If you haven't heard of dog flipping, you are not alone. Dog flipping is the act of purchasing dogs from backyard breeders, getting them as free to good home pets from websites or just downright stealing them before selling them to pet-seeking parents for a profit. Unlike house flipping or website flipping, dog flipping doesn't improve the animals in anyway, but instead hurts the animal in a number of different ways. This devious act has skyrocketed in recent years, but there is little authorities can do to stop it. The only way to prevent dog flipping is to not buy into it.
It is the intent of this page to be a place where people can discover pet or animal abusers and flippers in their region so that they will not turn their pets over to a abuser or a flipper and not purchase a pet or animals from a abuser or a flipper.
People who abuse or flip pets do not care about the welfare of the pets or animals. Their only concern is the money that can be made from the pet or animal sales.
Help put a dent in this despicable trade by posting known pet or animal abuser or flipper and sharing those posted here to make others aware.
Pet or Animal abusers or flippers are people who troll buy/sell/trade sites like those on FB and pick up pets or animals free or cheap, only to turn around and sell them for a profit.
How do you spot a dog flipper?
The obvious first sign is someone selling on a Facebook group or on Craigslist that is posting an inordinate amount of dogs for sale. Even those selling a new litter of puppies will only use one ad for it or at least have the same dogs for sale over time.
The smarter dog flippers will at least use a different username, but even then the phone number and/or email address will be the same. These should be flagged and reported to the site or group staff.
For those selling a pet online, always charge a fee of at least $75 to $100 dollars. These deter the cheaper dog flippers. Someone who truly wants your pet can and should be able to pay for it.
Treat anyone interested in buying a pet like it is an interview. Ask them about what they do and why they want a dog as well as if they ever had a pet before and what happened to it. These are all standard questions on an application at animal control center, so they should be able to answer them in a quick and concise manner.
Avoid sob stories, flipper love them. They use them to both buy and sell dogs. Some flippers use the sad stories of others in order to get cheap dogs or they will peddle their own sad story about how they just lost their pet in order to get a new pet to flip.
Ask for veterinary records for the animal. This is the best way to assure the authenticity of a dog. Some people can be pretty disorganized, but they should at least have something. If nothing else, ask to meet them at their vet clinic to get the dog's microchip scanned before sale.
The Illegal Practice Called “Pet Flipping”
“Pet Flipping” is not a new pet trick; it is the criminal act of stealing a pet and then selling it as a “rescue” to unsuspecting purchasers. (Another variation occurs when a pet has been found and is held at an animal shelter or has been advertised as “found” and the “pet flipper” poses as the pet’s owner only to turn around and sell the pet to someone else.)
Even worse, the thieves are sometimes “rescues” themselves, as recently reported in Georgia where a Great Danes’ owner fell victim to pet flipping by a local rescue who allegedly took her dog and sold him as an “abused and rescued dog” to another family. Fortunately, when the new owners were told about the theft, they returned the dog to his owner.
And notably, a Judge “issued a theft warrant against the rescue owner” who had hidden information about the stolen pet when his owner called inquiring about his whereabouts.
According to WTOC, “the American Kennel Club said reselling, called pet flipping, has grown 800 percent since 2008,” and a 31% increase has been reported by the AKC since 2012.
The AKC offers excellent advice to prevent the theft of your pet, summarized here:
“Don’t let your dog off-leash”
“Don’t leave your dog unattended in your yard”
“Be cautious with information about your dog” to inquiring strangers
“Never leave your dog in an unattended car, even if it’s locked”
“Don’t tie your dog outside a store”
“Protect your dog with microchip identification”
“Immediately report to the police/animal control the theft of your dog”
“If your dog has a microchip, ask to have that unique serial number, along with the dog’s description, posted in the ‘stolen article’ category on the National Crime Information Center”
“Canvass the neighborhood”
Have pictures of your pet available for use on fliers to distribute locally
“Contact the media”
As the pet rescue industry continues to expand, pets and their owners may continue to be victimized by thieves looking to make money by flipping pets.
The Animal Welfare Act was first passed in 1966, in large part, as described by the Congressional Research Service “to prevent pets from being stolen for sale to research laboratories.”
Now, almost 50 years later, it is sad to see criminals abuse the increasingly popular act of “animal rescue” to enrich themselves.