There are many advantages of getting your Bichon Frise puppy from a Bichon Frise breeder rather than a pet store. Bichon Frise breeders spend lots of time on only a few puppies, making sure they are healthy and properly socialized. Pet store puppies get very little attention and are stuck in cages at the time of life when they should be getting training. And, most importantly, Bichon Frise breeders are not puppy mills.

All pet stores get their puppies from puppy mills without exception. If they tell you otherwise, they are lying. They are just trying to make a sale and will say anything in order to close the deal. Pet shop owners and employees use the exact same sneaky selling tactic that you are probably already familiar with in other stores and car lots. No respectable and caring Bichon Frise breeder (or any other dog breeder, for that matter) would sell his or her puppies to a pet store.

What's inhumane about buying a puppy at a pet store? Plenty! First off, all puppies in all pet stores are from puppy mills. Puppy mills are barbaric places where dogs are treated like unfeeling breeding machines. They never get to play, they never get affection and they certainly never get veterinary care. The puppy mill workers do all the vet care, whether they know what they are doing or not.

No Bichon Frise breeder would ever sell puppies to a pet store. Bichon Frise breeders take their responsibilities very seriously. Since they planned on bringing the puppies into the world, they are responsible for finding good homes for the puppies. They will do background checks on prospective puppy owners, drill you on your Bichon Frise information (or lack thereof) and often ask for character reference letters. They want to be sure that you are going to be a humane owner and won't give the dog to a shelter once it has outgrown the cute stage.

Always buy from a reputable Bichon Frise breeder, because buying a puppy at a pet store only helps to perpetuate the inhumane and barbaric puppy mill system. In a puppy mill, dogs are treated worse than battery hens (and there are even laws to protect battery hens, now). Dogs are never taken to a vet, as that would cut into the profit margin. They spend their lives in crates and only come out to breed. They often spend most of their lives sitting in their own excrement.

The puppies bred in this condition are often sickly, have behavioral problems and often aren't purebred. There is no legal overseeing group that makes sure a dog is a purebred. Anyone can fill out whatever they darn well like in pedigree papers and no one checks up on anything. Bichon Frise breeders not only will sell you a healthy, behaved puppy but one that is pedigreed. They also are great sources of accurate Bichon Frise information throughout all of your Bichon dog's life.