Best way to advertise Puppies

RubyRoo

A couple posts noted that pups could be spayed/neutered at 8 weeks - is this in error?

I think the shelters spay and neuter before adopting out regardless of age.  On more than one occasion the local SPCA has set up at the farmers market on Saturday morning with entire litters that were born at the shelter because someone dumped a pregnant dog.  The pups are usually anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks and all spayed or neutered. It's not ideal, but I can understand why they have to do it.

Joyce

Thanks for the clarification - I understand and agree completely!

Many folks here did offer suggestions for advertising, and offered their opinions on placing pups at such a tender age in addition.  When you ask questions on an internet forum, you mayb get more answers than you want.

Many of the members here work long and hard putting endless unpaid hours into working with the shelters, rescueing and fostering, helping with spay/nueter days, vaccine days, raising money, begging for auction items from everyone we know and just in general busting our butts to better the lives of unwanted animals.  So some of us are more than a little sensitive to folks who are in a hurry to "get rid of" a litter.

A great way to free advertise is to go through the lab breeders email groups 

ok, so how are you screening your prospective buyers to make sure they will provide good homes to the pups?  do you guarantee and expect the buyer to return the dog to you if for any reason the buyer can't keep the dog?  and do you insist on limited registration (spay/neuter required)?  I don't breed because I would be totally paranoid about my pups ending up in abusive homes, ending up in shelters, and it would drive me crazy trying to make 100% sure that never happened.

clearly you're not the worst backyard breeder out there, but all those labs up on petfinder in dire need of homes came from SOMEWHERE. Can you state with certainty that none of them came from you?

sillysally

In most states it is against the law to sell pups before 6 weeks of age.  I got my lab pup at 10 weeks from his breeder and would not want to get a pup much younger than 9 weeks...

     Maybe I'm not clear on what the OP meant, but when she said the pups were 5 weeks and she wanted to start advertising them, that doesn't necessarily mean she is going to SELL them @ 5 weeks. I start advertising litters when they're unborn - 1 week old. It's a myth that reputable breeders all have entire litters sold before they're born - many do, but I know breeders who've been breeding for decades and will often have pups unspoken for at birth. Because someone needs to advertise does not automatically make them a BYB.
     
     To the OP - I frequently use www.puppydogweb.com to advert my pups. I find I do get less hits than with other websites, however the quality of buyers perusing that site is top notch, for the most part. I've gotten some great families through them! Some other reputable sites I've used are www.k9stud.com and the very high traffic www.hoobly.com Good luck w/ your puppers!   

lcbryson

First post it states:
"I have 7 lab puppies I need to find homes for in one week"

I think thats where people got the idea that she was trying to sell them at 6 weeks. Then when she said that the best time to sell is 6 weeks was when people really started pointing out why it is not a good idea.

     HOLY CRAP Thanks for clarifying, because I missed that statement.

     In which case, I will ROFL at the OP, becuase if she thinks she's going to start advertising now and find homes for her pups in seven days ... she's seriously deluded - and in for a rude awakening!!!!!

Pixie Princess

Just for all of you who have thought that 6 weeks is too young--I guess you should really try hard to get the word out.  I live in one of the top largest cities in the USA and I called 50 ads in the largest newspaper to take a poll-Out of the 50 ---42 said they let their pups go beginning at 6 weeks.  I also called the first 15 listed vets in the yellow pages and asked their office staff what they thought.  13 said 6 weeks was fine to start letting them go.

That's because responsible breeders don't advertise in the newspaper. You're looking in the wrong places for valuable information.

And for any vet that said that 6 weeks was fine to start letting them go, I'm ashamed that they call themselves vets, to be honest. Our vet school here teaches something entirely different than whatever education those vets seemed to have gotten. I'm curious to know at what time period those vets went to vet college (are they "oldie" vets who may be set in their ways or "modern" vets who are keeping up to date with the current literature?)

Vets really don't get much education in behavior. Especially something like the social development of very small puppies.

I am kind of interested to know where these vets that were interviwed live? It seems to me that it has been more than clarified that it is illegal in a majority of the states to sell the puppies at 6 weeks. So the vets would give advice that was against the law?

I would not be at all surprised to hear a vet say that. People have told me all sorts of crazy things that they heard right from their vet. One dog in front of me at Petsmart was so obese it had a hard time walking. When I mentioned that he would get around better if he lost some weight, the owners assured me that their vet told them he was just fine. Vets are especially good at telling owners what they want to hear.

AthenaBear

seems to me that it has been more than clarified that it is illegal in a majority of the states to sell the puppies at 6 weeks.

Lets report factual information.  The link provided earlier showed laws on the books for 19 states that have an age limit for selling dogs.  18 were 8 weeks and 1 was 6 weeks.  Now looks to me like 31 states then don't have a statute on the books for the age of selling dogs. 

Does anyone have any other source that lists the age limit for those other 31 states?

Previous link posted:

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ovuspuppysaletable.htm

samshine

Vets are especially good at telling owners what they want to hear.

and sometimes people are very good at only hearing what they want to hear.