Pet Stores? puppy mills?

[JolieJean]

ok fellow yorkie lovers.. please dont get upset by this question.. i am asking because i dont know.
so my question is.. do all puppies from pet stores come from puppy mills?

i have been seaching for a yorkie for awhile now.. (extremly fustrating).. im talking about 6 months of straight searching!!! and i was curious if all pet stores are bad? i do NOT want to support mills! and if their are such thing as good pet stores.. how do you find out witch ones are good and bad. Thanks!

p.s. adopting was my first choice.. but i would like a dog under a year old because i have a daughter and i would like one young enough to train to be good with kids.. i did apply for two already but unfortunatly did not get them.. the younger yorkies get soo many apps.. for obvious reasons and where im located you dont come across many.

another thing is.. im not rich.. i mean im not poor either.. i have money put away but i just dont feel right dipping into my savings for 1,500 dollars to buy a dog from a breeder. some might ridacule me for saying that. but please understand i have a daughter and two kitties at home to take care of. my savings are for a MUST need.. incase god forbid i ever have to dip into it. i feel like i really would not pay more than 700 for a puppy and thats a top price. some might not understand that.. some might..
but please i asked this question to educate myself.. any info is greatly appriciated!!

[AMD]

Welcome to YT!!


Yes all puppies from pet stores come from puppy mills/unethical breeders. Do not purchase a puppy from a pet store.

Please check out this thread. It will help you find out which breeders are good and bad. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...e-breeder.html

I understand you don't want to spend thousands on a dog. We all have budgets. However don't let price be your only determining factor. Find a very reputable breeder who breeds quality dogs that are sound healthy babies. You might have to pay more upfront but in the long run your cost will be less as you won't have vet bills racking up in comparison to the potential vet bills of a pet store puppy. A cheap puppy could wind up being a very expensive puppy.

You can check out the YTCA breeder contact page: Yorkshire Terrier Club of America About The Club

Take your time. Do your research.
Best of Luck!!

[dexterandalana]

there is NO decent breeder out there that would sell to a pet store and have their pups put into a tiny box with a bunch of other dogs to pee and poo wherever they like.

I don't want to sound harsh, but if you buy a puppy from a pet store you are DIRECTLY SUPPORTING the prolonged abuse and torture of that puppies parent and however many other dogs are suffering at the hands of that "breeder".

you say you aren't rich, but pet store dogs still go for a lot of money and have a higher chance of costing A LOT more in vet bills because of sicknesses that can surface later on in life from bad breeding. This in turn also directly affects the abandoned pet rates as many people send their dogs to shelters or rescues when the dog gets sick and they can't aford the pet bills.

PLEASE take your time to find a pup in need of a good home and love. there are sooo many dogs that did nothing wrong and need your love. it might take more time, but the reward of supplying love to someone that really needs it, and being able to hold your head up high knowing you did not support the disgusting world of puppymills is well worth it, in my opinion.

I have shared this link before and i will continue to share it... this is what goes on on a DAILY basis to thousands of abandoned pets a day. There is a "SAM" waiting for you... MY NAME IS SAM

[107barney]

From one RI'er to another -- don't do it. There are some good breeders here in New England and it will save you a lot of heartache and money in the long run. Feel free to PM me if you want info.

ETA: the petstores here had price tags of $1800 last time I stopped in. That is not too much less than area breeders who have quality dogs. I'm sorry but if you dont want to spend that much on a dog, you should reconsider a yorkie. They have many breed issues and you could end up with a dog that needs costly care even if you go to a reputable breeder.

[kkephart]

I would encourage you to more research on adopting. There are so many babies out there that need homes. I found that most of them are staying at foster homes where you can find out about there temperment with children, other pets, etc. Also, your pet will also already be spayed or neutered. Just my thoughts!

[Buster Brown]

Sadly I fell for the gimmick our store does not sell puppies from puppy mills. They did and I have paid for my naivety. Buster came home with me and the first night I noticed he was coughing. It turns out he had a bad case of kennel cough which after a full month of antibiotics and care by me became Pneumonia and required a 3 day stay on IV antibiotics for $2,000.00. Then there was the Giardia and Coccidia he also came with which took over 6 months to get rid of and maybe about $400.00. Not to mention the LP (Luxating Patella = bad knees) Which just cost me $4,000.00 for one knee and the other is bad as well. Plus he has arthritis in both front legs and he is 20 months old. All this because a commercial breeder and a pet store were more interested in a profit than in breeding/selling a healthy dog. And an uninformed first time dog owner who thought she could trust what the store said. Please please please take my advice learn from my mistakes. It is so much wiser to buy from a reputable breeder. You will save money in the long run. Not to mention not having to go through the heartbreak of worrying if your dog will live and the sleepless nights taking care of them. I will do my research next time and only get a dog from a reputable breeder, rescue, or shelter. Good luck on your search. Best Wishes.

[jltwigg10]

I understand that you are interested in a younger dog and that it is hard to find one for your area. Please talk to some of the rescues in nearby states. I used to volunteer with a small breed rescue and we had a transportation network that we used when needed. Those rescues might have something like that available. You might have to meet part way also.
You would be giving a new life to one in need.

Best wishes and please let us know how it all works out.

[Gatord]

Ah my Jack come from a puppy store.... He is so sweet! I did not know about the the puppy mill stories till after I bought him and found YT. I later found Jack came from Kentucky, poor guy.

Josie come from a breeder here locally, still didn't know alot about researching. I am not sure if her breeder is a hobby breeder or a BYB.

But I can tell such a difference between Jack and Josie. Wouldn't take nothing in the world for either though.

[chachi]

Save a little longer and buy from a reputable breeder. The money you save by going to a pet store may cost you alot of money through the lifetime of the dog in vet bills

[Roxi Ree]

I got my Roxi from a 3-generation-owned family pet store. They use the same breeder for their dogs (puppy mill??? I researched breeder and only found one mark against her). The mother and her children run the store--the dogs are only for sale during puppy play time (3 to 4 hours a day) so as not to stress the dogs out. The other times they are spending with the dogs grooming and potty training and playing (and yes, you are able to see the dogs in their sleeping quarters. The owners get quite upset when little children start banging on the glass trying to get the dogs to wake up. These people love their dogs and do not sell to just anyone. If they see that the dog does not like you, they will not sell that dog to you. Yes, my Roxi is small (but she was not bred to be small--her parents are both standard-sized Yorkies). They would not sell her to anyone who had children under the age of 14 because of her size. FYI...we didn't get her because of her size but because of her personality. They also gave me an after-hours phone number to call if I have any trouble w/Roxi. They will meet me at the store at any hour if she is having any problems with hypoglycemia (the mother lives onsite). They are always available for questions. Now, when we visit the store, they are so excited to see her...we are now a part of the family. I do agree that most pet stores (Petland) are not the way to go, but there are some exceptions (just my opinion).

[BustersMom13]

Originally Posted by kkephart

I would encourage you to more research on adopting. There are so many babies out there that need homes. I found that most of them are staying at foster homes where you can find out about there temperment with children, other pets, etc. Also, your pet will also already be spayed or neutered. Just my thoughts!

I adopted Buster... I was given a website called petfinder.com by a woman I work with (she fouhd her puppies in a foster home there). It gave me a listing of dogs at shelters and foster homes close to me. We found Buster at a rescue in Ohio and fell in love.... His "foster mom" was very nice and the whole experience went rather well. We feel like we saved him and when it's time for another pup we'd like to adopt again...

[yorkietalkjilly]

When I get another Yorkie, I will try rescue again to get a dog out of an unconscionable situation or apply to a reputable breeder that stresses health and breed standards above all else. To buy from those that don't really abide by the highest breeding standards seems to say that I am okay with taking a much greater chance that the pup will be healthy, thus personally perpetuating the practice of breeding without adequate pre-breeding health investigation of the parents. This type of breeding blind can result in poor little dogs that are born with a genetic time bomb, needlessly dooming a poor little, innocent dog to a scary, painful condition, painful surgery or a life on many medications and, in too many cases, a less than quality life. Yes, this blind breeding practice will get me a cheaper dog if that is basically very important to me and maybe even a healthy one - but should I draw the short straw and wind up with an ill dog, it is the little Yorkie itself that pays the harshest price. And while buying a puppy from a highly reputable breeder will price many people from the market, itsn't it really about my responsibility as a lover of the Yorkshire Terrier to personally decide I just cannot keep doing business with people who roll the dice every time they breed; and if one or more of a litter winds up with LP, liver shunt or hydrocephalus, that is "just the way it goes"? I would rather pay a higher price for a dog with the highest chances of health and good breed conformation than buy cheaper and just take a chance on a dog's health - and if the price for that turned out to be too great, I can manage somehow to live with that. I am a grown-up. And I believe I am better living my life without a Yorkie puppy than to keep buying cheaper from breeders who are damaging these precious babies by little understanding or caring of how to breed a healthy dog.

But wait, if the price for the kind of puppy I should be aspiring to buy is too high for me, I can still rescue a Yorkie out of its homelessness without my dollars going to the direct support of those that have less-than-optimal breeding practices and the misery they often produce.

[Nancy1999]

Any ethical breeder is very interested in where her puppies are placed. Someone selling to a pet store doesn't care who buys their puppies. The pet store never refuses anybody as long as they have the money. We have a serious problem with people impulse buying the wrong breed without information on what the future needs of the dog will be, so many of these dogs wind up in shelters. While these puppies may not come from the most horrendous conditions, they do come from a breeder breeding solely for profit, and this is never a good thing, for the puppies, and especially for the breeding dogs. So when a pet store says, "We don't get our puppies from mills, we buy them from small independent breeders", what they really mean is we buy them from breeders who don't give a damn where their dogs end up.

By the way, many backyard breeders don't care either, but fool the public by having adoption forms, and convincing the buyer how much they love their dogs. Please see the kennel conditions for yourself, even if you are buying from the sweet lady on Yorkietalk.

[kkephart]

Originally Posted by BustersMom13

I adopted Buster... I was given a website called petfinder.com by a woman I work with (she fouhd her puppies in a foster home there). It gave me a listing of dogs at shelters and foster homes close to me. We found Buster at a rescue in Ohio and fell in love.... His "foster mom" was very nice and the whole experience went rather well. We feel like we saved him and when it's time for another pup we'd like to adopt again...

I got Oliver from petfinder! He originally was at a puppy mill in Missouri... and he ended up at a rescue in North Carolina... I got him from there. I'm still in contact with Oliver's "foster mom"... I keep her updated on all of his progress. My neighbor just bought a pup from a local pet store and he is already sick. She actually looked down on Oliver because she said he was "too big" to be a Yorkie! He's 8.5lbs and I love every ounce of him!!

[BustersMom13]

Originally Posted by kkephart

I got Oliver from petfinder! He originally was at a puppy mill in Missouri... and he ended up at a rescue in North Carolina... I got him from there. I'm still in contact with Oliver's "foster mom"... I keep her updated on all of his progress. My neighbor just bought a pup from a local pet store and he is already sick. She actually looked down on Oliver because she said he was "too big" to be a Yorkie! He's 8.5lbs and I love every ounce of him!!

We have updated Buster's "foster mom" as well! He was also rescued from a puppy mill. When we got Buster we were told he would be between 8-10 lbs and it looks like that's going to be about right. People have wondered if he is mixed with something (and me not knowing his past have wondered too) because his legs are longer than "normal" for a Yorkie... I've done a bit of research and with his coloring and features i can't see him being anything else then Yorkie and I've also seen on YT that Yorkies can come in all shapes and sizes ... However, if he were a mix it wouldn't matter.. I love my little man whether he's 10ibs or 100lbs