Ive just been looking through my local free-ad paper and someone has 9 "pedigree" german shepherd puppies advertised FREE TO A GOOD HOME Why would someone do that ?? could they be stolen ??

Claire :(

could be many different reasons, but lets just hope they go to good homes :(

They may say pedigree but i doubt they'd come with papers. Perhaps having a pedigree mom and the dog from the corner shop means "pedigree" to them. I've seen a few of those.
Hope they get a good home though..lovely looking dogs

the Christmas traders and vultures will appear though i bet! :(

Thats what I was thinking, if you are going to give pups away the best idea would be not to put a price at all - at least then you can vet potential owners first.

where are these pups? locally in the midlands a litter of gsd's was stolen to my knowledge...

The number was for Slough. Thinking about it though, if someone stole some puppies surely they would be selling them

true, but they couldbe trying to offload if they didnt sell

You can vet potential owners whether you charge for your puppies or not. I'm sure there are plenty of responsible owners who can offer a good home and upbringing to a free puppy.
Paying a fee does not guarantee that you are getting a better home.
Lara x

I agree, but advertising for anything for free always drags up the dregs of society, lets hope potential owners are vetted.

Having spent 10 years doing rescue for another breed, and having seen all sorts of things like this, I would imagine someone has bred with their bitch and not realised the amount of work in rearing and selling a litter. They're probably fed up with the mess and want the puppies out of the way. When will these idiots learn!