[Willow]

Gosh this is so much information in this thread that I am not sure how to respond LOL

I have never purchased a puppy from a store, but I did meet the breeder I am purchasing my Maddie from at a Pet Store that is locally owned by the breeders best friend. I have met Maddie's parents, I have seen the conditions she is raised in, and the breeder works at a Pet Boutique in a North Canton mall selling cute pet products. SHE DOES NOT SELL HER PUPPIES FROM THE PET STORE. We just MET there and she had Maddie with her and I fell in love. I have talked to the store owner and asked if she sells puppies there and she said no for several reasons. Her first reason was a lot of pet store puppies are mill puppies and she will not support mills to get puppies to sell. Her second reason she doesn't want puppies in her store locked in cages day in and out. She mostly deals in fish and small rodents and reptiles, which live in cages/tanks day in and out as pets anyhow.

Now, I do not think that we are making much of a difference in shutting down mills by NOT buying from a pet store when there are so many rescue groups who go directly to the auctions and buy mill dogs from dog auctions who are being sold by millers. That auction money goes directly to the millers hands!! Dogs at auctions go for hundreds to thousands of dollars!!!

I know all the arguments too...if a rescue group hadn't bought them they would have ended up in another mill and bred more...etc etc Ok so if that is a valid reason for a rescue group to purchase directly from the millers, then why isn't that also a valid reason for an INDIVIDUAL to purchase from a pet store???? If we, the ones who claim to love them more than anyone else, do not purchase them from pet stores, and we leave them to be purchased from elsewhere, then who's to say those pet store puppies aren't going to end up in another mill, or in a mill for their first time! to be bred over and over???? I would rather a loving individual who wants them for a pet only purchase that pet store puppy than a miller purchase it for breeding.

No matter the conditions the parents of that puppy are in, the puppy doesn't deserve to be punished for the greedy actions of millers. By refusing to free these babies from the pet stores we are punishing them for crimes that they are the innocent victims of.