Measuring Progress: It’s Easy to Find a Dog Online

I received a text message a little while back from a neighbor whose sister had recently lost her dog and was looking to get another. The message read: “What do you know about goldendoodles? I was wondering if you had any insight on this particular breed.” Well, not much, I thought as my thumbs tapped out a response I hoped would not come across like a scathing editorial. “I honestly don’t know much about goldendoodles other than they’re a mix of a Poodle and a Golden Retriever,” I responded. That’s neutral enough, I told myself. Neither critical nor condescending. “She really likes the goldendoodle, but she wants an F1,” my neighbor continued. “Her understanding is that that’s a full-bred Poodle with a full-bred Golden.” I replied that I think the F1 designation is correct, but wondered why her sister was so dead set on that particular choice. So, I pushed for more information and was told, “She knows of a puppy seven states away. Very, very expensive.” Well, of course she does and of course it is, I said to myself. Turns out her sister had fallen for a puppy she’d found online and was willing to move heaven and earth, and spare no expense, to bring it home.

This neighborly interaction encapsulates the current mindset of most people who go looking for a puppy these days. No longer do people ask, “How much is that doggie in the window?” Instead, just about everyone is conditioned to search online. Don’t think so? Ask yourself when was the last time you took a stroll along Main Street to pick up a bag of dog treats, or went to a shopping mall to find a new dog bed. In the digital age, finding a puppy and all the necessities it needs is no different than shopping for a pair of shoes, looking for a new car, or deciding on a vacation rental. Today’s consumers can find every imaginable product, service, and experience through a virtual marketplace that the doodlers have been successfully using for decades. Finding one of their puppies is as easy as picking up a new pair of flats, calling an Uber, or renting an Airbnb; however, finding a purebred dog from a conservation-minded breeder who has health tested their dogs for generations, provides a written guarantee, and has proven their dogs’ usefulness in the show ring, in the field, and in the real world isn’t always so easy. In fact, it’s the “finding” that’s the hardest part, since preservation breeders are more likely to be taking care of dogs at home than promoting them to a “virtual” public. This is one reason why the quality of dogs in the ring can be so extraordinarily high while registrations for most recognized breeds are declining.

It’s not that supporters of purebred dogs aren’t online. They are, but they’re more likely to be digital consumers rather than providers. Look around any ring at a dog show and you’ll notice a lot of people looking at their phones. Most are checking email, sending text messages, or scrolling through social media, but some are actually shopping. And while those exhibitors are putting another jacket or skirt in their digital shopping carts, other “netizens” out there are paying thousands of dollars for doodle puppies with “perfect markings,” and making plans to travel thousands of miles to pick up a pup without a pedigree—sight unseen. And while doodlers sell puppies, parent club member-breeders collect ribbons, earn titles, receive awards, and continue to bemoan, “There’s no market for puppies right now.”

Well, it should be obvious to everyone who’s been paying attention that there is in fact a market for puppies. People and dogs simply go together. Always have and always will, but the choice of dog—of breed—depends largely on public awareness. Just ask your neighborhood doodle owners who didn’t know they wanted a doodle until they found one through a Google search. (One report indicates there are now between 30 and 40 doodle combinations, each with suppliers who can be found easily online.) Visibility is promotion, but it also speaks to preservation: in the past, books brought Rough Collies to the fore, so too did television which also brought attention to the German Shepherd Dog and Old English Sheepdog; movies promoted Wire Fox Terriers, Cocker Spaniels, and Dalmatians, among many other breeds; and for more than 150 years, dog shows have exposed countless people to purebred dogs. Since 1877, Westminster’s Group and Best in Show rings have delivered unprecedented exposure.

Obviously, people aren’t buying books, watching television, or going to the movies like they used to. Fewer still bring their families to the local dog show. (Westminster and a few other notable events are the exceptions to the rule.) Instead, they are finding dogs through online searches that introduce websites with dozens of puppy pics that can inspire people with an empty house and an open heart to take an expensive road trip. That journey too often results in a doodle, but it can just as easily end with a Doxie, Dandie, or Dogo. All that’s needed are breeders who can be found readily online. Without a welcoming website, preservation breeders of purebred dogs will simply continue to encourage their neighbors to support the doodlers.