Italian Greyhound Forum:
Caution Part 2

I was in your shoes once, so let me tell you what not to do. I got my puppy from a breeder in South Dakota, who I found over the internet (I live in Michigan). I thought I had asked all the right questions pertaining to health, whether she sold to petstores and medical facilities, etc. 11 months later, I'm now finding the truth out about this so called breeder. She is a commercial breeder, otherwise known as a puppymill. She does not care about the health of her puppies, it's just about the money for her. I know this because my IG was recently diagnosed with Legg-Perthe's disease. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a genetic disorder that ultimately results in surgery to have the ball of the hip joint removed - costing a couple thousand dollars. Luckily, my puppy has not reached the stage for surgery but I feel that it will happen in the not too distant future. If your puppy ends up with a genetic disorder, always tell the breeder! I notified my breeder of it and at first she didn't even know what it was really - couldn't find it in her IG book or in her vet book. I sent her a copy of what I found about it and her response was to just make a note of it in the dam's file. To me, that is not a concerned breeder. I'm taking action to see that she gets her license revoked and is hopefully shut down. So unless you want to end up in my shoes and in the shoes of several others, be overly cautious when you talk to breeders. If they ask a lot of questions of you and your home environment, chances are that they are good. If anyone has questions about this or about the breed itself, don't hesitate to ask.