Before You Buy Your First Puppy

Dog breeding and dog selling is a big business these days. Rather it is the worst kind of business, especially in India where Dog breeding laws are either non existent or very loose. There are numerous pet stores and kennels which have sprung up without adequate infrastructure and fooling the gullible public by selling diseased puppies some with serious genetic problems or infections carried from the kennel. I would like to share a sad story so that those of you who are planning to keep a dog and enthusiastically hunting for a puppy are spared the agony I am going through.

We were planning to keep a dog and decided on the Labrador Retriever. Naturally we looked in the classified advt and found a place which outwardly seemed to be alright. This place was called Delhi Pet School located at vasant Kunj in New Delhi. It is run by a vet Dr Rana ( I don't know for sure he is a doctor). This gentleman showed a 5 week pup which looked weak. However his features and general condition at that point seemed ok. He charged us Rs 6500/- and gave all sort of assurances and guarantees. He said this pup will come with papers. We were fools to have accepted his claim. After all we thought why would he lie to us. He showed a grown up dog whom he claimed was the sire ( He lied). He however would not show the pups mother. We took the pup home like the fools we were and fed him. On the third day he stopped eating and was lethargic. Naturally I rang up Dr Rana who asked me to feed him some vitamins. I finally took him to a vet near our place who de-wormed the pup and injected some antibiotic. Three more days later the pup was showing some signs of recovery. After observing him for 2 more days, I took him for his vaccination schedule to Dr Rana's clinic. There we found he was having some fever. From that day that is 17th of June onwards, he never ate. His condition started deteriorating. His fever would not subside and finally he was diagnosed as suffering from Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) which was like signing his death warrant. When I tried to convey this to Dr Rana he refused to do anything with it. A week later the little fellow peacefully died in my lap. It was then my eyes were opened and I started doing research on the dogs and pup and diseases. CDV takes 3 weeks to incubate and show the first symptom,which meant the bad Doctor knew his kennel was infected. When I visited his kennel in his absence, I was shocked to see the state of affairs. It was one of the dirtiest places I had seen.

Now I am heart broken having lost the puppy who had become so attached to me. In case anyone is planning to keep a dog, please for god sake don't look at newspaper advt or buy from a pet store. Simply do your research, read books on the breed you plan to keep, and contact your Kennel club. In any case do not ever visit Delhi Pet School.