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Dog Breeders 111111111111111111&- Craigslist and newspapers are full of ads selling everything from basset hounds for $1,100 to Cavalier King Charles spaniels for $2,500. Aside from the money, she believes that having golden retrievers around Matt helps with his PTSD. "This has been very therapeutic for him," she says. "He's like, 'How much more can I ask for? I'm literally surrounded by happiness: " Dog lemon law Other breeders who might be operat- ing ethically are less comfortable talking Puppy Mills The Humane Society defines a puppy mill as an "inhumane high-volume dog -breeding facility that churns out puppies for profit, ignoring the needs of the pups and -their mothers." The organiza- tion estimates that about 10,000 puppy mills are in operation nationwide, mostly in the Midwest, and that about 3,000 of those are USDA:licensed. Although Florida has relatively few commercial breeding operations, the state's large consumer market makes it a key battleground. between animal activists and pet retailers. Florida requires dogs that come from out-of-state breeders to have a certificate of veterinary inspec- tion on file with the state, which keeps those records for a year. 78 MARCH 2019 FLORIDATREND.COM about their operations, however. FLOR- IDA TREND tried to contact more than a dozen breeders statewide over a two- month period and heard back from only one other breeder besides the delaPazes. A Gainesville -area breeder who goes by the name City Slickers Ranch said she was too busy to talk. "I am in the middle of dog show season, and I am training a couple of herding dogs for a dressage trainer," she said in an email. "During dog show season and training season, I. have not five minutes to myself" When a breeder advertises a dog as purebred, one way for buyers to know what they're getting is to check if the dog is AKC-registered. The AKC consid- ers a dog purebred if both its parents are of the same breed and its owner has the papers to prove it. The cost to register a purebred litter is $25, plus $2 a puppy. Websites such as Chewy.com sell at- home DNA dog test ldts for about $70 to help identify a pet's breed. I1 for ex- ample, -a "purebred" Maltese turns out to be half-chihuahua, the buyer could complain to the Florida Department of Agriculture, which enforces the state's pet lemon law. Most pet lemon law com- plaints have to do with the health of a new pet, but the law also covers disputes over a dog's breed. In 2018, the state received 71 com- plaints from pet buyers against dog breeders and sellers. Under state law, any seller, including the delaPazes, must have a dog checked out by a veterinarian within a month be- fore the sale. If the buyer's vet then de- termines the dog is sickly, the buyer may return the dog for a refund, exchange it for a new dog or get reimbursed for the vet bill. Buyers have up to a year to make a claim for a congenital defect or mis- representation of breed. When it comes to questions about the conditions in which dogs are bred, the USDA is the only government agen- Popular Breeds Florida's Most Popular Dog Breeds (2017) 1.. German shepherds 2. Labrador retrievers 3. French bulldogs 4. Golden retrievers 5. Bulldogs 6. Poodles 7. Rottweilers 8. Yorkshire terriers 9. Dachshunds 10. Boxers Note: Based on the number of dogs registered with the Amebcan Kennel Club Source: American Kennel Club cy with regulatory authority over the state's commercial -size kennels. (Flor- ida is among 16 states that do not regu- late commercial breeders within their borders.) - While recent efforts to ban retail dog sales in Florida aren't aimed at small- scale breeders like the delaPazes, they say they're wary of the new regulations. "Eventually, they're just going to put all those laws and regulations on us," Brandie says. If that happens, she adds, they'll move their business to North Carolina, where they also own a home. 131