Originally Posted by SnowWa

I really doubt pet stores underfeed little pups to cause them to become smaller. This wouldn't work - you'd soon have a lot of seriously ill little pups that no one would want --- or worse yet - I'm sure a lot of them would die if they weren't fed enough.

The puppies I see at pet stores usually are healthy, robust, little guys that definitely want to go home with you. They are hard to turn down. And, of course, there are also some that are more fearful and shy - but they are little darlings too.

Every little puppy in a pet store deserves a good home - regardless of where they came from.

I hate and am against puppymills as much as anyone. And, I know that a lot of people think that buying these puppies is what keeps the puppymills in business. This is a sad state of affairs because as I said these little pups need homes too.

I think that not buying puppies at pet stores will be the slowest way in the world to close down puppymills. And, I know a lot of people will continue to buy these pups just because they are available -- and ooooooooh so darling when you go and see them. Plus - in all honesty - I know a lot of people who got their pups from pet stores and have ended up with the greatest pets in the world. It certainly doesn't always turn out bad for the people who buy them.

So --- rather than trying to keep people from buying these puppies -- I think the way to close the puppy mills is to have more laws, regulations, and better standards regarding any facility that raises large numbers of puppies to sell. No facility that raises large numbers of puppies solely to make money and abuses any of their animals during this process should be allowed to operate on these grounds alone.

Puppymill facilities should be shut down where they exist. I can't understand how so many of them continue to exist and continue to abuse so many innocent animals.

My fight with puppymills is not at the pet stores - I am certainly not against anyone buying any of these little pups and taking them home to a good home. They need homes.

My fight is with the facilities that abuse animals to make these little puppies available for sale. And - I think our efforts should be spent on instituting more laws and regulations regarding these facilities. There should be agencies that can visit any of these facilities at any time - and shut them down immediately if they are abusing any animals. Why does everyone drag their feet when it comes to closing these places down????

I have read about facilities that are known abusive puppymills and have read that sometimes it takes years to close them down. Why? I don't understand this.

If it's money that keeps our state and county agencies from being able to monitor these places, I am sure that a skeleton crew could be paid and that a lot of other people would be willing to become more educated and learn more about these facilities and would be willing to volunteer their time and work for free to help close many of these facilities.

I have no clue what it would take to get this problem solved and these places closed down. Perhaps thousands of letters to congressmen and petitions would help. But, I don't think that expecting people to stop purchasing puppies at pet stores is the answer. This would take forever and what would happen to these puppies if no one bought them? I think we need to attack the source of the problem - the puppymills, themselves. And, again, I just can't understand why they are allowed to operate --- they should all be closed "yesterday."



Carol Jean

Originally Posted by red98vett

It's horrible isn't it seeing them ? I remember being in Petland a long time ago - before I knew they buy from puppy mills - and I was crying when I left - my husband actually had the nerve to tell me to stay Out of the store :eek: lol - but I was upset for days..

THEN I found out all about puppy mills - and how Petland is the biggest customer of mills - -and I won't go in ANY pet stores now. But it's so hard thinking of the ones in the cages day in and day out.

The reason so many people buy is they DO look so pitiful. I was told they intentionally try to keep the small breeds smaller by underfeeding them: They have no toys ....and many dogs actually get depressed in the cages - so they really do make us want to take them out of there...petstores know how to play on our sympathy - which is why they sell so many dogs

It's very hard walking away ...

Originally Posted by Brookef18

Ok I will confess... My chewy (Chubacca }came from a pet store. But before you get upset with me let me explain that I didn't really know what a puppy mill was... Since I got him I have had people be really rude to me when they found out, every one asks where he came from.
I wanted a toy dog, and so did my daughter. i researched Yorkies on the computer and tried to talk my husband into it. He didnt want any more dogs since we had our Black Lab put down after 14 years. I took my husband into the pet store to play with our baby and he fell in love with in 5 min... Chewy melted my husbands heart. Now all I can hope is he is healthy and lives a long happy life because no other yorkie could ever take his place. He is so good and tried so hard to please.
Let me just say that there are toys in the pet store with the dogs... they are well fed and seem happy, and yorkies are there for a day or so before some one comes along and snaps them up. Our baby was in the store for two days before we bought him. I only know that cause my daughter goes to the mall just about every day and she was stalking the tore waiting for a puppy to come along!

Originally Posted by JiggityJig

WHAT?!?! Some rescue groups do that?!?! You're right, that makes NO sense! The millers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Originally Posted by Willow

I am against puppy mills, but not petstore puppies. In my mind, there is no difference in buying the puppy from the petstore than the rescue groups buying the dogs from millers at auction. The rescue groups still lined the millers pockets even if they did just save another furkid from overbreeding. Personally, I think if we are going to shut down the mills then everyone needs to stop buying the dogs from the mills! This includes rescue groups and pet stores. NOT all pet stores get their pups from mills either. Some stores do get them from individual breeders who are NOT BYB. What we need is new laws that are enforced that make it illegal for people to have hundreds of dogs in little cages breeding them over and over. Hormone injections to bring dogs into heat cycles should be illegal! There should be a maximum number of breedable dogs anyone owner should be allowed to have, because I am sorry, but when you have hundreds of dogs that you are breeding over and over how can you possibly have the time to give them the attention they deserve? You don't!

We need laws that help responsible breeders but at the same time make it hard on millers. Millers are horrible!

At our house we have a two litter rule. After the second litter, our dogs are spayed.