Not buying puppies from petstores won't make a dent in puppymills.
First of all - all the puppies in all petstores are not from puppymills.
Second - the puppymill puppies that are being sold in pet stores are only the tip of the iceberg. Puppymills are doing much more business on the Internet and through other methods of selling then they are doing at pet stores today.
Unfortunately - the Internet has become a gold mine for puppymills. They are very skillful at advertising in ways that present them to be respectable breeders. They are beginning to present themselves as breeders who have only a limited number of puppies - they show pristine facilities and often state that they are selling only family-raised, well socialized little puppies. They offer excellent references.... and so on and so forth.
And pleeeeeeeeeeeze - let's be honest. Most people in the market for a little puppy don't know a lot about puppymills and wouldn't even suspect such a thing from what appears to be an honest advertisement on the Internet. Most people are not on dog forums and aren't bombarded with the constant information that you and I read and hear about every day.
Puppymills have to be stopped where they exist. People need to walk in, check these facilities out, and close them down "immediately." This is the only way we can stop the existence of puppymills.
You can walk through a pet store - and feel sorry for a little puppy - and not buy it and believe that you are helping close down puppymills - but in actuality you aren't even making a dent because most of puppymill's "growing business" isn't even in pet stores any longer.
The laws of suppy and demand are often quoted - regarding buying puppies from pet stores --- stating that if we don't buy them - the puppymills will go out of business. But, unfortunately, the laws of suppy and demand are leaving the pet stores and beginning to thrive in other areas -- venues like the Internet that we can't control - and sometimes can't even identify.
Times are changing and the market place is changing. And, unfortunately, these unscrupulous people always seem to keep one step ahead of most of the public. They are quickly learning quickly how to advertise and present themselves as honest, reputable breeders. And, they are becoming more and more difficult to recognize for what they really are.
There are puppymill puppies at pet stores - but they are also (even moreso) being sold over the Internet, through magazines, newspapers, outside grocery stores, etc. There is no end to where these puppies are being sold. And, often we don't even know that they are puppymill puppies.
I think that not buying from all the above places is a futile way to try and stop puppymills. We need to go to the facilities, themselves, and shut them down. We need to go to the prime source. We no longer have control over "supply and demand."
Again - I wouldn't hesitate to buy a puppy from a pet store - if I wanted one and saw one that caught my heart. These little guys are the victums of this horrible practice. Do any of you who have never purchased or never would purchase a puppy from a pet store really believe that you have helped to close down puppymills. If so -- why do we have more puppymills now then we have ever had in the past???
Why aren't we signing petitions, writing our congressmen over and over again, and threatening not to re-elect them if they don't help us close down puppymills across the country. Why aren't we organizing to fight this war? What should we really be doing - talk and opinions are cheap and they never solve any problem!!!
I wish we would all get together and really do something about this problem - and not just share horrer stories and talk about it. We can continued to be horrified and shed all the tears we want, but what we are doing isn't helping to close down puppymills. It's so simple - if there were no puppymills - there would be no puppymill puppies anywhere.
***** I hope we all stop from time to time and remember that the puppies aren't the only victims of this practice - even moreso are the poor dogs that are being bred over and over again to produce these puppies. And - we have to close down the actual puppymills to stop this abuse.
Carol Jean |