Ethical Dog Breeders

At Offgrid Aussies we take great pride in our breeding program, and work hard to be as ethical of dog breeders as we possibly can.

When you consider buying a puppy, it is of great importance to buy from a reputable breeder in order to avoid supporting puppy mills. Puppy mills are breeders that sometimes have hundreds of dogs. Often they leave their dogs in small confined cages. The dogs are frequently sick in need of vet care and badly malnourished. On top of that, when a breeder has that many dogs, they cannot possibly give each of them the attention, exercise, and adventure that they need to thrive. These breeders generally do not care about their animals lives, they only care about making a profit.

How can you tell if someone is a reputable breeder and not a puppy mill? It can be difficult to know immediately, but there are some red flags to be looking for.

1). Check how many puppies a breeder is advertising for sale on Puppies.com and on their website, if applicable. If a breeder has more than a few litters at any given time, hundreds of puppies, you can be confident that they are not ethical breeders.

2). The quality of the dogs. If the breeders dogs do not meet the breed standard, and their "purebreds" look sort of like mixed breed dogs, it is possible that they are a puppy mill. Puppy mills generally do not care about the quality of their puppies, and are unlikely to have champion bloodlines or genetic testing.

3). See if the breeder is open to you seeing the parents and seeing the breeders kennel. Puppy Mills, being that their dogs are in small cages and are malnourished, will often not want you to meet the parents or come see their facility. Note, however, that some reputable breeders are uncomfortable with you coming to their facilities for a variety of other reasons - exposing the puppies to various diseases, security at the facility, etc.

What are characteristics of ethical breeders? Ethical breeders want the best for their dogs. Ethical breeders will have smaller breeding programs than puppy mills. They will focus on quality over quantity. They want to be passing on genetics that will produce incredible adult dogs. Look for breeders that are actively adventuring and caring for their dogs, to give them the best life possible. Also look for breeding programs that have completed genetic testing, and whose dogs are in conformation with the breed standard.

Note that some Mini Aussie breeders claim that being a part of the AKC is determinative for whether or not a breeder is ethical. We reject that claim, specifically for Mini Aussies. If you have questions about why we disagree with that please see our blog post on why we choose to not be part of the AKC and are ASDR registered instead.

If you have questions about our breeding program, please do not hesitate to contact us!