Petland

[Courtney1234]

Evening everyone.. i just wanted to stop in and ask you all a question. Tonight I was offered a Yorkie from a friend of my DH's for $600. He owns a pet store and I guess somehow gets puppies from other pet stores for a discount. He said that he could get a yorkie from petland for $600. I am skeptical about getting one from a petstore and much less petland.. i have always heard that petland doesn't have such a good reputation about their dogs. DH's friend said he could get me all the breeders info. and email it to me. What do you all think. Would you even bother getting a yorkie from a pet store? Or stick to breeders? Thanks Everyone
courtney

[yorkipower]

Your skepticism is warranted! Even, just assuming, that the puppies are not from a puppy mill, what kind of loving, caring dog breeder would sell her puppies to a dog broker or to a pet shop where she gives up all rights to be certain that her dogs go to a good home?

Many years ago, my parents bought a puppy from a pet shop on the recommendation of my father’s boss. While Jimmy grew up to be a much loved and fiercly loyal and loving dog he also developed hip displasia (not common in Yorkies) by eight months and grew to be about fifteen pounds, floppy eared, with a dark wooly coat! Later in life he also developed cushings disease. The pet shop was closed down a few years afterwards.

No matter what they tell you, or who makes the recommendation , I would not buy a pet shop puppy. You want to know where your puppy comes from and be able to see, at least, the mom of the pup

[orinskye]

i would have to say no as well........ petshops turn out dogs that have medical problems .... not socialized........ potty training is also a problem because the dog is USED to living eating and pooping in the same area (so what is to stop him from doing this in youre house as well?) as difficult as it is to housetrain a yorkie i would think a petshop pup would be much worse..... and as for the price........ i only paid $500 for toby, he is not papered, but i bought him from a responsible breeder that cared about where his puppies ended up, (and i dont want to get on your case or anything, but just be aware that if you buy this puppy, you are also supporting the puppy mills that supply other puppies to the petshop........ not to mention the lack of "quality" the pup will have.............) no, there are too many risks...... if you really want a yorkie you should take youre time and really do your research online, newpapers, pennysavers..... even shelters or rescues occasionaly have puppies too (and if you get one from a shelter or rescue it will be much cheaper !!!!)

[fasteddie]

I'd have to agree, and it's really important (at least to me) to see the puppy's parents and see what kind of home it came from. Good luck in your Yorkie search, Courtney!

[Luvmypupster]

I agree, I would never buy from a pet store. Even if they can get you information from the breeder..you have no way to confirm if its good info. Good breeders neve sell their pups thru a pet store. It is a gamble, sometimes a very lucky few end up getting a pup with no problems. But I have know several people whom get a pet store pup whom ends up not looking like what they had hopes of. Just like someone described above. Always be careful when searching for a new pup. Meet the breeder, observe the condition of the area these pups are being raised in. Check refferences

[ldenise]

I too do not support these pet shops. The enviroment that they are living in ...oh well lets say I feel so sorry for them. Who knows what diseases they can get being in there. Just walking in the door with buckeye makes him shake. I try to stay out of there. I think he senses bad things happening there. I wonder does any one know what happens to these pets when no one buys them? I have seen a couple of times that these dogs are caught under the uncomfy mats that they put in there. I made them go in and fix it.
Keep looking courtney. It might take a while to find what you want but the wait is worth it. We looked for a long time before we found Buckeye. I actually consider him to be a rescue even tho we paid the lady $400 for him. We could not have found a better deal because to me there is no amount of money could take him from me. where I work I see a few dogs come through there. I always ask some sort of question about the dog. One couple said they was given their yorkie because the owner didn't want it any longer. It was about 4 lbs.

[mmyorkies]

Please do not get a puppy that comes from a petstore, especially Petland. Pet land puppies DO come from puppymillers and too many times all you end up with is big bills had a lot of heartache. I can tell you this from experience. I know of 3 people that got dogs from petland, one had her pup in the vets on IV's with in 3 weeks of getting it and the dog has had several illness in the past 5 years that she has had her, one got a German Shepard that had so much problems with its hips and turned mean that it was put down by the time it was 2 and my daughter got a St. Bernard that I begged her to take back the night she got it. By 6 months it was having seizures, by a year it was costing her 300.00- a month for meds to prevent seizures, which did not work and by 14 months she had to have the dog put down because it just keep going into one seizure after another and suffering terribly. All these were supposed to be from good local breeders, but as usual Petland lied, all the dogs were from mills in Missouri when the people got the registerations.

[aimee]

Just as everyone has said, you really need to stay away from any puppy from ANY pet store. I know it is hard, the waiting is tough, but it is very much worth it to go through a reputable breeder. These people are devoted to the ANIMALS and want what is best for them. I'm not going to preach to you, but I did a quick search on Yahoo and found these links you should read before purchasing any animal affiliated with Petland:

http://www.idausa.org/news/newsarchi...s_petland.html
http://www.puppymillfighters.com/boycott.html
http://members.aol.com/amtfool/warranty.html

And that was all from the first search results page. There is a lot of information out there on puppymills, just do your research, okay? Take care and good luck!

[yorkipower]

On the news last night, they did this "Shame on You" report about a local pet-store. It wasn't Petland but the story is just the same. The owner swore up and down that all his dogs come from breeders and that he's "never had a problem." Then along comes the woman who made the complaint. She had "mercy purchased" a Schnauzer puppy from the guy for something like $1300! because the dog was lying at the bottom of the cage, practically motionless. When she asked the owner what was wrong with the dog he told her that that was just its personality! Fortunately, she has several dogs of her own and knew better. She asked if the vet bills for this dog would be refunded and she got something in writing from the owner in that regard. She took the dog to the vet and learned that the dog had pneumonia! When she contacted the owner of the pet shop for reimbursement, guess what? He never responded to her letter! She then got a small claims decision against him, and guess what? He never paid! Of course, when the news channel interviewed him, he sent payment the next day - more than a year later! The moral of the story? STAY FAR FAR FAR AWAY FROM PET SHOPS!

Courtney, as I've mentioned to you privately, looking for that "right" puppy is hard work. You have to actively seek out a good breeder and convince that breeder that you are serious, have done your homework and you will give her puppy the best home possible. I can't tell you how often I see posts on general message boards:" DESPERATELY SEEKING PUPPY TO GOOD HOME - LOTS OF LOVE." Well . . . thanks, but lots of love aint' enough kid! Impulse buying is sadly, a big cause of the overcrowding shelters in this county. Good breeders want assurances that their dogs are not going to wind up being a statistic.

Once thing I wanted to mention to you in my private message: it is really advisable to go to a number of local dog shows in the area and talk to the breeders (once they're finished showing that is). Once they begin to recognize who you are (“oh there’s that woman whose gone to three shows in the area and is watching the ring and asking lots of questions!”) and they know your not just an annoying spectator but someone is REALLY trying to learn more about Yorkies, they will open up to you. Even if they don't have puppies, they know other breeders (good breeders) that might. Go to http://www.akc.org and click on "events." You can also go to http://www.infodog.com and select by state to find dog shows in your area. Even going to agility and obedience trials may lend you some good leads. But again, stay away from pet shops!

Don’t know how far away you are from New York. But if you can get to New York in February, that’s a FANTASTIC place to meet great breeders. Some of the very best will be at the New York Specialty, the Progressive Dog Show and of course, Westminster. Another option is the AKC Nationals in Orlando Florida coming up later in the year. But even local shows will prove fruitful and well worth the effort of attendance!

Good luck!

[littleROXYbaby]

I too have heard bad things about pet stores, HOWEVER- we (my family) got our maltese from there and my sister got her maltese from there also. She was planning on going to a breeder but fell in love with little Leila when she saw her. Leila is still a puppy, but no health issues at all, and precious is almost 7 now, not health problems either Go with your gut I guess, good luck!

[Luvmypupster]

Great advice from Yorkipower. Some people just assume that they would never be able to afford buying from a breeder whom is active in showing. Most pet shops, and most of the sites you find on-line charge so much more than these breeders would ever think of charging. Look at the prices of pups from places like yorkiepups of divapups, I could name dozens that charge more. Just do your research, talk to some people whom are members of YTCA, find a local club chapter, attend some shows and meet some breeders. At least this way you are going to see the quality of their line so you can have a good idea of what one of their pups will end up looking like. It may take a while for them to have a pet quality pup available but it's worth the wait. These people generaly are not mass producing for profit. Their goal is to breed a good qaulity pup...with hopes of producing another champ, they breed to improve the line. Pet quality isn't a bad thing. Here's the link to my album, Mia is "pet quality" and so is my maltese Bentley. I couldn't be happier with the way they have turned out. The are perfect to me :-)
http://www.yorkietalk.com/gallery/sh...500&ppuser=164

[ldenise]

courtney, go to this site and see if this little guide will help you out in how to look for a good breeder. http://www.mylittlemia.com/breeder.html
i will be glad to help you look never know i may find one more for me too.. oh gee..bob would just throw a fit.

[camillek]

Originally Posted by Courtney1234

Evening everyone.. i just wanted to stop in and ask you all a question. Tonight I was offered a Yorkie from a friend of my DH's for $600. He owns a pet store and I guess somehow gets puppies from other pet stores for a discount. He said that he could get a yorkie from petland for $600. I am skeptical about getting one from a petstore and much less petland.. i have always heard that petland doesn't have such a good reputation about their dogs. DH's friend said he could get me all the breeders info. and email it to me. What do you all think. Would you even bother getting a yorkie from a pet store? Or stick to breeders? Thanks Everyone
courtney

Courtney, where do you live?