Pet Store Visit... SUPER SAD

[jenawvr]

Originally Posted by Cincin

We bought our yorkie puppy from a Kennel in Paradise Pennsylvania and it was not an Amish puppy mill. The kennel name is Forrest Ridge Forest Ridge Kennels and they could not have been nicer. The owner even gave us his cell phone to call if we needed him at anytime. We had been looking for a while and visited them about 3 times before we bough our yorkie in October. While visiting we met people from different states who will only buy a dog from Forrest Ridge. We paid $950 for our puppy and we got him in October. He had all his vaccinations and we got all of his papers. I hope this is helpful.

Originally Posted by yorkie_mama22

That looks like a puppy mill to me, how can one kennel carry SO many different types of dogs? That is almost a shame! Of course they are nice, they are trying to get your money

i agree with with cincin i went to Forest Ridge Kennels with my mother yesterday, the kennel is clean , the staff and owner were very nice and helpful, the puppies and pens were clean, and all puppies were healthy looking and alert we were allowed to play with the puppies . as for the 40 breeds on the list they are not all available at all times!! i wonder how many people who make remarks about this kennel have actually been there?

[janeeiscool1]

Originally Posted by cj125

You're right - all I had to see was "Over 40 breeds"!!! I didn't look any further. Puppymill and Puppy Broker

To the original poster - tell people about this place. Word of mouth can do a lot of damage to their business and that will help close these places down.

Don't forget about your news station or local papers. They may be interested in doing an article and they'll do the research.

Good job!

im sorry, but you guys are wrong. I bet neither of you have been there. They take great care of their dogs. they dont always have a lot of breeds like that. and they make sure their cages are clean and that they have adequate food and water. they do care about the dogs. I got my cockapoo there 13 years ago, and she is still living healthily. Same with my cousin, she got her lab/border collie mix there, and it is 12 years old now and still very healthy! they raise good dogs. dont judge before you know.

[Rhetts_mama]

Originally Posted by janeeiscool1

im sorry, but you guys are wrong. I bet neither of you have been there. They take great care of their dogs. they dont always have a lot of breeds like that. and they make sure their cages are clean and that they have adequate food and water. they do care about the dogs. I got my cockapoo there 13 years ago, and she is still living healthily. Same with my cousin, she got her lab/border collie mix there, and it is 12 years old now and still very healthy! they raise good dogs. dont judge before you know.

Clean cages and adequate food and water do not equal a good breeder.

[megansmomma]

Originally Posted by janeeiscool1

im sorry, but you guys are wrong. I bet neither of you have been there. They take great care of their dogs. they dont always have a lot of breeds like that. and they make sure their cages are clean and that they have adequate food and water. they do care about the dogs. I got my cockapoo there 13 years ago, and she is still living healthily. Same with my cousin, she got her lab/border collie mix there, and it is 12 years old now and still very healthy! they raise good dogs. dont judge before you know.

How nice of you to have joined YT today and bump up a thread from 2 years ago. Ya know what it says to all of us experienced people who have seen this over and over again? You are affiliated with this breeder and were linked back to YT. You saw that someone said something negative and you felt the need to join to boost your business. I know you will never be back after today and that you have no intention of being a true member of this community. But hey~welcome anyway. Nice to meet you. Glad that you are here. Hope you learn about puppymills and bybers. Let's see a picture of your pups. We love pictures don't even care if they are not Yorkies. We love all doggies here. Hey did you meet janeeiscool1 she has a dog from there too! I bet since you have something in common you can become fast friends! Maybe even BFFs! I bet there will be others right behind you and you can all maybe take a trip together or something. Ya know what else, there is a YT Raffle going on right now too. We love YT and maybe you would like to purchase some raffle tickets? There are all kinds of really great prizes that you could win and maybe you can share with your doggie. Sometimes there are meetups. Boy would we love to see you there. You could bring your new friend with you and they could all play with the yorkies. Doesn't that sound like a fun time? Oh boy I just can't wait for the next meet up! Woo Hoo! Hey if you become a donating member of YT you can have an even bigger picture of you dog as an avatar! Wouldn't that be awesome! Did I say welcome to YT?

[danniko]

That is so sad...I love looking at puppies, but always leave so upset.

Today, my fiance and I went to a well known mall in Ontario to their pet store and they had about 5 cages as their front windows and then two walls - top and bottom cages. I was so sad to look at these puppies. They had one 'pure' yorkie and he was $2000! They also had about 3 cages with yorkie x maltese (I believe), another cage with yorkie x shih tzus, boxers, miniature poodle, miniatute pinschers, maltese, black and chocolate labs (3 in one cage!), a shelti x pomeranian, daschund, a cockapoo (maybe?...they didn't even have a sign on this little guy and he was sleeping the whole time alone) a cage of siamese kittens (for $800 each), 2 cages of domestic kittens ($200 each) and a cage with a persian ($800 as well).

None of the puppies were below $1200 I believe, other than one...and it was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. He was a little min pin and had a chubby belly and my fiance pointed out that his head looked just like his bull dog's head looks like (and she has mange - she doesn't live with us...she came from the breeder with it and it keeps coming back)...so he was 'on sale' for $800. It made me so sad for him ... no one will take him because the store has pretty much deemed him imperfect and seperated him from his brother...

The dogs in the window were all by themselves, with their litter mates inside the store...it basically lures you in because they don't put any info about the puppies in the window, and once you go in the litter mate's cage says "check out my brother in the front window"....oh, and when I say cage I am referring to the plexi-glass windows and the wooden doors with little holes for air on the other side and filled with shredded newspaper...no toys...just paper. Sorry for my rambling...I just was extremely upset because of a petstore as well today.

As for finding a yorkie for a decnt price. I understand what you mean. When I was looking for a yorkie I kept telling my fiance that I can afford the $2500 breeders want, but I really would rather have that for taking care of the puppy - all vet appointments, proper food, toys ... and basically to spoil her.

Everyone kept telling me that I was incapable of financially handling a puppy because I was up front to every breeder...and told them what I could comfortably afford in order to spoil and take care of the puppy..

I kept looking and finally found a person who breeds her female, she is their pet and it is just what they want to do. She was extremely helpful, and to thei day I can still contact her - I even almost got another puppy from her a few weeks ago. I paid $850 for Sophie and she is a mix between a biewer and a 3rd gen yorkie-poo, and she is the most adorable thing ever. She weighs about 4lbs, and has been amazing...she was in perfect health when I got her, had her first set of shots...my only regret is I didn't know any better and we picked her up when she was only 7.5 weeks old - but that wasn't the breeder's fault, I didn't know any better, and asked if we could take her home the weekend after we went to look at her because I was off of work the next week.

Wow, sorry this is so long! I hope you find a perfect little baby in April...and I completely believe you can find one that is affordable and perfect!

[Lizzie07]

Originally Posted by Shelby&Seymour

Just do your homework!!!!! Puppymills will sometimes have "designer' breeds, advertise Yorkies as teacups or teddybears for more $$, Sell many types of breeds... and have many of them.

I am sorry to say I did look up the website of Forest Ridge Kennel (the one mentioned earlier with such good comments) and I really think that it IS a puppymill. Here is a list of the dogs that they have available.

This is what was advertised:
We carry many popular pet breeds such as:

Beagle
Bulldog
Cairn Terrier
Boston Terrier
Chihuahua
Cocker Spaniel
Cockapoo
Dachshund
Fox Terrier
German Shepherd
Golden Retriever
Jack Russell
Labrador Retriever
Lhasa Apso
Miniature Pinscher
Miniature Schnauzer
Papillon
Pomeranian
Poodle
Pug
Rottweiler
Siberian Husky
Shetland Sheepdog
Shiba Inu
Shih-Tzu
Springer Spaniel
West Highland White Terrier (Westie)
Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie)
Poodle Mixes
These Breeds are always available and ready for a caring home!

Not Good!!!!

Holy cow, that is 29 breeds!

"Not Good" is an understatment! So how many dogs would you have to have in order to have "These Breeds always available and ready for a caring home!"?

[janeeiscool1]

Originally Posted by Rhetts_mama

Clean cages and adequate food and water do not equal a good breeder.

I dont mean for this to sound rude... but did you miss the part of the health of the dogs?... i feel as if not many dogs live to be 13... maybe im wrong. but if they came from a bad breeder you would think that it wouldnt be healthy. however, they do not even bread their own dogs there. I was actually there earlier today, and i decided to look them up online when I came across this. I even asked him if they breeded dogs. He said he used to, but does not anymore. Breeders in the area sell them puppies. The puppies were all very active and friendly. This place is far from a puppy mill. Now, i will say, im not sure if he does get them from puppy mills or not. And if he does, Id say that he is rescuing them because how they live at Forest Ridge is not a bad place for a dog to live at all. Unfortunately there are puppy mills out there, and I wish they could all be shut down, but i know that Forest Ridge would NOT be shut down. The puppies are in good health and are all well taken care of. and the owners are actually very nice!

[Chevy2]

Originally Posted by megansmomma

How nice of you to have joined YT today and bump up a thread from 2 years ago. Ya know what it says to all of us experienced people who have seen this over and over again? You are affiliated with this breeder and were linked back to YT. You saw that someone said something negative and you felt the need to join to boost your business. I know you will never be back after today and that you have no intention of being a true member of this community. But hey~welcome anyway. Nice to meet you. Glad that you are here. Hope you learn about puppymills and bybers. Let's see a picture of your pups. We love pictures don't even care if they are not Yorkies. We love all doggies here. Hey did you meet janeeiscool1 she has a dog from there too! I bet since you have something in common you can become fast friends! Maybe even BFFs! I bet there will be others right behind you and you can all maybe take a trip together or something. Ya know what else, there is a YT Raffle going on right now too. We love YT and maybe you would like to purchase some raffle tickets? There are all kinds of really great prizes that you could win and
maybe you can share with your doggie. Sometimes there are meetups.
Boy would we love to see you there. You could bring your new friend with
you and they could all play with the yorkies. Doesn't that sound like a fun time? Oh boy I just can't wait for the next meet up! Woo Hoo! Hey if
you become a donating member of YT you can have an even bigger picture of
you dog as an avatar! Wouldn't that be awesome! Did I say welcome to YT?

pahahahahahaaaaaa you have GOT to be an attorney or at least a former captain of the debate team!!! So dead on and sarcastically hilarious

[megansmomma]

Originally Posted by Chevy2

pahahahahahaaaaaa you have GOT to be an attorney or at least a former captain of the debate team!!! So dead on and sarcastically hilarious

Oh no I'm just a dog stealing psychopath rescuer and if you come near me I will try to steal your cute little puppy too

[Priscilla80]

I like your style girl!

Originally Posted by megansmomma

Oh no I'm just a dog stealing psychopath rescuer and if you come near me I will try to steal your cute little puppy too

[Ringo1]

Originally Posted by megansmomma

Oh no I'm just a dog stealing psychopath rescuer and if you come near me I will try to steal your cute little puppy too

Wait; I thought you were a big bullying dog stealer! Are you a psychopath too?

I must warn others!

[Chevy2]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

Wait; I thought you were a big bullying dog stealer! Are you a psychopath too?

I must warn others!

Ha! So glad I just followed that one

[red98vett]

For anyone looking PLEASE STAY OUT OF PETSTORES especially PetHell (petland)

They are in the market to sell puppies at inflated prices and in most cases (like 98%) they buy from puppy mills. For each dog they sell - another will take its place and the disgusting cycle continues -

there are very few pet stores that actually have dogs from local 'breeders' .

one near me is what I would call 'decent' and the woman who works there told me she USED to work at PetHell and would never ever support a store that buys from mills so I believed her

All the best finding a puppy - shelters are good - rescues/fosters are good and also - keep looking local. IT can be time consuming but so worth it in the end.

[Rhetts_mama]

Originally Posted by janeeiscool1

I dont mean for this to sound rude... but did you miss the part of the health of the dogs?... i feel as if not many dogs live to be 13... maybe im wrong. but if they came from a bad breeder you would think that it wouldnt be healthy. however, they do not even bread their own dogs there. I was actually there earlier today, and i decided to look them up online when I came across this. I even asked him if they breeded dogs. He said he used to, but does not anymore. Breeders in the area sell them puppies. The puppies were all very active and friendly. This place is far from a puppy mill. Now, i will say, im not sure if he does get them from puppy mills or not. And if he does, Id say that he is rescuing them because how they live at Forest Ridge is not a bad place for a dog to live at all. Unfortunately there are puppy mills out there, and I wish they could all be shut down, but i know that Forest Ridge would NOT be shut down. The puppies are in good health and are all well taken care of. and the owners are actually very nice!

Forgive me in advance Admin for what I am about to say:
I dont mean for this to sound rude... but did you miss the part of the health of the dogs?

- Nope, I didn't miss it. Not all puppy mill dogs are unhealthy and die early. Many, many dogs live to be 13 plus years depending on their breed. If the dogs you purchased there were healthy, you got lucky. Not every owner has been so fortunate:
Reviews of Forest Ridge Stables & Kennels Paradise, 17562


This place is far from a puppy mill. Now, i will say, im not sure if he does get them from puppy mills or not. And if he does, Id say that he is rescuing them because how they live at Forest Ridge is not a bad place for a dog to live at all.

- I will say that the statement is ignorant at best and excusing bad behavior at worst. Even if the owner does not breed the dogs on site, he is still a puppy mill broker. Their first and foremost reason for being in business is making a profit. He's not rescuing puppies and rehabbing them to be placed in homes. He is SELLING them. Do not ever confuse a pet retailer with a rescue. By your definition, PetLand would be a resue, too.
Forest Ridge owner, Paul Huang, in a newspaper article said he sells between 1000-1200 dogs per year. That isn't a rescue, it's a mass quantity business.
Demand Drives Puppy Mills | Sunday News; Lancaster, Pa. Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET


And here is your biggest clue that he is a puppy mill broker- Good breeders don't sell to pet stores. Period. Good breeders care about the fate of their puppies and would never turn them over to someone else without knowing what will become of them.

A puppy mill will never admit it is just that. But actions speak louder than words.