3 minute read
The pup market in Canada is both unregulated and highly fragmented. There is not yet a comprehensive centralized site for potential pup parents searching online to bring home a pup. Ideally, a comprehensive market would include small breeders, Canadian Kennel Club affiliated breeders, adoption and rehoming options, and rescues. Pup scalpers and scammers are common in an environment where searching for a pup online is generally a disorganized and unstandardized experience. Compounding this problem is that most potential pup parents have limited experience with adopting, rehoming or bringing home a pup, as the number of times one embarks on this experience is few in their lifetime. If these were regular and repeat transactions, potential pup parents would be better informed on subsequent transactions.
The opportunity for a reputational-based, third party educational site that connects reputable pup providers with dedicated pup parents will not only help to make it impossible for scams and pup scalpers, but will also create efficiencies in the market where only the best pup providers are maintaining a viable business. Also, the friction to rehome through a rescue will be more comparable to the experience of rehoming from a breeder. Ultimately, these dynamics aim to promote a more responsible breeding environment and fewer pups will fall into the wrong hands, fewer will end up in rescues, and fewer will be abandoned or euthanized.
Currently, most ads for newborn pups are posted on Kijiji, which is a relatively unsecure site with unverified users and no robust review system. Google searches can generate landing pages meant to trick consumers with stock images and requests for deposits. These days, most Google reviews are fake. Scalpers are known to purchase entire litters just to resell at higher prices. There are also security risks with small breeders when disclosing their addresses to potential purchasers. Overall, the environment lacks accountability on both the side of the market for the potential pup parents and on the side of the pup provider.
There is an opportunity to provide both sides of the market a safer and more accountable experience. This can be achieved by verified IDs, a legitimate review system and a third party platform collecting deposits.
Currently, there is a terribly asymmetric experience of rehoming a pup from a breeder versus a rescue. Breeders don’t do enough due diligence on potential pup parents whereas rescues ask for a plethora of information and proof of commitment to rehome. Ideally, a reputational based marketplace where both breeders and rescues offer rehoming options will ultimately drive the rehoming standards for pup parents to be more symmetric, raising the standards for those who rehome from breeders and creating more trust with verified identities for rescues. This is expected to reduce some of the current friction for adoption through a rescue.
Lastly, but importantly, searching online to rehome a pup lacks the basic technological advances which are generally considered industry standard across other consumer experiences. For example, several of the Canadian Kennel Club sites are terribly outdated and some breeders only provide phone numbers with no online presence. There are not yet sites which accept payment transactions and deposits or allow consumers the ability to join a preferred breeder’s waitlist. In summary, a standardized experience helps the credible pup providers rise to the top while the potential pup parents have a much more comforting experience. Ultimately, this translates to a better quality of life for all pups involved.
