Who’s Selling Puppies Online?

For many families, buying a puppy online is where the search starts. Often the buyer never meets the breeder, never sees where the puppy was raised, and has no easy way to check who they are buying from.

There are only about 5,500 licensed dog breeders in the United States, but we estimate more than 100,000 people are selling puppies online. Very little research looks at who these sellers are, whether they’re licensed, or where their puppies come from. That gap is why we started this research.

Below is what we have found so far on the seven largest puppy websites we track. Our audit is still in progress, so these numbers will grow as we go.