LiveDeal announced today that selling dogs is big business for them, noting that half of the top 24 search terms on its website are dog-related.

Live Deal is a classified ads website, where people can post ads, just like they do in a newspaper. In fact, if you visit their homepage, you'll see dogs right there at the top of the page.

To celebrate their success in pushing puppies across America, they're having a Holiday Pet Parade, where pet owners submit their pet photos, and rate each other's photos.

The company says that pets are the fastest-growing category on their site, growing in excess of 50-70% month-over-month. "Dogs" and "puppies" are their top two most heavily searched keywords.

If you haven't guessed by now, what I'm getting at is the issue of puppy mills looks as if it's going to be running stonger than ever. While going through a list of puppies for sale in my area, I found a listing for a chihuahua, showing a photo of a man, wearing a wife-beater, with tattoos all over, standing in front of a cage. He says the puppy was family raised. Aren't all puppy mills family operated? Who knows!

I'm sure there are many responsible breeders that rely on classified ads, and I certainly don't want to take anything away from them. If you plan to buy a puppy via classified ad, be inquisitive on its origins. Familiarize yourself with the breed, before you buy the puppy, so that you can make an intelligent evaluation. Puppy mills often produce unhealthy puppies, and you certainly don't want to bring home a puppy that's going to cost thousands in vet bills.

It's your money, so you make the best decision how and where you purchase a puppy.