Actually, I have experienced many pet owners that bought from pet stores that did not get very good quality purebreds especially for the money they paid and often spent quite a chunk of money on health problems especially in the first year and the owners were lucky they pulled it through and still had a live dog. THose issues stayed with the dog. The puppy, usually was a very sweet dear little thing and loved by the owners except the impulse buyer who soon 'got rid of it' when dog ownership was way more trouble than they thought.
There is also another consideration about pet stores. As you have read many times on this forum, no reputable breeder would ever sell a puppy via a broker or pet store. So, as you have guessed they are coming from puppymills be it whether a large commercial business or 'private breeder' that does have a lot of dogs, a lot of different breeds and needs those puppies out of there as more are coming. THese breeders do not want the public on their property buying a puppy as then you will know who they are and the conditions these puppies are coming from. You might ask What do they have to hide? A heck of a lot I would think.
You have no idea what the parents would look like, the conditions the poor dogs are kept in.
Now think about another consideration. Puppymills sell their wares via pet stores. There is supply and demand as with any business. If there is no demand, no one will rise to the occasion of supplying a demand that isn't there. Ergo, if no one will buy a dog or puppy from a pet store their goes the venue for puppymills to sell their wares.
What's left? Auctions and brokers. If no one buys from auctions and brokers, there is no demand to warrant their supply. Most Auctions however, are catering to puppymills and those are usually the types that buy there except for the odd rescue organizations that manage to raise some money to get some of them out of the puppymills.
These suppliers are all about money, so you have to look at it from the point of view of basic Business Economics. Unfortunately where a live animal is concerned, it is hard to look at it from that point of view as we worry about those puppies in that situation from no fault of their own.
Personally, I would love to see legislation in Canada and the US that makes it illegal to sell puppies via a pet store. That would kind of put an end to the cycle. |