HSUS links Petland to puppy mills
By Gina Spadafori
November 20, 2008
I don’t know how many times and in how many ways we have to say this:
If you buy a puppy from a pet store, you are supporting a system of cruelty that has been well-documented again and again and again for more than 50 years. You, yes you, are making puppy mills possible.
Grow up. Take responsibility for your actions. And say NO to puppy mills by buying directly from a reputable, ethical breeder or adopting from a shelter or rescue group. There is no excuse for supporting cruelty with your puppy-mill retail outlet purchase.
This year’s first installment of No Christmas Puppies (click for all our past posts, going back for years), courtesy of MSNBC.com:
After an eight-month investigation, the Humane Society of the United States accused Petland, the national pet store chain, of selling dogs bred under appalling conditions at puppy mills around the country.
The animal protection group made the charges at a news conference in Washington Thursday. The investigation involved 21 Petland stores and dozens of breeders and brokers. The Petland stores are being supplied by large-scale puppy mills, although customers are routinely informed that the dogs come only from good breeders, the Humane Society said.
We write about this every year. Nothing will stop this sick and cruel mass-production of puppies except for customers to not support this industry. No reputable, ethical breeder sells through a third party. Not ever. And no reputable, ethical breeder ships from Internet sites to people who place an order with a few clicks and a credit card. Not ever.
Talk to me about how you love your pet-store puppy and you’d better stand back because I am going to singe your eyebrows off.
I’m glad you are taking good care of your puppy-mill purchase. I’m glad you love her. I’m glad you haven’t had the health and behavior problems that are rampant in these carelessly bred, unsocialized dogs. How nice for you, and for your one dog.
But don’t expect me to sign off on your behavior, because I will never let you off the hook for dooming thousands of dogs to a brutal lives in crap-filled wired cages exposed to the elements because you wanted that puppy in the window. Not ever.
People who run puppy mills are heartless bastards. And they wouldn’t be in business without buyers.
If you’re one of those buyers, shame on you.
Update: More from the HSUS on their Petland investigations. If you are thinking maybe it doesn’t matter where you buy a puppy, you are wrong.

Two years ago, a couple days after Christmas, a girl of 11 or so approached me as I was coming out of Petsmart.
This morning just after dawn I slipped on the ice in my backyard. Ice. In California. Slipped, fell and landed with an embarassing and somewhat painful splat on my wood deck.