aww

good job resisting, I don't think I would ever be able too

poor babies
but I'm SURE they'll be adopted with good people that will probablly end up joining this board ha ha!

I know a lot of people (including myself) who have gotten several wonderful healthy pets at pet stores.

I hate puppymills as much as anyone. And, they need to be shut down. For the life of me - I can't understand why it is so hard to shut puppymills down. Just what is the problem - and why can't it be fixed!!!!!

I feel that once the little puppies are in the stores (and I know for a fact that all of them do not come from puppymills) - but whether or not - they are all entitled to good loving homes. I would never fault a person for taking one of these little puppies home.

**** I know everyone says that if we stop buying puppies at pet stores - the puppymills will go out of business. I don't agree with this at all. I think we have to go to the source -to the puppymills themselves, and shut them down. Trying to make any effect after these little puppies are already in stores as far as I'm concerned - is too late! The puppies in these stores need homes.

Carol Jean

I definitly agree
I got Tila from a petshop
she only had a cough
which can happen with ANY dog!

any other problems she has had have been allergies because of our carpet, so she just gets itchy, normal stuff. and a cold once, but I think it was because everyone else was sick too!

(of course I later found out she was from an actual show dog breeder, who simply couldn't sell her because of her long body, sold her to the pet shop so she'd have a larger chance, and the petshop is this small town shop type of place ha ha ha!)

I AGREE! My post wasn't merely about not buying the puppy because of the chance of it being sick or being from a puppymill, but it was also about the fact that they were charging an ARM AND A LEG! 1299 for the males and 1499 for the females. I know that some of you YTers have paid DOUBLE, but that is just too much for me at the moment. I WOULD LOVE ANOTHER ONE! hehe

I even called the boyfriend from the store and explained to him the situation. Me=balling my eyes out + the cutest puppy in the world staring at me with those bright eyes and rubbing its little nose against the glass window= one sad sad story. To make it worse the boyfriend was super supportive and asked me if I wanted to buy him because he thought Oliver needed a friend! AWWW! But our landlord won't let us have more than one dog! :(
Needless to say, I still had to walk away from those babies!

aww sweet boyfriend!

wow that's a lot
so someone with a lot of money (or a compulsive buyer like the rest of us) will adopt and spoil them!

Tila was 2000 I feel stupid now for paying that
but happy because Tila is great ha ha

Thank you for this post. I couldn't have said it better myself!:D

I doubt that anyone here can resist wanting to take the puppy out of the petstore but in my opinion the idea that if you shut the mills down there won't be any pups in the pet store is backwards. The only way to stop mills from producing more puppies is to take away the income from doing it. It is all about supply and demand.

Example..The horse market went down with the economy, I breed an occasional horse for sale, it is a hobby for me not an income (by any stretch of the imagination lol) when the horse market went down alot of the small hobby breeders quit breeding for a few years, people simply cannot afford to house and feed extra horses. However the value of a horse goes up towards riding age. Not so with dogs.
The only way to make a difference in shutting mills down is to shut off the income they make from selling their "stock". I hope this makes sense to you.

Nobody is saying petstore puppies arent cute or that they all are sickly. Just that every sale DOES make a difference.

Amen DivaPup....well said!

I SO agree.....if everyone keeps saying I have to save this ONE dog - that's just another sale for the MILL. It's a vicious circle:(

I hate to go to petstore for this reason!!! :( I hat to see those poor puppies... Who would sell to a pet store???? For sure puppymills!!!:thumbdown

well what do you think should happen to the pups??? Every one says they feel so bad and all but if no one buys them then what??? they rott forever in a cage...put them to sleep??? I am sorry but I think you are putting the cart before the horse here... As long as the puppy Mills breed pups some one will buy them.... I think you shut the mills down first and maybe then you can get the pet store pups homes... THey all deserve homes and love... SORRY that's how I feel about it.:aimeeyork

Wow! What a subject and I can sort of agree with both sides.

Brookef18, I so see your point and have bought puppies from pet shops.

Did you know that in Japan puppies are bought at a "market" once a week. Very similar to the same kind of fish market where stores and restaurants go to buy thier fresh fish. These puppies definately come from puppie mills and have had NO medical care or shots. They are often only 6 weeks old. If they are not sold by a certain age they are gassed and if they get sick while at the shop they are killed or just let to die. Doesn't pay for the shop owners to get them medical care. I don't know how different things are here in the states but my bet would be not much.

So, on Brookef18's side...

I went into one of these pet shops in Japan lured in by the cuties in the shop window. I always feel so bad for them. In one of the cages was 3 Maltese babies. One of them was hiding in the back corner of the cage and looking so sad. I couldn't help myself and had to give him a snuggle. (he just looked like he needed one) The man got him out for me and as I held him close to snuggle him I could hear that his little chest was cogested and I could tell this litle guy just didn't feel well. I tried to tell the shop owner that the puppy wasn't well and he just took him and tossed him back in the cage. I couldn't believe it and for the rest of the day that poor baby just tugged at my heart. Later that evening I went back and bought that puppy. 1100 + a large amount for a months of insurance for if anything went wrong. My Little Sammy. This was about 5 years ago and to type this now still brings tears to my eyes. I brought him home on a Friday and had him into the vet on Monday. Told that day that my little Sammy had a congenital heart defect and that his heart was quite enlarged. The vet put him on many different meds and told me to just love him, he won't be here for long. I had my Japanese friend call the shop and explain what the vet said and the shop owner told her to have me bring the puppy back and he would give me another. I had her ask him what he would do with the puppy and he said he would just let him die. I said NO WAY! This baby had a terrible (short) life and that he would be loved in whatever little time he had left. My Sammy dies less than a week later in my kitchen while I was giving him his morning meds with my children there eating thier breakfast. He didn't go quietly although it was fairly quickly. It was the devestating to us all.

The way I see it is that my Sammy was able to feel some love and feel safe before he died and he so deserved that. If I had not bought him he would have suffered and died alone not ever knowing what love was. If I had the money and the room I would save them all. It so breaks my heart how they suffer.

So, yes those places should all be shut down but until they are those babies deserve some love too.

ON THE OTHER SIDE:

Here in Alaska you CAN NOT find a pet shop that sells cats or dogs. There is not a one that I have ever seen. Instead, they offer adoptions on the weekends from the local shelters. Therefore there is NO NEED for puppy mills anywhere in this area. So, I believe that the answer lies not in makeing the babies that already in the shops suffer but instead lies in taking away the demand totally. The anwers lie in the pet shops not the customers who buy. If this cause is close to your heart I would appeal to the pet shops in your area. If they don't carry them, people can't buy them and the puppy mills will effectively loose thier livelyhood.

I'm sorry I have rambled and I hope that I have made sense as once I got started and the tears rolling I just went on without much thought!

Kim

I understand how society can do their part to shut down puppy mills by not purchasing pet store dogs, it truly is a product of supply and demand, basic economics. As long as there is a market, the product (dogs), will be produced. I don't understand what other methods could be used to shut them down, unless there are health violations at the breeder, they are simply producing a marketable good for consumers.I find it similar to the problem that our society has with drugs. Take the dealer off of the street and put him behind bars. What happens next, someone else takes his place.

Educate the public about the truth as it pertains to this, or any other "evil" in life, and help them understand the big picture and avoid the headaches and heartaches attached to it.

I'm not saying that pet store animals are bad, or that the people who buy them are either. All I'm saying is that the only way that I see to truly stop this thing from growing is to stop feeding it, and its food is money.

As I said above (sorry, it was sooooo long that some may not read it. :eek: )

There is no such problem here in Alaska as NOT ONE pet shop I have seen carries puppies or cats. I really don't know how it came about but they have really managed to do away with this problem by not selling them. The only dogs or cats to be found at any of the shops are adoptions from the shelters.

It's how I got my Chloe (Golden) and when I decided I wanted a Yorkie I had to search for a private breeder.

I think they have done a great job here with this problem. Definately something to push for in other areas. I think I read someone say the same about OH???

Kim