CAVEAT EMPTOR - LET THE BUYER BEWARE!

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Bull Terrier Rescue is seeing an alarming number of bully puppies being sold via the Internet and on Craigslist. As a result, these new owners are contacting us for help with aggression issues, deafness, demodectic mange, and various other health issues. The sale of these puppies is earning the back-yard breeders huge sums of money. New owners have little or no recourse to recover their money and these dogs are not eligible for showing or breeding a registered litter. They are bred from non health-tested breeding stock, are sold without a contract or health guarantee and some are not AKC registered.

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A reputable breeder will be able to supply you with copies of health testing results for BAER (hearing), heart, kidneys and patellas on both the sire and dam of your puppy. They will ask you to sign a contract so that you have a health guarantee on the puppy and you will be able to return the puppy for a refund should there be any problems. Temperament is of utmost importance to a reputable breeder. You should be able to see the dam of the litter. The sire of the litter is usually not owned by the breeder. Good breeders devote a lot of love and attention to their litters. They breed for healthy bullies with sound temperaments! They do not sell puppies at 6 weeks of age but require the pups to stay in the litter until 8-12 weeks so that they learn appropriate behavior from their littermates and dam. An immediate red flag to a potential buyer is when the breeder will not let you come to his home or see his breeding stock.

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If you are looking for a Bull Terrier, please contact us and we can give you a list of available puppies and can refer you to the closest recommended breeder - you can find more information on our Breeder Referrals page.

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These are just a couple of the horror stories we have been told about recently:

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"I put a deposit down on one of these mini bull terriers. The deposit was half the cost, when I got up there to pick up the pup (and pay the rest of the money), he told me I would have to pay more than what he originally said and had listed! I drove 3 hours for him to tell me that I had to pay $200 over what he originally told me or I couldn't have the puppy! I still had to pay for gas on the way home, so I didn't have enough to get my dog. And he won't return my deposit. This guy is shady. His dogs aren't registered or health tested and they are too big to be miniature. I was too blinded by the pics of my new pup to realize the red flags. He won't let people know his name or where he keeps the puppies, he will meet you at PetSmart."

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"I purchased my puppy from a breeder here in Houston who has an impressive website. I visited the breeder's home and should have known better after seeing the living conditions of his dogs. After a few days, I begin to think my puppy was deaf. I took him to my vet who agreed. I contacted the breeder and told him the puppy was deaf and I wanted my money back and to return the puppy. After numerous calls to the breeder, they finally agreed to give me half my money back. Upon returning the puppy, I asked what would happen to him and was informed that they would keep him and use him in their breeding program."