nursing dogs

Question
Is it ok for a nursing dog to wear a flea collar?
We just went to see a puppy at a private house. she said she bought the dog from people in MO. She bought 3 females and one male. How can you tell if this is possibly a puppymill?  

Answer
I would not want *ANY* pesticides on a nursing bitch or around her puppies.

Missouri is one of the biggest puppymill states in the country. If you have breeder names or kennel names, you might be able to find it here (one is a list of dealers, and the other breeders):

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/lists/lista.pdf
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/lists/listb.pdf

If this woman bought all these dogs for breeding purposes, she doesn't sound like anyone planning on improving the breed in question. One should always start his search for a puppy on a national breed club's webpage.

Karen