There are always exceptions. I got my pup from a small family-owned pet store that has been in business for more than fifty years.
They do get their puppys from nice people, and never have more than a few dogs or a few kittens at any time.
If you visit this store, the puppys are in very large pens with wire covers over the top. People can watch these little guys play, but they can't reach in and touch or handle them. The rule is that if you are honestly interested in purchasing one of these puppies - after washing your hands (with soap) - you can hold it for a while.
I got my little Yorkie there - and the owner and his son (who raised Yorkies, themselves, in the past) kept me there so long telling me how to take care of it that I didn't think I was ever going to be able to go home. They gave me a lot of paperwork on taking care of the new little guy, free food, and gave me their home phone number and asked me to call anytime 24/7. They also took him in the back - cleaned his little bottom and face, combed his hair, and put bows all over him.
They told me that they knew the person who had had these pups personally and had gone to Yorkie things together in the past.
A few weeks later, the pups papers arrived and the owners name was on it.
I found her E-mail and contacted her immediately. She answered me and told me that my pup came from the last litter that her dogs were going to have. (They had had four litters and were ready to lay back and enjoy life.) The mother weighed 12 pounds and the father weighed 4 1/2 pounds. She said she had moved to Montana and lived in a rural area, and told me that few people were willing to drive out to where she lived, and half of them got lost if they tried. So, she brought her puppies more than 300 miles to her friend (at the pet store) to sell for her..... all four litters.
She told me all about the parents, their personalities, their size, etc., and E-mailed me pictures.
My pup is 10 months old now (totally happy and healthy) and I contacted her again recently. She said that she knows where most of the puppies from this litter are and has heard from the people who purchased them. My pup weighs about 9 pounds now. She said another weighs 4 1/2 pounds - and another weighs about 6 pounds. And they are all in loving homes and doing well. Her niece has one of them.
When I asked at the pet store what my pup would weight, they didn't tell me the size of the parents, but told me it should weigh between 5 and 10 pounds....a fair and honest answer.
The owners at the pet store told me they have about four friends whose puppies they regularly sell. And, he said "with word of mouth, they often sell puppies for other people as well. And - their puppies always come from homes (like yours and mine). He said that people can often sell all but one of two of their pups - so these are the ones he sells for them.
The point is that "all pet stores" are not selling puppies from puppy mills. I pesonally suspect that it is the larger chain stores that are doing this.
*** The particular pet store that I am talking about has a very good reputation and few people would have any problems buying a puppy there.
Carol Jean |