting.
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