Dogs and puppies for sale is not just an emotional undertaking if you are in the market to get a dog or a puppy, but also one that has many pitfalls for the unsuspecting and uninformed buyer.

First of all, unless you are in the market for an excellent dog to place in a breeding program or you are helping out a friend or family member leaving for a foreign country, you simply should not buy or accept an adult dog. To understand why you must realize that a dog is a pack animal requiring a social hierarchy for it to function optimally and the ideal situation is for you to be the leader of the pack.

Think of yourself as a benign dictator to whom a dog looks up for guidance - when to eat, go for a stroll, go outdoors to eliminate (if you live in an apartment) and all other manner of doggie activities. Now this relationship is best cultivated by taking in a puppy anywhere between weeks 8 and 12 and the bond that will develop between you and this puppy will simply never be as strong as the bond you will develop from acquiring an adult dog that has already established a bond elsewhere.

Now this is not to say that you cannot develop a wonderful bond with a mature dog, but instead to get you to appreciate how much more effort this will be with a mature dog that has already formed certain bonds and then have to give these up for new ones.

Okay so having established that if you are in the market for a dog, while dogs and puppies for sale may initially have appealed to you; you are actually best served by just getting a puppy.

When considering puppies for sale you really must start out with your "bad breeder" guard set at high. Reason is there are tons of unscrupulous puppy breeders out there who are simply interested in collecting your money rather than selling you a puppy that is likely to grow into the best possible dog for you. And why is this so you might ask? Well breeding puppies is not a get rich quick business as it requires a lot of time and care and attention being devoted to a litter and the dam that gave birth to that litter, not to mention the cost of keeping the breeding dogs in good health and good shape.

So when looking at puppies for sale it is important that you visit the premises of various breeders and observe not just the environment where the dogs and puppies are kept, but also little things like do the dogs appear to dislike their owners/breeders or are they happy to have them around. You can easily tell this by watching to see if the adult dogs wag their tails and are very attentive to the breeder or if they appear to cower or slink away as the breeder approaches.
Another giveaway about a breeder to walk away from is one who has puppies for sale that are less than 8 weeks old. The eight week mark is a very significant milestone in a puppy's development; however a more in-depth review is required to explain why...