A good price or supporting the wrong cause?

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

We have a large store near us that is a plant nursery that carries other home items (seasonal decorations, custom picture frames, candles, fudge, etc) and also has a growing pet supply department.  They have a wide selection of toys, treats, collars, and food.  This store carries the Taste of The Wild brand at a regular price that is cheaper than what our local specialty pet store charges.  We occasionally get coupons in the mail or via email for another $5 off any store purchase.  We have started buying our TOTW food from here because we end up saving close about $7 or $8 on the largest bags and I can’t pass up such a good bargain, but there is a problem.  This store also sells puppies.  I used to stop at this store just to look at the cute little puppies, but then I learned about puppy mills and don’t even like to go back into that corner of the store.  Morally, I have a problem with the fact that they sell puppies and kittens.   If I continue to purchase the food from this store, am I indirectly supporting the wrong cause (puppy mills)? 

 

If you think that purchasing food from there supports the wrong cause, what do you say about making any purchase from that store?  They have a very nice selection of plants and shrubs and we usually make several purchases there each year.  Should I completely boycott this place altogether? 

 

I am curious to hear some opinions on this.  Thanks!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Amy and I have been doing a little research. The pups are from mills, there are reports on one of the mills in particular.

Big surprise.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

 My dad wants some decorative yard sprinkler from there for xmas, but guess Santa is just going to have to disappoint him and get him something else from a store that does NOT sell puppy mill pups!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

See if you can find out which sprinkler it is, I am sure you can find it elsewhere!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Karen - No one knows more about this subject than you do.  Would you consider writing a fact based letter that the rest of us could tweek and then send our local newspapers as letters to the editor?  There are two stores and one flea market here that sell puppies and I'd be glad to get involved.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I will be happy to try, when I have a little time to sit down and work on it!

[Lorraine Bromley]

This is exactly what I was thinking as well! Great Idea Jane! What about it karen I would like a Canadian version of that Letter too!

 

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Amy, I am probably not the person to give you advice as I do so much fostering of doodles that come from less than reputable breeders, but I also hope to be a reputable breeder one day. I am a foster failure, adopting our lovely Lacey, who was dumped in a kill shelter (HW+) by a puppy miller who has supplied more than his/her fair share of puppies to pet stores through our Lacey and others. But I also have Jean Harlow, our girl we plan to breed if we find the perfect BF. We have done all the testing on Harlow...the genetics, the hips, the elbows, the heart, the thyroid, the eyes. The cost is not insignificant and I can graunatee those babies in the store parent's have not had any kind of testing.

We also have our 10 year old beagle, Baxter, plus 3 feline children (Moonshine, Cleopatra & Contessa), plus 2 foster doodle sisters (Lexie & Ginger) so as you can imagine we spend a lot on good food.

That being said, I would not let my shadow cross the door of a store that also sells cats & dogs much less buy anything from them.  Retailers are only concerned with the bottom line and the only way to have influnence on their selling practices is to buy or more importantly, not buy from them... and let them know why you are no longer their customer.

[Jennifer and "Cooper"]

Ok.  Everyone who has replied is so much more politically correct than I am.  I'd be that person that would go in, fill up two carts with random EXPENSIVE stuff, go to the check out (but not pay for anything yet), ask to speak to the manager and find out the contact information for whoever owns the store.  I would then inform the manager (hopefully in front of lots of other customers) that although I was about to spend a large amount of money there (show him/her the carts full of stuff), since they sell puppies and kittens that most likely come from questionable sources, I will gladly take my business somewhere else that does not support animal abuse.  I would also tell them that I plan on telling all my friends, family, co-workers, etc.  I would send a letter of similiar content to the owners.  Maybe it would make a difference, maybe not but at least I would know that I wasn't supporting a less than reputable business.  

 

 

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

I would have to be half way through a bottle of wine to have the guts to be able to do that!!  lol

I would totally support someone doing that and it would really make me laugh if I was behind that person in line (but wait, i'm not going to be shopping there anymore!) but would never have the courage to actually BE that person.

[Lorraine Bromley]

I asked a local pet store where they get their dogs and they said breeders who would rather not deal with the public and possible owners so to focus on the breeding so they use them as a middle man. But said that the breeders aren't disclosed either so they don't have people disturbing them. They are definitely puppy mill providers and the spca know all about them but can't do anything about it for what ever reason? Limit of the laws here?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's the laws and the lobbyists.

As to where the dogs come from and the nice fairy tale these people told you, it all boils down to a simple math problem.

Real breeder sells you a puppy, breeder gets all the $ from the sale, the full purchase price of the dog.

With pet store puppies, the store is not selling anything for what they paid for it. They have to make a profit, or they would go out of business. Typical retail mark-up is 100%. When you see a shirt for sale in a store for $20, the store paid $10 for it. So let's say the store is selling the puppy for $1000. The store paid the real middle man, the puppy broker, $500 for the puppy.

The puppy broker is also not selling the puppy for what he paid for it, or he would go out of business. The broker most likely paid $300 for this puppy to the "breeder" who wants to "focus on the breeding".

So this dedicated breeder who wants to focus on breeding is getting less than one third of the price she would have gotten from the purchaser if she'd sold the puppy to them outright. That's a lot of money to pay to avoid having to deal with the public or be disturbed, don't you think? if this story were true, I would not buy from that breeder simply because I think she's already "disturbed", lol.  

All of this aside from the fact that any normal human being who truly cared about the puppies that she brought into the world would never in a million years send them in a truck to sit in a cage in a retail store in another state and be sold to anyone on earth for any kind of purpose, when she could keep the puppy with his mother and his littermates until she puts him into the arms of the owner she has chosen for him.

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The more I think about what this store person told you, the madder I get.

 "But said that the breeders aren't disclosed either so they don't have people disturbing them." ?????

Don't most of the good breeders want to know where their puppies are and how they are doing? Haven't we heard a lot of DK members talk about keeping in touch with their breeders, going to romps with other owners of that breeders' dogs, etc? Imagine that your breeder didn't want you to know who she is because she doesn't want you disturbing her!

Thank Goodness, our state (Illinois) recently passed a law requiring full disclosure on pet store puppies, including the name and location of the breeder and the health records. The pet industry lobbyists (PIJAC) fought long and hard against that one, but they lost.