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What is a commercial puppy importer?

A commercial puppy importer is one who purchases large volumes of puppies from an entire litter, or multiple litters at one time, from breeders or dealers who reside in countries outside of the United States, generally from countries such as Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Lithuania, and other surrounding European countries. Though the term “broker” has sometimes been used to refer to commercial puppy importers, the term is technically incorrect. Brokers facilitate sales between buyers and sellers and receive a payment for their services. To the best of our knowledge, all of the commercial puppy importers who sell puppies over the internet buy their puppies and then resell the puppies, either directly to puppy buyers or to other resellers, who then sell to puppy buyers.

Most of the commercial puppy importers claim that they buy only from breeders they know and respect. We have less information on how the overseas part of the transactions work, than we do about how the U.S. part of the transactions work, it appears that few if any commercial importers buy directly from breeders. Where we have been able to ascertain the identity of the overseas seller, the overseas seller is not a breeder. Rather, the overseas seller is a commercial puppy exporter who buys puppies as cheaply as possible for resale in the US and other countries. We know of no case in which the US importer has had any contact with the actual breeders, or has even asked who the breeders were, before agreeing to buy the puppies.

What is a puppy dealer?

Wholesale breeders are classified as Class 'A' Dealers with USDA. Anyone who breeds and sells puppies for the wholesale pet market (pet stores), is a wholesale breeder.

Wholesale breeders normally sell their puppies to brokers. Brokers are classified as Class 'B' Dealers with USDA. A broker can be a breeder also, and more often than not, they are. Their primary business is buying all of the puppies that a breeder can produce. They sell the puppies to the pet shops.

Dealers outside of the United States are not regulated by the USDA. They generally purchase large amounts of puppies from puppy-mills and backyard breeders and ship them to a Import Broker here in the United States for resell.

What is a puppy-mill?

To understand more about puppy-mills and commercial breeders, stop by and visit the following websites.

No Puppy Mills

PuppyMillTruth

About Us

This site has been established by two attorneys, Charlotte Creeley of Massachusetts and John Hoffman of California, who first came together in the shutdown of just one California Puppy Import Broker. There are thousands more.

Charlotte Creeley is a criminal defense attorney in Massachusetts. She has shown Pugs and French Bulldogs in obedience and occasionally conformation for more than 20 years, and is currently a member of the French Bulldog Club of America.

Creeley has written extensively for both dog and cat publications since 1986 and has also appeared on television programs discussing her involvement with therapy dogs and training difficult dogs. She has been active in animal rescue since she was just seven years old, serving as the French Bulldog Club of America's rescue co-chair in 2001, founding the French Bulldog Rescue Network in August of 2001, on whose board she served from August 2001 until August 2005, and co-founding the French Bulldog Village in March 2007. She remains a dedicated rescuer/rehabber and concerned advocate for the welfare of our companion animals.

She was also the rescue foster mom to Piglet, the tiny import puppy who inspired the logo for this website. It was Piglet's plight which first made her aware of the horrors of the puppy import trade.

John Hoffman has practiced law in California for more than 30 years. He

has been a member of the American Miniature Schnauzer Club for 40 years and has served as chair of its Health, Eye and Fund Raising Committees.

Hoffman has long performed pro bono legal work for dog organizations, including negotiating a research agreement among the AKC, the AMSC, and Cornell University, preparing the first donor advised fund agreement for the AKC Canine Health Foundation, registering the AMSC’s logo as a federal service mark, preparing adoption agreements for a number of rescue organizations around the U.S., and helping arrange for additional coverage at no cost for clubs insured under the AKC-sponsored liability insurance policy.

Recently, he assisted the French Bulldog Rescue Network and a California humane organization, Animal Friends of the Valleys, in seeking the assistance of federal and state governmental authorities with regard to problems arising from unscrupulous puppy importers. He testified at the United States Senate hearing on the Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005 (PAWS) on November 8, 2005 because of his knowledge of the commercial puppy importing business.

This website...

The experiences that we have shared over the few years of the puppy import trade and its unfortunate victims, both animal and human, have been both educational and eye-opening. We hope, through this website, to prevent others from innocently following in the footsteps of the hundreds of people who suffer the heartbreak of bringing home the Wrong Puppy.