I don't know which large( commercial) breeder you are speaking of. Puppy mills can get dressed up and have pretty web sites, but still be puppy mills. One instance e recently came to my knowledge when a family inquired about a puppy from one of these high volume breeders. Went to see the puppies and all seemed great until they asked to see the mother of the litter. The answer was no and they ended up losing their sizable deposit over it because they walked away from taking the puppy based on the fact they were refused to be allowed to see the puppy's mother. Clean? Well fed? In compliance with AKC and other governing bodies? Yes. Still a puppy mill. These people did the right thing by walking away, but the " breeder" in question still made a nice amount of money on them. Unethical? Absolutely.

Your right about that. Walking away was probably the best move. I heard of a fairly large commercial kennel that at times the new puppy owners were shown the wrong stud dog just to appease them. So they thought the stud was on property when they really weren't. People see what they want to see. Kind of sad really that one has to go there.

There always will be unscrupulous people in all walks of life. Yes, there are good breeders and bad breeders, but just because they don't live up to your standard doesn't necessarily make them bad.

Stereotyping and making blanket statements about larger volume breeders without having any first hand knowledge is wrong. Getting your information from a possibly "disgruntled" employee who may also subscribe to the AR agenda or believe dogs shouldn't live in kennels is also not an accurate way to portray these breeders. Some may have state of the art facilities or older facilities, it doesn't make it wrong or illegal, especially if these kennels are inspected regularly by the USDA or local animal agencies.

These are also dogs. They don't mind living in kennels as long as they have other dogs around them to socialize with. As long as their needs are being met, it's not a sin to keep dogs in kennel situations. The early games keepers and breeders kept large number of breeding dogs and had large kennels. If not for them, we may not have the breed as we know it. It hasn't been until more recent times that we've begun to "humanize" our dogs and bring them in to sleep inside.

I happen to enjoy the company of my dogs and have 4 dogs that sleep in my bed, but I make no mistake that these are still dogs and not "furkids" or "four-legged" humans. They aren't and they are perfectly happy either on my bed, in their crate or in the kennel (bitches in heat or when I go to shows). They are not unhappy or neglected or abused by staying outside.

Bottom line is we need to stop throwing around that derogatory, breeder hate slur and stop being so judgmental of each other. Just because another breeder breeds differently than you does not make them bad, irresponsible or wrong. We have to stop our fighting and band together to fight the AR threat to all of our breeding programs, big or small. Look at the overall picture, drop the stereotypes and open your mind to people who do things differently than you. Who are we to judge?

What a waste of time. Almost sounds like someone going back and forth with themselves just to make some points. They didn't. Selling puppys just to build you a house is wrong. Many, many litters of so, so dogs is wrong. And your name goes out so quickly that you are doing it. Sad for our breed.

Every reputable breeder I've ever dealt with only has one or two litters a year so they can get a keeper puppy to improve their existing line.

I've been following this forum for a decade and what I've read and heard is remarkable in some cases. It is also not fair or true in some of the answers you have received.

Never take too much from Forum "breeders" as the gospel. The best breeders have little time to spend typing replies. They are cleaning their kennels, working their dogs or raising a litter properly.

Sadly those who say commercial breeders are not "puppy mills" are wrong. yes every mill has different sanitary conditions. Yet it does not change the fact that anyone breeding 150 litters a year is anything but a puppy miller.

Now the real money is made when you get a great reputation and you get a "Stud Dog" that everyones wants to stamp their line with its features. That takes years and decades to do. Are "Stud Dog" owners millers because they sell the sperm of a great dog? No.

Some of the people telling you Commercial Breeders are not puppy mills, are they same people telling you the "Show" Labrador still looks like a Labrador. The people who judge shows and are leaders in the Breed Clubs are the very people who are giving you a hard time.

All breeders are not reputable, especially some of the ones who post on Wiscoy or other forums. The same ones who post here have sold their souls to the Silver breeders too.

Get to know a breeder who is local to you, and get recommendations from family or friends. A web site does not make a good breeder. Nor do their comments on Wiscoy.

So it's ok to pimp out your stud dog and make money off of them, but not by breeding a larger volume of puppies to do so? Where do all those litters of puppies go sired by your stud dog?

As for your name, I am assuming that is 'the' Arnold? You do realize his owner has a large volume of dogs right? They live in a barn with luxurious paddacks and stalls to run, but they are all not house dogs. There is nothing wrong with this either. But rarely do successful kennels keep only a handful of dogs. Many must breed in larger volume in order to have more puppies to select from to get those truly exceptional dogs.

To all you folks who think that to reputable to have to follow the elitist way of breeding and that is only 1 to 2 litters a year, keep all your dogs in the house, have only a limited number of dogs yada, yada, yada how do you think one builds a recognized kennel style from that? And do you think those who breed in volume don't care about their dogs only the money? You should be ashamed of yourselves. There are many people who have large volumes of dogs who take excellent care of them.

As MYOB states, just because people breed differently than you doesn't make them wrong.

This is the most stupid bunch of notes. One person giving her opinion and trying to run down others. Think this person needs to get out of Labradors or get her a few that keep her busy.