Animal Planet Investigates PETLAND

[wolfy-hound]

Oh yes!! The "mom and pop" store local to me is horrid when it comes to the puppies.. but their reptiles and fish are actually set up well. And they DO get most(I can't confirm ALL of the pups origins) of the puppies from local breeders, they just mark the price up to make a profit. But the pups are always not groomed, with matted fur and such. I haven't heard anyone say the puppies were sick there, and trust me, around here they'd gripe loudly.

The Petland I do remember being local(no idea if it's still there, I moved from that city) was always very clean, the animals were always clean and healthy looking, including the puppies, which the staff took to a small room to play with a few times a day so they didn't stay in kennels all the time. They had a display play area set up with tons of shredded paper to play in, and it was over-all a good looking store(with typically high petstore prices on everything).

I don't know where that particular Petland got their pups, but they were healthy good looking pups. This was a few(cough several cough) years ago, and it might have been only one store, but it was a good petstore.

Just goes to show you, not all chains are bad, not all small independants are good. Not all large scale breeders are "puppy mills" and not all small breeders care for their dogs. It's better to prosecute those that are breaking laws and abusing the animals, rather than making labels of "puppy mill" or "stock breeder" and accusing ALL of them of being abusive neglectful evil people.

There used to be tons of breeders that owned large scale places. HAving a 100 dachunds or 200 german shepards wasn't unheard of. Kept in proper space, cleaned and fed and watered... there's nothing wrong with a place that keeps a lot of animals. If someone has ONE dog chained in the backyard starving, hit THEM. If they have 100 dogs all clean and well cared for, leave them alone.

Labeling people with terms like "puppy mill" is ridiculous. What definition is puppy mill referring to? A place that makes money by breeding dogs? Or a place that neglects dogs? Any place with over XX dogs? A lot of people want to say things like "Oh, a puppy mill is a place where they breed dogs for profit without caring for the dogs!" but then you'll see places labeled a puppy mill because they breed dogs as a business, whether or not they care for the dogs properly... while "no kill" shelters are touted as wonderful places, even if they are full of dogs that should be humanely euthanized so they won't be suffering from chronic painful ailments or locked into a kennel for years due to un-resolvable behavioral problems.

Similiar to people who shout "It's the Deed, not the Breed" about not blaming all pit bulls for the actions of a few, don't try to villify all dog breeders just because they breed dogs.