Rock Hill Dog Ranch
Newport, NE
CONCERNS: We got our new breeding sheltie female, Sivana, from this kennel on 11/06/10. While inquiring about her prior to buying her, I requested pictures of her parent dogs - I was told that they "couldn't" provide any because they didn't have any on their computer. It's not an unreasonable request to want to see what the parent dogs look like. These people were pleasant to work with overall and did agree to meet me half way, as they were nearly seven hours away. However, the next day after we picked up the puppy, I discovered many roundworms in her feces. They advertise having dewormed the puppies several times; however, when I called my vet and told him what dewormer the breeder had been using, he stated that that dewormer does not work for roundworms. I had to treat both Sivana and Sammie Simon, since they were readily playmates, putting him at risk of getting the worms, too. These people advertise that their puppies are supposedly vet checked, when in fact they are not; rather, the breeder administers the shots to these puppies. Although these people advertise that they provide full AKC registration papers with a four generation pedigree, they had not even yet requested the litter registration papers at the time of the sale. They have now put me off several times, giving various excuses, when I have inquired as to the status of the registration papers. This is quite unreasonable. They should have requested the AKC litter registration papers soon after the litter was born (the puppy was four months old when we got her). We have now had her two and a half months and have yet to receive the registration papers. These people breed several breeds of dogs, yet advertise that supposedly they raise their puppies in their house. There's no way they could raise all the puppies they have advertised inside of their house, and when we brought Sivana home, she was scared to be inside the house. I appreciate honesty in advertising, and I believe these people were dishonest regarding several points regarding this puppy.

Sandra Curtis
Grantsburg, WI
CONCERNS: Eluded (did not respond) to questions I asked her. After telling her I definitely wanted a puppy she was advertising on puppyfind.com and while in the process of negotiating with her a day and time to meet, she emailed to say she had sold the puppy to someone else. She also stated that I supposedly "ask too many questions." How odd. In the first place, I only asked her TWO questions - whether the puppy was AKC registered and whether the registration papers were provided (I asked this question TWICE, with no response) and what size she anticipated the puppy to grow to (as shelties come in three different sizes). These were reasonable questions, so why didn't she answer them? Further, it was very poor business practice to sell a puppy to someone else after I "thought" she was selling the puppy to me. When I told her I was "upset" that she did this, her correspondence with me turned hateful. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT BUYING FROM THIS BREEDER. Why is she so elusive and defensive answering questions about her puppies???

Julie Crosgrove
Miltona, MN
CONCERNS: This woman is very slow to respond to emails and when she does, she doesn't respond to questions asked about her puppies either. I asked her for a more recent picture of the puppy I was interested in, and instead she provided a picture of a DIFFERENT puppy, claiming the two look alike! How very odd. When I wrote again to again request a picture of the "right" puppy, she didn't respond any further. This woman has many puppies for sale of varying breeds and my guess is there's no way she could find ample time to socialize all the puppies very well. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT BUYING FROM THIS BREEDER. So how do you define a puppy mill? Perhaps this is one - all depends on your definition, I suppose....

Weis Shelties
Redwood Falls, MN
CONCERNS: This breeder's main concern is dog shows. They are concerned about whether their puppies meet show dog qualifications, and if not, they sell them. They also sell off their dogs once they are no longer performing well. So, how much love actually goes into this sort of breeding??? If you abandon puppies and dogs just because they aren't show dog performers, than I think that is pretty pathetic. Then again, I am a huge animal lover and take an animal's thoughts and feelings into consideration. This breeder is currently selling a SEVEN year old dog because he is "retiring" from doing dog shows. Think of how that poor dog will feel being abandoned after SEVEN years with those people? Dog ownership should be a life-long commitment. I have no respect for show dog breeders. People become obsessed with using their dogs to feed their own self-esteem. Just pathetic.