Our Puppy Violet was listed on LancasterPuppies.com
The following account was shared with Stop Online Puppy Mills by Violet’s family and is presented in their own words.
Every week, people share their stories with us regarding a puppy purchase online. One puppy website we hear a lot about and watch carefully is Lancaster Puppies. As in all mass sellers of puppies online, they show numerous puppies and tell a little about each, selling the cuteness factor. This family says they were misled into buying their puppy from a puppy broker who was hiding behind the Lancaster Puppies website.
How we got our sweet girl violet. We were searching on the website LancasterPuppies.com for puppies for sale in our area. We found a cute dog that wasn’t to expensive so we called and made an appointment to visit her.
We Thought We Were Visiting the Breeder
The place was beautiful and the property was clean. We pulled up to the front of the building that had the name Stoney Creek Puppies. The people were nice. They led us into a room in the building that is set up for meet and greets. We waited as they went next door to get her. We were speechless when they handed her over. She was not clean and she smelled like urine. We had never seen any dog in this kind of condition before much less a puppy.
We Were Not Allowed to See Where the Puppies Lived
We started asking questions. They kept the puppies in a barn next door. That barn had blacked out windows and you could not see in. I asked if we could see where the puppies live inside the barn but they said only employees were allowed. I asked if they could bring the mom and dad out but they said they only sold puppies and did not have the mom and dad. They said they don’t breed dogs and were instead a middle person that finds homes for the puppies and “adopts” them to people. They used the word “adopt” even though the dogs on their website had prices of $500 – 2,000.
They were not transparent. We were never given breeder information so we have no way of knowing where our puppy came from. They told us they use “private breeders” who are licensed but that is all we know. Who even knows if it is true? We will never know and that makes us mad.
We had no idea at the time and they seemed like they were the breeders by the description on Lancaster Puppies. But after we got there we noticed they weren’t what we thought. They operate the same as a pet store.
We ended up buying Violet even though so many red flags were waving at us. We feared what would happen to her if we left her. We felt like we needed to rescue this puppy from these people and now we know better.
We Later Learned About Puppy Brokers
We were pretty upset after we left. We started to do our homework, looking into this place. We learned about puppy brokers. We also found out this business had changed their name, they used to be called Bow Wow Puppies.
As we did more research we realized they are located right in the center of an Amish community that is well known for puppy mills. From that day on, we have never stop educating others about puppy mills, telling them not to use websites like LancasterPuppies.com.
We got a 2nd dog but we rescued and will only rescue dogs from now on. We refuse to support puppy mills. Violet is the black dog. We love her to pieces. Please beware when buying a dog online.
Thank you.
Violet’s Family
Violet’s story reflects one family’s reported experience after finding a puppy on LancasterPuppies.com. Learn more about online puppy brokers, Lancaster Puppies, and how to research the breeder behind a puppy listing.
Learn more about how online puppy brokers work, read more real puppy buyer stories, and find out how online puppy mills hide behind a puppy listing before you pay.
