Instructions
Ask the breeder if you can see her facility. A responsible breeder will have very few breeding dogs, clean facilities and available veterinary records to show upon request. Visit the facility; try to do it without notice so she has had no time to clean up or hide anything. Look for tell-tale signs of milling, such as dried fecal matter in cages or very thin dogs. All breeding dogs should be healthy weights, clean and well tempered.
Ask to see the puppy's pedigree papers, often referred to as it's "bloodline." Look to see how far back the family tree goes, how many dogs were of Irish decent and how many show champions are in the line. A champion bloodline means the dog is more likely to come from a breeder who shows their dogs and takes good care of them. Ask the breeder directly if he purchased dogs from Ireland mills. Ask him to show proof of where their breeding stock came from. Ask to see the breeders records; he should know which dogs he bred and have veterinary care sheets for each parent and each puppy.
Avoid purchasing your puppy from a pet store. Close to 90 percent of dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills. Since mills in the U.S. often stock their facilities with dogs from Ireland's mills, you can assume it's best to avoid mills all together.
How to Find Out If a Breeder Uses Ireland Puppy Mills
Puppy mills are a factory farm-like place where pedigree dogs are bred in mass to be sold for profit. Dogs in Irish puppy mills live in overcrowded and often unsanitary conditions. Dogs at puppy mills rarely ever get veterinary care and personal attention. Many puppy mills in the United States get stock dogs from Ireland, so how can you find out where your puppy comes from? Weed out the possibility that your dog came from an Irish puppy mill one question at a time.