Unfortunately, Miniature Bull Terriers are rare in South Africa and the demand for them is high. This has resulted in a number of scams to make money out of unsuspecting potential Miniature Bull Terrier owners.
 Please read the following and be careful!

SCAM #1

Adverts are placed on internet marketplaces and online-classified sites offering Miniature Bull Terriers for sale. If you respond to the advert, you are sent photographs of cute Bull Terrier puppies and asked where you are based. Then you are told that you can visit and view the puppies at an address far from where you live. (I have been contacted by three prospective minibully owners who were all sent the same photos of an advertised litter but each told that they could view the puppies at addresses in Upington, Nelspruit, East London and Port Alfred.) All your questions are answered in the affirmative and you are told that to secure a puppy you must deposit 70% of the cost into a bank account upfront. The puppy will be delivered to your doorstep at which point you must pay the remaining 30%.

In this scam, there are no puppies and I have found that the fraudsters 'selling' Miniature Bull Terriers are also 'selling' every other breed of dog you can imagine, even other animals like pot-bellied pigs and parrots!

SCAM #2

Adverts are placed for 'unregistered' Miniature Bull Terrier puppies. Miniature Bull Terriers are unique in that there is no such thing as an unregistered 'Miniature Bull Terrier'. This is because there is no size restriction for a Standard Bull Terrier so if a dog looks like a Bull Terrier, even if it may seem small, it is a Standard Bull Terrier unless it has a registration pedigree to show that it has descended directly from Miniature Bull Terrier stock.

Miniature Bull Terriers are small because they have a unique set of genes for small size. This may not be evident when they are very young as Miniature Bull Terrier puppies are not a lot smaller than Standard Bull Terrier puppies. The difference is in the growth pattern. Growth is 'turned off' in Miniatures at about 5 or 6 months compared to Standard Bull Terriers that can continue growing sometimes until 18 months.

This photo shows Sheherazade From Friars Point (Miniature Bull Terrier) and Consul Ewimark Rakownia (Standard Bull Terrier). Both are exactly 5 months old - the Mini has stopped growing, the Bull Terrier has still got a long way to go! (Thanks to Thea Jacobs - From Friars Point Kennels in the Netherlands for the photo.)

The scammer may offer to show you a parent that is undersized but beware as Standard Bull Terriers who have developmental problems in early puppyhood may be stunted in their growth. Thus their size is not due to their genes but their poor health. Your puppy won't inherit their smaller size but may inherit their health problems. 

SCAM #3

The Landbou Weekblad magazine of September 2012 carries an advert for Miniature X Standard Bull Terriers for R4000 each. The advert states "Kusa-geregistreer".

Please note that Miniature Bull Terriers and Standard Bull Terriers are two separate dog breeds  (with different breed numbers) and cross-breed puppies are not registered by KUSA. The parents of these puppies may both be KUSA registered but the puppies themselves are not pure-bred, will not be small and cannot be registered.

As Miniature Bull Terriers are rare, you will not see them advertised publicly.
If you see an advert for Miniature Bull Terriers for sale, please contact me
tracey@minibullies-sa.net
I will gladly check it out for you. I maintain a database of Miniature Bull Terriers worldwide and I monitor Miniature Bull Terriers imported into South Africa and those present in South Africa. I do not sell puppies of any kind and so I can offer unbiased advice to avoid you becoming the victim of fraudsters. If you have been scammed and have more information to add to this to help others avoid the same fate, please let me know.

REMEMBER:

Don't buy a Miniature Bull Terrier puppy unless the parents are health-tested. Parents should have had the following tests: PLL clear by genetic test or parentage (if either parent is a carrier then the puppy must be tested), heart Doppler scanned OK, kidneys sonar scanned OK, UPC ratios for kidney function OK, Baer testing for hearing ++.

Beware of the last - we have had a sad case of a white puppy imported from Australia without testing who proved to be deaf and was passed on from her original owner, cross-mated with Bull Terriers and was recently most tragically killed.