USDA Wants to Impose Rule Targeting Online Puppy Sales

Dog breeders who skirt animal welfare laws by selling puppies over the Internet would face tighter scrutiny under a rule change proposed Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those selling puppies and dogs online get through a loophole in a law that never even dreamed of selling puppies online. The law which was written in 1966 set standards that any commercial animal breeding facility had to follow because they didn’t think that anyone could sell puppies to others sight unseen for what is sometimes thousands of dollars. At the time retail sales were also exempt from inspections under the assumption that anyone who visited the store could see whether the animals appeared healthy and cared for. That was a simpler time when puppies being sold in the stores where from the local farmer or the lady in the neighborhood. We all know that puppies being sold in stores now come from horrible places known as Puppy Mills or Puppy Farms.

The Internet opened a new venue for puppy sales, and thousands of large-scale breeders who advertise there have not been subject to oversight or inspection.The proposed change seeks to close that loophole by ensuring that anyone who sells pets over the Internet, by phone or mail order can no longer do so sight-unseen. Sellers either must open their doors to the public so buyers can see the animals before they purchase them, or obtain a license and be subject to inspections by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. This is great news for the health and well-being of the puppies and dogs as some puppies for sale online are kept in no better condition then puppy mill dogs and these people would either have to clean up their act in order to invite potential buyers to their home or pay the money to get a license.