I often get the idea of what to write about because of something someone said, did or I saw recently. This past week I was talking to a lady & mentioned how I adopted my dogs from a neighboring state during COVID. I told her I had been in rescue, but most of the dogs available at the time were not the hunting/active type breeds I liked. She said yeah, we had to go to a pet store & buy our puppy. I hope my face didn’t show what I thought, I was at work, so I kept my mouth shut & moved on as soon as possible.
I never want people to think that this is their only option, nor do I believe it is their only option. Ok there are some not so good pet owners who might not get approved by some rescues to adopt but many places aren’t as picky.
I don’t know if many people realize where pet store puppies come from. Don’t get me wrong in recent years there are a few that do take in shelter dogs,but they say its an adoption, but they really are selling them. They are at least not being euthanized at a shelter & they are not buying them from unscrupulous puppy mills or backyard breeders.
I had a friend who bred & showed Collies for years & she was very careful to breed for quality, breed standard & temperament. If a puppy wasn’t going to grow up to be show quality she would spay/neuter it & she would sell it as pet quality. Even her pet quality dogs were beautiful, but sometimes if a dog lacked enough white on its show side she knew it wouldn’t finish in the show ring. She only bred dogs that were high quality & would finish in the show ring. She always told me a good quality breeder would never sell to a pet store. Quality breeders have a reputation to uphold & they take it quite seriously.
So, I think you may have figured out that most pet store puppies for sale come from puppy mills. These places are often filthy, hot, cold, crowded, full of dogs in small cages who never get out & feel the grass under their feet. More about this to come in the next paragraphs. Even most backyard breeders treat their dogs better. I am not a fan of backyard breeders because they usually are just an everyday person who happens to have two dogs & puts them together to breed so they can get puppies to sell. They don’t screen for medical issues like a show breeder would or breed for the breed standard, many don’t even know what those are. They think their two Yorkshire Terriers are cute, but no idea or don’t care that they are too tall & large for the breed standard, but breed them to make $ from the puppies.
I am not sure how many puppy mills are allowed to operate, guessing many are not ever inspected unless there was a complaint, but they are not open to the public & often way out in an area without neighbors or rural so no one sees or cares. Many of these dogs live their whole life in a cage, maybe alone when ready to deliver, but otherwise in the same over crowded cages, pens or runs. Sometimes they have to stand or lay in wire-floored cages & get sores on their paws. Some get leg deformities from being in a small area,wire bottom cages or cuts or sores if the wire breaks & they can get infected. Some have to fight over dogs to get food to survive.
The puppies get out & are sold to pet store, but the adults usually are bred every time they go into their heat cycle. Many people don’t know this: but if one female goes into heat she will draw other females into heat with her, so this may have dogs producing 3 litters a year, which is a lot of stress on their bodies.
At Puppy mills the adult dogs don’t usually meet the breed standard & these places don’t care. Money is the name of the game. They don’t do screening so common health issues can be avoided. Many of the dogs are bred with their family members, siblings, parents,(incest) ECT.. which can pass down genetic issues. These dogs are not bred for temperament, honestly they probably don’t know much about each dogs temperament, except who might be a bit of a biter (watching out for themselves). If not bred for the breed standard, color, size & look, they might not get what someone wanting a certain breed may have expected. The dog grows up & is 10-15 lbs larger, or smaller, taller or shorter etc…
Many of the breeder dogs don’t ever receive love,comfort, or positive attention unless they get rescued. Their purpose to their owners is to reproduce & make their humans money. Sadly dogs are considered property & it is hard to stop this from continuing.
There are a few things you can do:
- Don’t buy a puppy or other item from a pet store that sells puppies.
- Protest at pet stores that sell puppies (there are groups that organize this). I have done this & the store did close.
- Sign petitions if asked.
- If your city is considering allowing a pet store in your town that sells puppies speak out against it or contact your city counsel & express your view point. You pay taxes & live there so you should get a say.
- If you bought a pet store pet don’t breed it, spay or neuter.
- Support rescues that take in former puppy mill dogs, rehabbing these dogs is hard to do.
In all the photos I have posted if you look at the dogs the breed standard is not there in some of the dogs, some in the above photo look like mixes & the one above are suppose to be purebred huskies. Over crowded & cramped conditions & I can’t imagine how stir crazy they must be. Health issues for dogs from puppy mills usually is a high cost to pay on top of the outrageous purchase price. Many of these dogs will have high Vet costs over their life span, due to inbreeding their lives are often shorter than other dogs of the same breed. Many of the adult dogs don’t receive regular medical care, & if sick may be killed to avoid Vet costs or risking the word getting out that they are a puppy mill. Many of these dogs are dirty, matted & if a Vet saw this they would be suspicious & may report to the officials, sighting neglect or abuse.
There are many options for getting a puppy other than a pet store, because if you buy a puppy at a pet store it keeps these people breeding these poor dogs over & over & even till it kills some. There are alternatives to getting a puppy:
- Adopt from a rescue, there are many purebred rescues if you have a certain breed in mind. Keep in mind you may need to google search rescues for the breed you want. Not all rescues advertise on sites like Petfinder, but only advertise on their website. Many will require an application be filled out, reviewed & approved before you can meet a dog. Purebred rescues often do not advertise if they have puppies, so if you want a puppy put that on your application.
- Adopt from a shelter or Humane Society
- Check out pets needing home thru your local paper, Facebook or other online sites that post pets.
- Talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers & family that have the breed of dog you want & see where they got it from.
- Talk to Vets in your area, they can be a good resource for this as they see pet people all day.
This was a tough subject, but one I am very passionate about, all the dogs in my life have been rescue dogs. My dog Sam that I had as a child I found, my dogs as an adult Sam, Ace, & Sydney, were dogs I fostered & adopted. Hunter & Echo both were rescued from the next state over. If you are liking, learning, & enjoying my blog please help me spread the word about it. This can be done through liking posts, sharing the links on your social media or emailing friends & family, subscribing to my blog, commenting about what you liked or learned, visiting often, these all help others to find my blog posts. I have 145 other posts on this blog & about a variety of subjects & pets. You can find my Table of Content on my home page under the show note tab,then scroll down to find the posts you want to read. Thanks for visiting & a special thanks all my subscribers, Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 