The "Survey Says..." statistics you see on PupQuest's pages come from a survey done by the creators of the site. New dog owners filled out questionnaires when they visited veterinary hospitals, a shelter, or a doggie day care center.

With about 80 participants, all located in western Massachusetts, the survey wasn't representative of the country but the results were interesting. They told us that the recent trends we thought were happening amongst our clients, families, and friends were indeed happening. The alarming trend of buying/adopting sight-unseen over the Internet is what prompted us to create PupQuest.
83% of people who bought from breeders and 60% who adopted from shelters said they researched dog ownership before getting their dogs. The following statistics do not reflect that research:


Not even a sniff hello
People didn't meet their dogs before they committed to buy/adopt them.
» Half of the surveyed dog owners never met their dogs before getting them.
» Half of the owners didn't personally see the environment their dog came from.

Going digital
The Internet was the most popular way people found their dogs.
» Over 40% of participants found their dogs over the internet.

Going national
People got their dogs from long distances away.
» More than half of the owners got their dogs from out of state.
» 1 in 5 people had their dogs flown to them on airplanes.

Puppy farms under the radar
People thought they were educated about puppy mills, but still bought from them.
» Nearly 90% of people said they knew about puppy mills/farms.
» ...yet 20% knowingly bought from USDA licensed sources.
» Nobody made the connection between USDA licenses and puppy farms.
» 57% of buyers didn't know whether or not they bought from a USDA licensed source.