I got my dog around three years ago, but recently found two other reviews/complaints on this breeder, and wanted to make my own story heard, so maybe she'll be stopped. I believe 100% that she is running some sort of puppy mill out of her house–breeding for profit and not taking care of the animals.
I found my dog on ebay classifieds–a half Havanese half Papillon being advertised as a designer Havallon for $400, that she was toilet trained and had all her shots already. These are two good dogs and I was 19 and naive, so I drove to Staten Island with the money to visit the dog, telling her before it was important to me that I saw who the parents were when I visited. I got to the house, and entered into a completely empty front room. And I don't mean like not lived in or fairly empty, I mean a very clean, large room with nothing in it but a folding chair, and a small folding table, one picture frame on the wall, and a large cabinet in the corner. No doors. I can hear a lot of barking. Weird. They had the puppy, who they hand to me and I fall in love with, I had to leave with that puppy, especially since it was so weird. I ask to meet the parents, she leads me the picture frame which is one of those photo montage frames, and points out two dogs in it. I ask if I can physically meet the parents, she points to the cabinet and says they can't move the cabinet and they're behind there (what?! ). At that point I'm like whatever peace bye give me my puppy.
About my dog. Now I love the little crapper, but not in any way a normal dog. They told me she was 3 months, the vet said probably closer to 4. They told me she had all her shots, the record they gave me showed she had only had about 5 times over the recommended dose of dewormer and nothing else. She was severely underweight, and 100% NOT toilet trained (she's still not actually…but that's a different story). Terrified of everything and everyone, I've talked to trainers and they just say she was either abused or neglected in her youth, and confidence is the hardest thing to give a dog that's scared of everything. She still cowers every time I raise my arm. I can't bring her in public because she panics at the site of another dog, and will bite strangers despite working with her on immersive therapy. The dog was unhealthy mentally and physically, and the situation was sketchy at best.
I really feel like some sort of official should check out their property and make sure that some sort of animal abuse is not taking place.