Puppies at Pet Store

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

I had to go to the mall (Rockaway NJ) with my son this evening.  We walked past the pet store.  They had about 20 puppies in small cages.  The goldendoodle couldn't fully stand up in the cage.  My son (18 y/o) said 'Dad there is something wrong with the doodles legs, she cann't straighten them.'  All the puppies were biting at the cages due to boredom.  There was only one employee sitting behind the register un-interested in what was going on in the store.  Most of the dogs came from one breeder (I'm sure a puppy mill).

 

I wanted to take each adorable puppy home, to get them out of this situation.  But what would that have done - it would have condoned the practice of puppy mills and only supported the evil that I hate.  I thought of calling the vet (a medim size local vet practce) that was listed on the dogs ID cards and asking him to dis-associate himself from this place.

 

I wish I could help.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

After we lost our toy poodle of 16 years and swore "never again" would we have a dog, I used to go to the Pet Store near my home in Orlando and just play with the puppies! I would tell DH "I think I need a Puppy fix" so we would go in and act like we were interested in a puppy just to get to hold them and play with them in the little room for awhile. I figured at least they got some love and attention and out of that stupid cage for a little while!

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

That is actually a very nice thing to do, not supporting the mills or the pet store but at least giving the poor, helpless puppies some love and attention for a few minutes. I personally can't even look at a pet store - I don't have the will power not to buy them with the "saving" as my logic. I know its wrong so I just stay away. So incredibly heartbreaking.

[Jeannine Smith]

We have local pet store with multiple locations here in Indianapolis, Uncle Bills ... they get all of there dogs from puppy mills. It's heartbreaking! We do have a local puppymill awareness group that does several peaceful protests in front of the stores so that helps spread the word.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

This makes me sick!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This is just really hard for me to even think of. I am so happy this is illegal in TN

[Frannie & Callie]

Ugh - it stinks to feel so strongly and be so largely impotent to fix it. I feel for you, your son, and all those sweet puppies.

[Pocket & Beth]

I have been upset about this all night. I poked around for N.J. animal welfare laws, and I am pretty sure this sort of confinement is not legal. I urge you to at least report the store here: http://www.newjersey.gov/health/animalwelfare/spca.shtml

[Sally, Ditzy Mitzi & Sgt. Pepper]

O.K. I am probably going to get a lot of "shame on you's" from some of you, however, we did get our Mitzi from a local pet store. She was one of the dogs too big for her crate,and could barely turn around in it. We were out to dinner and just wandered into the pet shop to look at the truly adorable toy puppies in the baby beds that were built to show them off. It certainly looked like puppy mill pups for the most part and we had absolutely no intention of getting a dog when we went in. My husband noticed this crate on the floor with a dog way too big for it. We went over and looked at her and started to leave when she started screaming. Truly a howl like this was heartbreaking and it stayed with us as we left the store. We talked about her the rest of the evening and could not stand the way she had cried, it was a heartbreaking wail that was begging for rescue from her horrible tiny crate.. She was six months old and they had sold her sister the day before. They had both been in the same crate several months before and I am not sure they were not in the same crate then. She was on a greatly reduced clearance price so we felt less guilty about the support the puppy mill situation. The store probably only broke even with the price of care up to when we got her out of there. They even promised she was not from a puppy mill. We later got her "papers" and the breeder was definitely a puppy mill owner.
I later found out from a neighbor whose daughter had worked there that in one more month at most she would have been sent to the pound. We truly hate puppy mills and would never regard them with any kindness, but the flip side of the animals in the pet shops is that they deserve a life, too. It is a shame they have to start theirs in this manner.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Oh, Sally - I have been there, done that and own that T-shirt - with Samantha's picture on it.

I am not going to give you the 'shame on you' - I am not even upset because I did the same thing. But I will share with you my story and what I have learned and I hope others learn from my story. That is the way to spread the word - by educating those who don't know - I thank Jacquie for teaching me and for showing me the ropes of rescue. From pet store to helping those get out of shelters, into foster homes and to their forever home. That will be the happy ending of this story.

Over a year ago there was a discussion here on DK about PMs & pet stores. I truly had no idea about PMs until then. After reading that I said that I have to believe in my heart that I 'rescued' Samantha so I could sleep at night. This is before I truly saw what PMs were like. I have never felt go guilty in all my life. I couldn't believe what I did. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change having her for the world but the thought of what her parents life is like just makes me ill! And the guilt - that haunts me every day.

Then I met Mickey, who is now my daughter and son-in-laws Doodle. Without going into the whole story, which if anyone cares to read is on my page, Mickey was very underweight, scared of everything, had never walked on grass, had mange, horrendous case of kennel cough, eyes infected, ears infected, neuter site infected - all at the old age of 4 months old. He came from Almost Heaven Puppy Mill. I learned real fast about PMs and the life not only of the Mom and Pop dogs, but the puppies that aren't sold to pet stores.

It is such a hard line to cross - you want to 'rescue' that doggie in the window but the unfortuante thing is that I know I helped the PMs because they now had space in the pet store to order another puppy. If there wasn't a puppy available, the PMers get the dogs 'busy' in order to fill the empty cages.

It isn't about the puppy in the store - it is about the life or lack of good life that the Mom and Pop dogs have to live in order for the cage in the store to fill with another puppy. THAT is who suffers - the Mommy and Daddy dogs that live their lives in cages too small, bear their puppies and have them taken away too young so when they finally get to the pet store they are at a 'perfect age' and cuteness. That is the life they live year after year until they are too old to have litters and then they are just disposed with.

I have never walked into a pet store since I got my education. I know that any doodle there would wind up in my car and the cycle will continue of a horrendous life of the Mom and Pop dogs.. THAT is the reason that we all have to stay away from pet stores.

Look at Liz's discussion about the 3 Amigos. Those are PMs puppies.

Okay - I am off my soap box. Thanks for listening.

There are just too many doodles in kill shelters for anyone to ever consider a doodle from a pet store! It is raining doodles again in shelters and rehomes. Those are the ones that need our help! So of course I have to ask - anyone who can open their hearts and homes to a foster doodle, please email me at [e-mail]

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't think anyone could have said this better.

[Sally, Ditzy Mitzi & Sgt. Pepper]

Adrienne,
I am in total agreement with you. I believe it was my inquiry a year ago that started the PM discussions. I got a lot of mean toned "flack" for even bringing up the unmentionable subject and wasn't sure at that time that I would continue with DK. People apparently only half read what I had written and perhaps thought that
I supported the horrible idea of PMs. They couldn't have been further from the truth if that was the interpretation of what I had said. I fully wish it was against the law everywhere to have pet shops sell animals as well as permitting PMs anywhere.

I have no doubt that you did indeed "rescue" Samantha. I know we "rescued" Mitzi. We had two dogs
at home at that time and did not have any intentions of bringing another one home. Fortunately for the other animals the pet shop we got Mitzi at went out of business shortly after we got her and the puppy mill, Puppy Haven Kennels, was shut down by the state of Wisconsin. It was one of the largest in the country.

I wish there was some legal way to shut them all down. As for the pups in pet stores, so many of them
look unhealthy. I don't go in them anymore, either. On the other hand, what happens to the unadopted
animals? Do they end up at the pound?

Sorry, this is a subject that I also find upsetting and didn't mean to ramble on, but when I hear of a dog in a crate too small for it, it jars a very unpleasant memory.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Sally -

To answer your question " On the other hand, what happens to the unadopted
animals? Do they end up at the pound?"

Some do, some wind up at rescues but they do not get sold. And yes unfortunately some get euthanized. The pet store suffers a financial loss and purchases fewer dogs from the broker or puppy mill. If enough do not get sold they will stop selling puppies. Purely economics. We all can help stop this practice by not buying pet store puppies and not buying anything from the stores that sell puppies and letting them know why we are not buying from them.