If you've decided to buy or own a dog. This are some of the things to watch out for:

Who is selling the puppy? A Dog lover/Miller or Breeder?
You should know that puppies sold in petshops/Dog-millers were born most of the time in puppy mills (the adult dogs stay in cages all their lives !) and in awful conditions. Do not buy those puppies if you want to put an end to such horrible practices.

Are the puppies kept where they were bred?
(Most puppies at pet stores/peddlers have been weaned too early, so they never get the chance to learn how to act from their mother or their litter mates. A pup that is weaned at five or six weeks and shipped to a pet store will have had no guidance from their mother)

How many puppies are/were in the litter?
Observe the litter as a whole. Notice how the pups interact with each other. While you want an active, playful pup, you also want to avoid a pup that is dominant with his litter mates or shy with his littermates

Have the puppies or their parents had any health problems?

AVOID PET SHOPS OR DOG MILLERS
*Pet shop puppies can be prone to parvovirus and distemper. For example, parvovirus symptoms are not immediately detectable, so a puppy with parvo may share a cage with a healthy puppy. Symptoms may not appear for several weeks, and by then the puppy might be in a new home.**Pet shop puppies typically come into contact with numerous animals at puppy mills and brokers' holding facilities, during transportation, and at pet shops, often exposing them to illnesses and parasites. Transportation stress can make them more susceptible to disease.***Pet shops do not typically screen buyers. Impulse buyers may not have prepared sufficiently or have a suitable environment for a puppy. Pet shops do not take back and rehome dogs from customers who later realize they cannot or do not want to keep the dog for life.

Have the puppies been treated for worms or other parasites?

Have, or will, the puppies be given their first vaccinations before going to their new homes?

Have the parents been screened for any inherited problems known to be a problem in that breed?

Do the puppies have any form of identification, such as microchips?

Make sure you see the puppies’ mum healthy.

Look for clues that the puppy was actually born there.

Check for any signs of illness.

Always make sure you see the mating pictures of the dam(mother) and sire(paper); simply because an impure puppy can easily be sold as they look lovely, not until they grow and you see it's not what you wanted or the breed isn't pure.


and never buy a puppy if you have doubts about the breeder or situation.

Are you ready for your first dog today? Are you committed to Owning one? Are you ready for the responsibilities?

Source:
wikihow.com
AKC.org

Bringing a dog or puppy into your family is a huge decision, and here are some things about man’s best four-legged friend that are sure to be of interest

1. An adult dog has 42 teeth.

2. A dog’s sense of smell is more than 1 million times stronger than that of a person.

3. More than 1 in 3 families in the United States owns a dog.

4. Spaying or neutering your dog can help prevent certain types of cancer.

5. If never spayed or neutered, a pair of dogs can produce 66,000 puppies in 6 years.

6. A dog’s sense of hearing is more than 10 times more accurate than that of a person.

7. The average dog can run about 19 miles per hour at full speed.

8. Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.

9. A dog’s nose print is one of a kind, very similar to a person’s fingerprint.

10. The average body temperature for a dog is 101.2.

11. With an average lifespan of just over 11 years, the typical dog costs $13,500.

12. The only sweat glands a dog has are between its toes.

13. Dogs are omnivorous; they need to eat more than just meat.

14. Dogs have twice as many ear muscles as people.

15. Dogs will be submissive to anyone they feel is higher up in the pack.

16. People have been keeping dogs for pets for 12,000 years.

17. A female dog carries her puppies for about 60 days before they are born.

18. It is a myth dogs are color blind; they actually see color, just not as vividly as a person.

19. Obesity is the number-one health problem in dogs.

20. Seventy percent of people sign their pets name on gr

Source: Nairalander; moniker: "CalmeGOBE"

Nice writeup!