Every pet shop that sells puppies will assure you that their puppies don’t come from puppy mills but only from the finest breeders who have surplus stock, this is often a downright lie and this is reason alone for you not to buy your puppy from a pet store.

A responsible reputable breeder would never sell their litters to a pet store in the first place, the simple reason for this is that a pet store must by law sell a puppy to anyone who walks in and can pay for the puppy, regardless of if that person can take care of a puppy. A pet shop by law isn’t allowed to screen buyers before selling them a puppy and a responsible breeder always screens potential buyers to assure their puppies only go to good homes.

The pet shop owners and staff are trained on how best to sell their wares and unfortunately this also includes live animals, selling is all that matters regardless of whether the person buying can look after a young puppy or not. Here are two of the lies you should be aware of.

We only buy from local breeders

It doesn’t matter whether the pet shop buys from local breeders or anywhere in the world if the breeder is willing to sell their puppies to a pet store for re-selling then they are irresponsible.

The puppy’s health is guaranteed

Some pet shops will offer a guarantee that the puppy is healthy, all this generally means is that should the unfortunate puppy have some defect or become ill then the pet store will replace the puppy. This however doesn’t help the poor little puppy and many times won’t help the buyer either if they have become attached to the new puppy.

The guarantee doesn’t mean that the puppy is healthy and free from defect or disease all it means is that it will be replaced just as faulty electrical equipment or any other purchase you made that was found to have a defect would be.

While we all feel sorry for the puppy’s in pet shops and stores and many of us want to save them or rescue them from the small cages they are stored in we shouldn’t give into temptation. True, we may rescue one but there will be many more to quickly take their place and we are only helping to feed the industry by buying from them.

Buying from a pet store will * Increase the misery of females being bred time and time again just to supply pet stores with puppy’s.

* Increase the misery of people buying from pet stores only to be heartbroken when the puppy becomes ill or has some serious defect.

* Increase the misery of animal shelters who are flooded with pet shop puppies due to their owners becoming disillusioned with the problems faced them.

Your new puppy’s parents and its genes will play a big part in how your puppy will turn out when it’s fully grown into an adult dog, you of course as the owner will also be able to influence this outcome. By petting, playing and teaching your new puppy good behaviour you can help your puppy to develop good socialisation skills.

Your puppy will have been weaned around the age of 6 weeks but they still learn valuable lessons from their mother up to around 8 t0 10 weeks, this is the time when they are ready to leave their mothers and litter mates. Here is a general guideline to your puppy’s stages of development:

Two to four weeks

* This is called the transitional period and it is the time when your puppy will be most influenced by its mother and its litter mates.

* Teeth begin to come in and the puppy’s eyes will start to open, their sense of smell and hearing will now develop.

* They begin to stand and try to walk, the tail will wag and the puppy can bark.

* By the end of the fourth week the eyesight should be fully developed.

Three to twelve weeks

* During this period the puppy should have contact with other people.

* By three to five weeks the puppy is well aware of its surroundings and its companions.

* By weeks four to six the puppy is influenced by its littermates.

* From four to twelve weeks a puppy will start to be influenced by the people around it, they will learn how to play and begin to develop social skills.

* Seven to nine weeks and the puppy will begin refining its skills and can start to be house trained * Eight to ten weeks the puppy can experience fear and needs positive training from this age.

* Nine to twelve weeks the puppy begins to refine its actions and explores its environment more, the puppy will focus more on people.

Three to six months

* A puppy will be greatly influenced by playmates.

* The puppy will begin to grasp ideas of submission and dominance.

* The puppy will begin teething at this stage.

Six to 18 months

* The puppy is more influenced by people.

* During the months seven to nine the puppy will go through another stage of chewing anything and everything.

* Dominance will increase particularly in male dogs.

* Sexual behaviour will start to show in dogs that haven’t been neutered or spayed.