Originally posted by anna_66
Before I answer, I'd like to say, before I joined Pet Talk I never knew what a puppy mill was, or a backyard breeder. I was ignorant
That's exactly the same for me. When we were looking into getting a dog, I had no idea where to start. We searched through the local humane societies, but they were empty or had one or two dogs with real issues. Since we were "newbies" we didn't feel comfortable starting out with issues. Labs in the petstore were going for $900 and I wasn't comfortable paying that as you had no idea if they were healthy or not. When we found Malone, he was from a clean but still a BYB. If I had known about them, I would have searched for a lab rescue...but I didn't know. We spent $300 for him, but he is certainly priceless to me!!

I am so glad to have found pettalk and am now educated and realize some of the issues behind BYB and petstore pets. Thanks Pettalk!!!