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I have been looking for a Chihuahua for the past 3 months,but with no luck. I heard the best breeders are in the med-west. I currently live in California. I finally went on online to find my pet. I brought a white male Chihuahua for 895 with a crate, shipping and a health certificate the total is 1,184 dollars. I'm picking the puppy up this friday from the airport. I'm a little nervous since I've never purchased an animal online. I would like to know what to look out for when buying a pet online. Is it safe? How can you tell if you have been scamed?

Edited by Customer (name blocked for privacy) on April 10 2007 at 12:11 AM

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Status: Closed Value: $9

There are plenty of good breeders in CA if you know how to seek them out. For example the CA chihuahua clubs are a starting point
http://www.barkbytes.com/clubs/chihua.htm
Not to mention www.amrt.net has many of this breed in shelters looking for homes as does www.petfinder.com. Nationwide petfinder has 3755 dogs listed as chihuahuas needing homes.
I would never buy a puppy online as key in purchasing a puppy is to see the parents as the whole point in purebred breeding is that the pups will be like the parents (or better) in terms of health, conformation, and temperament.
The 895 dollar price is a typical puppy mill pricing situation. Legitimate breeders do not price pups like that. If the puppy is not AKC registered that is another bad sign. If the breeder was willing to ship at 8 weeks that is a poor sign in a chihuahua breeder - most good ones make you wait until the pup is 12 weeks and can live through the flight. I raise another breed but I make people from far away fly to get them and then fly them home under the seat rather than ship them as cargo.
Hopefully you will get a healthy puppy that is typical of its breed but no way to know until he arrives.
There are many online scams. You can see if the phone number traces to a legitimate phone by entering the number into google's search window which will do a reverse look up. If no phone was given and all was done via email this could be a sign of a scam.
Its usually recommended you pay through a third party escrow service that holds your money until you receive the puppy. This site is one such service https://www.escrow.com/index.asp but there are more.
That way they confirm you have sent the money, but the seller does not get it until you confirm you get the dog.
Hope this helps you!

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I hope I get a healthly chi. It's not registered to AKC, but CKC. I was told that it was flying in a will light pressured area, a place where actually people would fly in, but not with people, but in their own area. I was also told that the puppy is a pure breed and comes with the family pure line of the mother and father. I know I wasn't scamed, but I purchased the puppy through google checkout. Would that be all right to do? I got two good conacted numbers, which I traces from google, like you wrote. And they gave me good information. The only thing I'm nervous about is that I didn't see the puppy nor talk to the breed. I'm nervous the puppy might die now that you said he shouln't have been sent at 8 weeks. Is there a good chance that he can be okay?

Well as he is not AKC registered but is registered instead only with a puppy mill registry like Continental Kennel Club you have paid a lot for a dog of no particular ancestry and no guarantee of being purebred at all. ContKC will register anything and checks up on nothing. He is of no value in breeding to anyone with legitimately registered dogs but if you just wanted a neutered pet that shouldn't matter to you.
He may be fine but you might want to bring some NutriCal to the airport in case he seems wobbly.
You can get NutriCal at most pet supply stores. Its a sticky supplement you can put right in a pup's mouth to help if his blood sugar is low.
I'd plan on taking him right to see a vet to find out if he is healthy.
They can do fine and just sleep in the cargo area but as he is likely not been raised to be used to such things as a ride in a car or a crate or the noise of air travel it could stress him out. Dogs survive such flights all the time though.
If you are lucky he will be healthy and be a good pet once you get him neutered.
I'm not sure what recourse you will have if the pup is not as advertised with the use of google checkout. The fact a puppy seller would use google check out also is another big red warning flag. What kind of breeder sells so many puppies they need something like that?

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