Thank you megansmomma.

When we were interviewed by MAW, they had a list of things they couldn't do/get - I'm trying to find that list but I am shocked they accepted a pet from Petland to give to a MAW child. Every family that we know took a trip to Disney World or a trip somewhere - we have a clinic family that is going on a cruise this summer. I know they grant shopping sprees to places (I know some teenagers ask for that) but I had never heard of them doing this. Did it say which chapter?

I hope both organizations pull all ties with Petland.

I too remember when my neighbor's little girl had her wish there was a list of acceptable wishes that could be granted and remember looking at all of the paperwork for her wish. During her entire chemo that is all that she talked about~Disney. :) If you go back to my post on the very first page there is a link. But quickly this is a copy/paste of the paragraph
The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Greater Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, Northeast Ohio Region in collaboration with Petland, Inc.TM will grant the furry wish of a very special Middlefield teenager.

What is shocking is that Petland is picketed practically weekly in the IN area so how they let this slip past them is beyond me. There is also another petshop in Northwest IN St. John to be specific called Alsip Nursery. Not that long ago I remember them donating a puppy as well to a sick child but it was not through MaW.

Maybe we could help direct us up the chain of commend to get more awareness to MaW about Petland. This just seems so wrong. :(

Ugh! The more I dig the more upset that I am getting. Now they also have ties to MADD and United Way! :eek:

Petland is a snake in the grass!:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I agree!!

Its interesting that you believe this, since a handful of members before stated that they will not be donating to these charities any longer. And for everyone that has decided to "enlighten" me about puppy mills. I am aware of the faults of Petland. I am aware that they do a piss poor job of looking for where they get their puppies from; and I am in no way an advocate of Petland. Hence the part in my original post where I said my store is closed. Petland as a corporation makes it very difficult for a franchisee to do research and purchase from high quality breeders because they receive a kickback from puppies sold through Hunte. I am not here to change your minds about Petland or puppy mills because I share a similar view. Although, I do feel that my view is a little more substantiated since I am actually part of a number of these class action lawsuits (both as franchisee that has been lied to and a customer that has been "had"), and your views mostly stem from articles that you have read.

What I am here for is to explain my distaste that some of you would get on your high horses enough to cease donations to a charity because the charity is not more discriminate of who they accept donations from. If a sick child goes into a Petland store and falls in love with a specific maltese, and asks their MAW rep for that puppy as their wish; do you really expect the foundation to say "no, sorry kid, thats a puppy mill puppy, sorry that you fell in love with it. But here is a very nice 2 year old dog from the shelter, have fun." You can voice your opinions all you want, but I dont think the charities should have to suffer. And if it all is rhetoric and the members who have stated they will no longer donate didnt mean it; what is the point of posting this and saying that? :D

...
 

Its interesting that you believe that no one will stop donating to charities; since quite a few of the members before you specifically state that they will stop donating to these charities. And if these statements were just rhetoric and the members had no intention to cease their donations, what is the point of posting them?

Also, no one is rattling anyone's cage. I guess it was not made clear in my original post when I noted that my store was closed; but I am not here to promote Petland or change anyone's mind about Petland. I closed my store because Petland was not what I thought it was and they made it very difficult for individual franchisees to research and purchase puppies from high quality breeders. They receive a kick back from puppies sold through Hunte and are very set on buying puppies at the lowest price regardless. I am in no way an advocate. And I agree with most of you about Petland purchasing from puppy mills and just being an all around subpar corporation. Of course, I do feel that my opinions are a little less fanatical and more substantiated that just reading articles online and getting myself worked into a tizzy. I am currently very active in a number of the lawsuits (both as a franchisee who had been lied to and a customer who had been sold sick animals).

But alas, I stray from my point. There is no reason why a charity (I believe we are up to 4 listed on this thread now) should have to suffer because they are not discriminate about where they receive donations. When a child that is ill or dying falls in love with a particular maltese puppy at a Petland store, and says that is what they want as their wish, do you really expect the representative to say "no, Im sorry, that is a puppy mill puppy and we cant give you that. What else would you like?" That is ridiculous and defeats the purpose of making a childs wish come true. Its basically saying uh...that wish is bad, try another one.

Finally, to the member who states that its all about making money. I'm hoping that you mean Petland (to which I agree) and not charities. Because it would be a shame if you didnt understand that the charities do need donations to do the work that they do. :D

[quote=oopsmyhalofello;2587133]Seems petland really knows how to try to pull at the heart strings of the public to convince them they are good guys.

It is extremely sad, but has become very common to use donations as a way to cover wrong doings, and then make them public and very much announced. Petland has a well deserved bad reputation, and this is the way of "cleaning" their image, and at the same time, also selling and advertising, a win, win situation for them.:mad:

I too was unaware with Petland's reputation, until I found Yorkietalk, and think these organizations would be horrified to find that Petland's was using them to help improve their name. While I'm sure the pet Petland offers them, is probably one of the healthier ones, it doesn't change the fact that they buy most of the pets from millers.

Does anyone know how to get one of those online protest going? You know where you publish a page with an easy way to contact both charities, or have a list of signatures to supply to the charities to discourage involvement with such a Petland? There should also be an alternative suggestion to as to where to get dogs, I don't think rescues are a viable option in this case, but is there any pet store that does ensure that the dogs aren't raised in mills? Do we suggest that they only get them from reputable breeders, but how would this be done? Protests work better if a viable alternative is given. I wish pet stores could be given some sort of a rating, I think some are definitely worse than others. Thanks to all of you who have help educate us with this news.

That is a great idea! Does anyone know how to start an online petition? Something needs to be done to spread the word and help educate Make a Wish and any other charity that accepts petland's dirty money and donations.

I am all for starting a petition to help bring awareness to this issue. Let's do something to make a difference. :thumbup:

Oops
 

Sorry for doing this twice; the first one didnt post, so I thought I had to rewrite it. Then both posted!

I'm not sure how to get an online protest going. I wonder if the breed club's would be able to come up with breeders that would be willing to donate puppies to these charities. I'm sure it would take more coordination to get it going but I also think it would be something that could potentially happen very easily, it seems most reputable breeders are good hearted decent people. And cost aside I would think they might be able to write it off just as im sure petland does.

I would once again like to address you personally as you are a former Petland owner. From what I just read above it sounds to me like you were put out of business because of lawsuits from your customers. Please correct me if I am wrong about this assumption. If this is the case why would you not this that Petland involving sick children and tugging at people heartstrings as a dispicable act? If you have been personally affected by Petland's involvement with the Hunt Corp. and puppymills, purchasing from substandard breeders and selling sick puppies to consumers why would you think it was OK to sit back and not voice your opposition to Make a Wish and urge them not to involve Petland in granting wishes? It is my belief that Make a Wish should CUT TIMES with Petland because of their unethical association with puppymills and their business practices. I am not saying that a child could not have a wish for a puppy but they surely do not need to be taken by limo to a Petland to pick out a puppy! That would be like saying just because a sick child's wish was to dance in a lions cage it was acceptable because the lion was not too dangerous! You just would not bring the child to the lions cage if you thought that would be their wish.


When I originally posted this thread my intent was to let people know that Petland was up to their games again. It am not trying to stop people from donating to a charity that I have supported in the past. I then went one step further and contacted Make a Wish by email and was shocked at the response that I was given regarding Petland! There is a second thread regarding Make A Wish and Petland that is located here:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...make-wish.html

It is the response that Make a Wish sent me and also an attachment from Petland regarding the lies by HSUS and their unjust lawsuit that now makes me want to do everything in my power to get Make a Wish understand just how wrong it is to accept donations from Petland to fulfill wishes. I think that after reading MaW's response you will be shocked as well. I would have to agree that CHARITIES run on donations and I believe when someone stated that "it's all about the money" they were referring to Petland trying to present a good clean image to make money.

I really have to ask and hope that you will be honest~how did you happen to find this forum on the day the Make a Wish and Petland controversy came up? I find it very intriguing that a former Petland owner would just happen to join this forum yesterday and the only posts that you have made are on this thread. :confused: In addition you state right in your last post quoted above that Petland deals with the notorious Hunt Corp and does indeed sell sick puppies. Lastly, I still cannot wrap my brain around your statement that

Please send me the info, I would be interested in e-mail this organizations and signing a petition.

There is a second thread with a lot more information, email addresses and links located here:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/off...ml#post2591395

If you need any additional info PM me and I can forward it to you directly. :)

Petland opening new stores
 

Hi again everyone! I dont know how to make a new thread on here, but I found out some upsetting news awhile ago. I emailed a couple of anti-petland groups to let them know as well, but i want to get the word out as much as possible. I used to own a Petland store, and I consider myself one of the good guys since we tried very hard to use quality breeders, of course because of the reputation of the Petland Corporation, that was never easy. My store is closed and I feel like it is the franchisor's fault. Anyway that is beside the point. Here is the letter that I sent to the other organizations:


I am sure you are already aware of it, but I wanted to take the time to let you know about some recent Petland news that I discovered. Petland is launching a new chain of petstores under the name Safari Stan's Pet Center. If you look at the website it is obvious that it is the same store at Petland but under a new name. They even use the same graphics.
I feel that this is an effort on Petland's part to shed the negative connotation that is attached to its name. If a person googles Petland there are hundreds of negative articles, personal stories, and videos that pop up; which is bad for their business. By opening the same stores under a new title, Petland is preying on an unsuspecting market that has no way of knowing that Safari Stan's Pet Center is a subsidiary of Petland Inc. This new chain also promotes opening franchises. Potential franchisees are being sold this chain and not knowing about the connection to Petland and the outrage that will arise once the news hits. My point is further proven by the fact that the only place on the Safari Stan Pet Center site is Petland or Petland Inc mention is one blurb on the About Us page. I feel as though this is an attempt for Petland Inc to dupe the public and increase their revenues. I know you all have done a great job of exposing Petland's unethical methods in the past and I thought this could use some attention. Thanks!

Anyway if anyone has any other ideas on how to get the information out to the public, it would be great.

When I was doing research about this a few months ago I remember Safari Stan or something along those line being mentioned. Petland is the slime of the earth with their unethical business practices and their links to puppymills and the Hunte Corporation. :thumbdown

That seems to be what happens in these cases, and they just reopen under a different name. I think people should think of any pet store selling puppies as the same type of place. I also think people should think of websites just like they do petstores, and never buy from a website, always see the breeding conditions in person.

[QUOTE=Nancy1999;2589517]I too was unaware with Petland's reputation, until I found Yorkietalk, and think these organizations would be horrified to find that Petland's was using them to help improve their name. While I'm sure the pet Petland offers them, is probably one of the healthier ones, it doesn't change the fact that they buy most of the pets from millers.

Does anyone know how to get one of those online protest going? You know where you publish a page with an easy way to contact both charities, or have a list of signatures to supply to the charities to discourage involvement with such a Petland? There should also be an alternative suggestion to as to where to get dogs, I don't think rescues are a viable option in this case, but is there any pet store that does ensure that the dogs aren't raised in mills? Do we suggest that they only get them from reputable breeders, but how would this be done? Protests work better if a viable alternative is given. I wish pet stores could be given some sort of a rating, I think some are definitely worse than others. Thanks to all of you who have help educate us with this news.[/QUOTE

There is a site called change.org where individuals can start a petition. That is the only one I know of.

Personally, I think the solution for petstores, is to make it illegal to sell dogs and cats in pet stores. I dare say people could not afford to buy pets from a store that only buys from reputable breeders. The pet stores have only paid 1/3 of the price they are asking for those babies when they sell them. Not only that, a reputable breeder WANTS TO BE ACTIVELY INVOLVED WITH THE NEW OWNERS AND WITH THEIR BABY FOR THE LIFE OF THAT BABY...that is one way we track the success of our program. A reputable breeder would NEVER let their babies go off into the sunset, with complete strangers, and not give too hoots and a holler for where they are going, the situation they are going into, etc. Now, I feel compelled to express a concern I have. I too am completely horrified at the activities of Petland and their involvment with Make A Wish and St.Judes hospital. But I am really torn emotionally about boycotting these two wonderful charities that have done sooooooooo much for CHIDREN NEEDING HELP. I just can not justify, in my own heart and mind, cutting off my support of these charities, which I have contributed to for many years, because they gave a puppy to a sick child.(This too causes me alarm....a sick child, with an impaired immune system, given a puppy that may be sick....shudder!!!!!) I am going to have to think about this and what I can do to effect a positive outcome.....lets dont run like a bunch of lemmings, off the cliff, following the leader in mass hysteria, trying to nobly solve one problem, and doing too much collateral damage to innocent children that have done nothing to deserve it. I wont take my anger and disgust toward Petland and their tactics, out on reputable charities that do so much good for sick and dying children. I would hope others would give this more thoughtful and compassionate consideration before "rushing to judgement" and punishing the children served by these two charities. A sick and dying child does not deserve to be collateral damage.





[quote=Prince Toby;3913472]

That's terrible ugh I hate petland. Also to the person saying they got there puppies from good breeds for there petland store. No good breeder would ever sell there puppies to a pet store period.

thanks to everyone for sharing this information. i did not hear or know about safari stan's. there's a petland in naperville, il very close to where i work. every weekend they have someone holding signs saying "puppy sale." i cannot help but to give them my opinion about their store's practices. most customers that come in to my work are fully aware of them getting their pups from mills and express their opinions about it as well. my boss refused to let the petland employees leave $100 off a new puppy coupons at our front desk due to comments and complaints from our guests. the one near my home in joliet, il was shut down for a while. i'm not sure why but i could make some guesses. there is a steady group of regular protesters there now that they are open again. it makes me feel better that the word is getting out about petland!

to find out what the humane society of the us investigation revealed about petland stores in your area or to learn more, this is a great read. you can look up all violations that were found in each store by state and or city:
Where Petland Stores Get Puppies : The Humane Society of the United States