Do you like this story?
HSUS bashes pet-store happyspeak on ‘adoption’
By Gina Spadafori
November 26, 2008
Earlier this week the Humane Society of the United States released an investigation linking the pet-store chain Petland to puppy-mills, a morally bankrupt industry that treats dogs as machines, cranking out puppies for sale as cheaply as possible as often and as long as they can, often in horrific and cruel conditions. Petland fired back by pointing to its “adoption” programs, which had people who follow this issue snorting over the chutzpah of the company to claim such high ground. The HSUS thought it pretty remarkable as well. In HSUS boss Wayne Pacelle’s blog, he writes:
Unable to defend the puppy mill cruelties that dooms breeding dogs to barren lives in cages without socialization or the kind of human affection that pets deserve, Petland rolled out the claim that it has an “Adopt-A-Pet” program. The PR team at Petland knows that “adoption” has as many positive connotations as “puppy mill” has awful ones, so why not bob and weave.
But Petland using the word doesn’t make it true.
In fact, we were sure they’d try to raise the subject to divert public attention. So before our investigation was made public, our experts called every one of the 133 Petland stores operating at that time in the U.S. We asked if the store participated in the “Adopt-A-Pet” program—and if so, where the adoptee dogs come from.
To start out with, 56 of the stores said they didn’t bother with adoptions.
Then we heard some strange answers: 23 stores said they offered cut-rate adoption prices on older puppies that had not sold, 16 said they offered puppies for adoption when the animals were returned by previous customers, and seven stores said they wanted to offer homeless dogs for adoption but they couldn’t get a supply of pups from local shelters. Little wonder about that last claim. Animal shelters know that retail puppy-sellers and the whole puppy mill industry are large contributors to the overpopulation of dogs in the U.S. Why support them?
Now, to be fair, we found some Petland stores that claimed to offer puppies that were brought in by local people, sometimes from “accidental” litters. A few stores said they would occasionally refer customers to shelters. Some said they actually did offer shelter dogs for adoption—but I have to wonder.
So do we. We wonder how those in the puppy-mill indsutry can enjoy the Christmas season knowing how much suffering they cause.
Don’t buy a puppy from a puppy-mill retail outlet or a direct-from-the-puppy-mill Web site. If you do, you are the reason this industry keeps doing what it does, despite 50 years or more of investigations and expose that show the rot as its core.
Do the right thing. Adopt from a shelter or rescue group, or buy from a reputable, ethical breeder. (Hint: good breeders don’t sell through third parties, and they don’t ship with a few clicks and credit card from a Web site shopping site).
Share & Enjoy
|
Facebook
|
Twitter
|
Google Buzz
|
Digg
|
|
Technorati
|
StumbleUpon
|
Delicious
|
Email
|
Home
I see Wayne is still pushing ‘pet overpopulation’ even though it’s been debunked fifteen ways to Sunday.
PetSmart (not one of my favourite places because of their prejudice against bull-and-terrier types here in Ontario) works with local SPCAs to adopt cats and dogs through their stores.
Comment by Selma — November 27, 2008 @ 7:18 am
PS PetSmart does not sell puppies, forgot to mention that.
Comment by Selma — November 27, 2008 @ 7:18 am
See Nathan Winograd’s post on the attitude shifts at the HSUS.
Change is in the air.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 27, 2008 @ 7:47 am
We’ll see. Wayne has a way of blowing with the wind of public opinion, especially if it involves fundraising opps.
Sorry, it will take more than pandering statements to cure my cynical view of the HSUS, past behaviour being the best predictor of future behaviour and all…
Comment by Selma — November 27, 2008 @ 9:35 am
Oh I know, believe me, I know …
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 27, 2008 @ 10:28 am
My comment here is simply one of pragmatic puzzlement.
Let me preface my remarks by saying I have never purchased a pet from a commercial establishment and never will. I’ll never recommend it either. That being said……..
When I was a kid in the 1970’s learning the lesson that puppymills and pet stores weren’t the best place to get a puppy was easy. It was easy because direction to the “correct” source for puppies satisfied the needs of the human purchaser..
Breeders, in those days, offered puppies that were less expensive and to almost any eye “better looking”. People weren’t rejected in large numbers because they were deemed “unsuitable”. People weren’t required to go on long waiting lists. People weren’t required to agree on all dog related politics. Generally, pet owners weren’t shunned as “evil” or “ignorant” if they didn’t buy the same “package” of beliefs.
Regardless of the oft repeated desire to make every person obtaining a dog invest a large amount of interest in research (which really means they must indoctrinate themselves to believe those things “ethical breeders” believe - the practical fact is that people find the path of least resistance to the things they want.
If a goal to decrease the % of pups purchased from retail outlets in relation to private hobby breeders one must make that switch palatable and relatively easy.
How many people have been REJECTED by breeders, rescues, etc…?
Does anyone doubt the result of such rejection is complete and utter alienation that most of the rejectees experience. (BTW: I come from 4 generations of “hobby” breeders- personally, I’ve never had to do suffer this nonsense because I have access to the “inside track”).
Shocked?
How dare I imply that getting a puppy should be easy!
But it is for those who buy puppies from stores.
Going to a retail outlet is easy - MONEY IS THE ONLY REQUIREMENT.
Those that want to shut down petstores ought to consider the reality of how this can be accomplished.
When getting a puppy from a source where the sire and dam lead actualized, happy lifes is as easy getting one from a pet store - pet stores will cease having the upper hand.
How to make this happen is beyond my scope and ken.
I’d suggest that breeders stop allowing themselves the luxury of CERTAINTY and through humility consider the possibility that people who disagree with them are not to be ridiculed, rejected, insulted, or refused puppies.
IMO, of course.
Comment by Richie Fortunato — December 1, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Richie … I think your points are on target in many ways, but I see two distinct discussions.
Reputable breeders: Reputable, ethical breeders are not about “meeting the market demand.” They are about preserving and improving (in theory, yes, I know, and that’s a whole ‘nother discussion) and especially protecting their breed. That means NOT selling to just anyone, but doing the best to make sure the dog/puppy is a good fit, that the person who gets the dog understands the responsibility to the breeder to keep in the loop, return if can’t can’t keep the dog, etc.
Could reputable, ethical breeders not be such incredible jerks and snobs to people who make simple beginner mistakes? You bet they could, and should. Example: Some 30 years ago I was looking for a “miniature collie” puppy. I was 20 years old and didn’t know better. First “good breeder” I called gave me an earful and a very nasty turn-down for my “ignorance.” Hey, way to educate! That breeder didn’t get a pet puppy into a good pet home because I didn’t approach her properly. I finally DID get a Sheltie puppy, from a nice breeder. That puppy and I got a CDX with a high in trial along the way, and I have been hooked on dogs ever since, including running a Sheltie rescue.
It’s not a good breeder’s job to meet the market demand, but it IS a good breeder’s job to be polite and helpful, and kind even when saying “no.”
OK, case No. 2: Rescue and shelters. When I was running NorCal sheltie rescue, I broke the “rules” constantly, making exceptions to place dogs with good people. Those turned out to be some of my very best placements, forever homes of the most loving kind.
I always tried to do my best for my rescue furbabies, but I also told myself that I was only human, couldn’t see into the future and that if I made a mistake that was the risk. I really made many more good placements than bad ones, and in fact can think of only one bad one that wasn’t that awful … the dog came back because she couldn’t tell the difference between an expensive collector teddy bear and a dog toy, and the adopter wouldn’t put the teddies on shelves out of reach. Whatever.
Unlike breeders, rescues and shelters are supposed to be ALL ABOUT getting people and pets together, but too many of them make it way too hard for people to adopt. I hear this all the time, and it goes to the heart of the no-kill argument, and the ingrained idea of the shelter industry that a pet is better off killed than placed if a placement can’t be “perfect” as the shelter or rescuer believes “perfect” to be.
That’s nonsense. And a lot of time it’s classist and even racist. Middle-aged, middle-class white people (largely single, largely women) in rescue too often see anyone who isn’t like them as not being ideal, and that’s just plain wrong. I often had to fight my own biases in placement, and ask what people were really about at heart in making an adoption work for the dogs and the people.
So … reputable, ethical breeders have a responsibility to the dogs they bring into the world, for life. But they also have a responsibility to educate and be civil to everyone they talk to about their dogs or their breed.
Shelters and rescues need to stop looking at every person as a potential abuser and give people a damn chance to do the right thing. Because being dead is forever, and it’s simply not the preferable option to being in a home that isn’t perfect by the most optimum of standards. I know lots of pets who are well-loved and well-cared for, even if that care is different — note, I said “different,” not “better” — than what my own pets get.
We need to help good people of all different incomes and living situations adopt shelter and rescue dogs. And if those same good people want purebred puppies, they shouldn’t be treated with contempt but rather with understanding and kindness, with an eye to educate and inform to help them make good decisions regarding pet selection, which may well end up being a purebred from a reputable, ethical breeder.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 1, 2008 @ 10:44 am