First of all, I own a pet shop.

Now, with that said, myself and my store manager work closely with the people we get our puppies from. We are in a community of about 65,000. What we do to make sure we know where our puppies come from is interview the breeder, go out to their site, and we never “buy” the puppies. We only consign them and require that the breeder stays in the process until the puppy is sold to the new home they are going to. We price them fairly so everyone can afford them as we make our profit off the food and supplies our loyal customers will come back for. We tend to sell mixed breeds as opposed to “AKC” type puppies.

We also do a lot of actual rescues (dogs and cats we find abandoned, abused, and sick) and those animals we give away at no charge. We would rather see them go to a good home than die in a kennel somewhere. We find that older people that have no companions are usually more than willing to take the pet when it is full grown, and then they get a companion they do not have to raise and such. We also require the buyer to spend time in our store with the puppy to make sure they have a good fit. We also do a lot of training for our younger pet buyers as to why they want the pet, what they know about that pet or breed, and what kind of time commitment that animal will take. (We do this for ALL the animals we sell.)

Also, we do not keep our puppies in small boxes or kennels. During the time they are in the shop they are in very large kennels that they can run around in. They also get time out every day to run and play and wear off that extra energy.

I do understand that there is a lot of puppy mills and such out there. I am not sure the answer is to express rage on a blog though. I think legislation is probably the best remedy. The next thing I would say is to get the pet shops in your area to switch to healthy methods (face the facts that the pet shop is where most people will buy their new puppy!) If you are buying a puppy, ask to meet the breeder. This should be a basic right for the buyer. If the owner rufuses to list the breeder or put you in contact with the breeder (all our customers can talk to or go visit the home of the breeder) then do not buy the puppy. Not buying the puppy from the pet shop does not stop them from selling these puppies. Making it known that you are going to hold them to high standards will make a difference. The reason is that for every educated buyer, there is 100 non-educated ones that will just romp in, see a cute puppy, and buy it without asking questions. If you start education to the pet shop owner and the buyers, this will cut a lot of that activity. We will never get rid of it entirely as there are always loopholes in the laws, and then there are the lawless who do not care.

I think people can get together and bring to the forefront what is going on, where the puppies are coming from, and get these things dealt with in a safe and legal manner. Everything that has ever been formed in this country has been done so by people getting together to pursue a better cause. I would like to see people all over the country getting together to focus on just this issue, and to get thier representatives to continue to sponsor legislation to make it illegal to have “manufactured” animals. (Write them often, and consistantly, be specific in what you want, and be united in what you want to see the law say.) We all know this is situation is bad, but many people across many states, contacting many legislators has a lot of power. Much more than complaining on a blog.

We opened our shop when we saw how bad some of the others were. Right now we are the only one in our area that has the healthy policies and we state them and invite anyone to ask and see how we do things. We are not afraid to have someone look “behind the curtain.” There is nothing scary hiding there.

I hope this helps and I know it is sad what is going on. But the old addage still holds true; United we Stand.

I hope everyone who is complaining and venting here can make a difference. I also hope that people understand that not all pet shops use puppies mills.

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding House Bill 2525. I am a co-sponsor of this legislation, as well as a co-sponsor of several other bills dealing with animal cruelty.

I believe we were all shocked and disgusted by the news out of Berks County. As a dog lover and an animal lover in general, I find the actions of the kennel operators to be repulsive. It is my sincere hope that when the Legislature returns to session on September 15th, we will be able to strengthen the animal cruelty laws to prevent any future outrage such as the slaughter of these innocent animals.

House Bill 2525 is currently in the House Appropriations Committee awaiting further consideration. Rep. Dwight Evans is the majority chairman of the Committee and he decides which bills will be placed on the Committee’s agenda. I have no input in this decision.

Accordingly, you may wish to write to Chairman Evans to express your interest in having HB2525 scheduled for a Committee vote. His contact information is as follows:

Rep. Dwight Evans
Chairman
House Appropriations Committee
512 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202203
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2203
717-783-1540

Again, thank you for sharing your interest and concern with me in this matter of importance to the safety and well-being of all of our pets.

Sincerlely,
Katharine M. Watson
144th Legislative District

This West Virginia mill had nearly 1,000 dogs!

http://www.animallawcoalition......rticle/576

Same goes for hoarding, many back-yard breeding operations etc…

Don’t pass more laws until you have the WILL to enforce existing ones.

And if there is a specific issue, such as the fact that this ass was allowed by law to shoot 80 dogs, thenn pass a simple law that addresses the specific issue, ie: no home euthanasia, vet only. Don’t then try to tack on a whole bunch of other things you have no intention of actually enforcing.

Stanford published a study not long ago proving that passage of laws that are not enforced actually makes people grow numb to the threat of legal action or penalties for breaking the law. So PA and USDA, bust these asses on all the things they are already doing that are illegal!
And that goes for every other state with scum bucket puppymillers too.

Making a new euthanasia law, because of this particular situation may inadvertently create a new problem. After all, I learned first-hand in 2006, that euthanasia performed by a licensed veterinarian may be far greater cruel end in comparison to a gunshot. At least in Dover, NH, it was.