Promises of free puppies on the web that sound too good to be true are just that discovered JOHN HARRIS after his family farewelled their beloved dog Thorn.

Our house was in grieving last weekend.

After a short illness, our family’s beloved Cavalier King Charles Thorn went to sleep for the final time as a lethal dose of anaesthetic flowed into his blood stream.

Thorn was a delightful dog who, despite being scared of his own shadow, would fearlessly tear down the central corridor of my office to bark at any visitor with the temerity to press the doorbell.

With him around, no unattended food was safe and laps were rarely vacant. On our daily school drop-off walks, he was always hailed by name by a phalanx of fans.

So it was with many tears and tissues that we farewelled him in our back yard on Saturday afternoon, knowing he was irreplaceable in our lives.

However, like many families, we have plants to be dug up, curtains to be chewed and half-eaten dinners to be stolen, so over the next day, we each secretly searched the newspaper and the Web for available puppies.

My sweet wife spotted what seemed like an amazing offer online: A pair of teacup Yorkie terriers free to a good home because the owner was moving into a small apartment (which I thought was the reason for breeding tiny terriers).

I dutifully registered our interest by email to megan_lee01@yahoo.com and 24 hours later received a response.

“Hello,” began the unsigned email. “I appreciate your willingness to offer my puppies an ever loving and caring home. I have just two little babies left, one male by name Billy and one female by name Laura. My puppies are both 12 weeks old and are expected to be 5lbs when fully grown up making them great tea cup size and also gorgeous designer purse puppies.”

This was followed by a series of questions about the sort of home we offered the puppies.

Although I answered this email, my suspicion was stirred by its anonymity and nosiness, so I prodded Google about puppy scams in Australia.

I learned there’s a vibrant industry in ripping off dog lovers by offering them puppy purchases that are too good to be true. Grieving pet owners provide easy prey for these scammers.

When the next email arrived, it requested my name, contact details and $170 for the transfer of ownership, so they could speedily ship the puppies from the central African nation of Cameroon.

“Thanks for the offer,” I responded, “But I can't afford a supersonic jet to deliver the puppies from Cameroon to Australia in seven hours.”

So the bottom line for pet lovers looking for a new love on the web is caveat emptor – let the buyer beware. A much better bet than random pet ads is the RSPCA-owned www.adoptapet.com.au site.

However the web does have its place in pet ownership, like letting me build a Remember Thorn tribute website for our hairy little hero at www.webs.com.

John Harris is managing director of Impress Media Australia. Email jharris@impress.com.au

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