Karen’s Puppies in Illinois: One Family’s Experience

The following account was shared with Stop Online Puppy Mills by a family who purchased a puppy connected to Karen’s Puppies in Illinois and is presented in their own words.

Karen’s Puppies in Illinois is not what they say. Sorry Lady Gaga.

Having never purchased a dog before (we always had rescues), we didn’t realize the mistake we were making in getting our French Bulldog, Pedal, through Karen’s Puppies. We received our 10 week old bundle of love directly from Karen who made much of having an excellent reputation and working with Lady Gaga. We noticed issues right away and took Pedal to the vet. We found she had a skin infection on her face caused by mites, she had giardia, kennel cough and a host of intestinal parasites which required months of treatment. When we attempted to reach Karen, she didn’t return our calls. Calls to the “breeder” requesting pictures of Pedal’s parents took forever to get responses. It rapidly became clear that the “breeder” Brittney Middleton (Big Creek Kennels in Arkansas) was a mill and Karen’s reputation, at least regarding the attention to the health of the dogs in her care, was a sham. Pedal is a happy, sweet 4 year old now and we learned our lesson – her ‘brother’ is a rescue through the excellent Chicago French Bulldog Rescue.

Here are the facts:

Karen’s Puppies biggest claim to fame is that she sold a French Bulldog puppy to Lady Gaga. We assume Lady Gaga did not know that Karen’s Puppies is a Licensed Dog Dealer in the State of Illinois. Dog Dealers are puppy resellers. Karen’s Puppies buys puppies from USDA commercial dog breeders and resells them. Karen’s Puppies is not a breeder and she has no mother dogs. This is a huge red flag for people looking to add a puppy to their family. She is a broker, a middleman, a reseller who buys puppies wholesale and resells them for thousands of dollars.

Let’s follow the paper trail for Pedal, the dog that was sold by Karen’s Puppies in 2016. Karen’s Puppies bought Pedal from Brittney Middleton, a USDA dog breeder in Arkansas. We have included 2014 kennel violations of Brittney Middleton, Pedal’s breeder.

We have also included the shipping records of puppies purchased and received by Karen’s Puppies in the last half of 2020. The USDA inspection reports for the breeders she bought from in 2020 show large scale USDA commercial dog breeders that have up to 150 breeding dogs. You can bet the 150 breeding dogs are not living in the family breeders home and are most likely living like livestock in an out building or pole barn. Not exactly the beautiful picture of the network of family breeders Karen’s Puppies boasts about on her website! We are happy to help Lady Gaga find out information about the French Bulldog puppy she bought from Karen’s Puppies if she is interested.

This story reflects one family’s reported experience with an online puppy purchase. Read more firsthand puppy buyer stories or learn how online puppy brokers work.