Animal Planet Investigates PETLAND

[Shyshoos]

So true.

I have only ever been to one Petland. But that store was clean, with healthy animals, and no dogs/cats for sale. I had no problem with it.

Many people are so upset about chain stores, just because they are chain stores. I have seen very bad private mom n' pop stores just as well.

And the HSUS.. you said it Wolfy.

Not all Petland stores sell puppies, let alone kittens, but I've been to many that do. The local Petland here won't even tell you who you get your puppy from until you initiate a purchase (I say purchase, not adoption). Legally they have to tell you who they supply the puppies from, but when I just asked who the puppies were bought from they told me 'that's confidential information' and were very abrupt with me. As if I was trying to investigate them myself. I was simply a customer but they treated me as if I was suspecting something.

THAT is suspicious enough. Customer's have every right to know where their puppies are being purchased, and it's perfectly okay if they are buying from reputable breeders.

However I do not even agree with pet stores buying from breeders. That should be the breeders job alone, while pet stores may supply all your pet needs and support humane society's and shelters with what they already need adopted. Breeders don't need the help, so why do some franchise pet stores supply puppies? Because they're not looking out for animals interest, they're looking out for themselves.

I haven't been to -every- Petland, Petco, and Petsmart in the world, but I've lived all over the united states and I've seen plenty of Petland's who sell pure bred puppies, and I've seen plenty of Petsmart stores who sell kittens from shelters. I've worked at a humane society and Petco let us set up a station in their store to help adopt out kittens and puppies. So Petland in my opinion is sketchy.

HSUS may not always do everything right, they may not do what everyone wants them to do the way they want them to do it, but there isn't a lot of organization out there that help animals. They help a lot more than they DO NOT.

[BPelizabeth]

HSUS may not always do everything right, they may not do what everyone wants them to do the way they want them to do it, but there isn't a lot of organization out there that help animals. They help a lot more than they DO NOT.

I tend to disagree with this statement as it has been proven already that little to NO money that they make goes to any of their local shelters. Most goes to lobbiests and commercials and to pay their corp. heads. Pretty sad when you think you are sending in money to help animals ....what you are really doing is funding the laws they are trying to get passed.

[BuckeyeBalls]

I tend to disagree with this statement as it has been proven already that little to NO money that they make goes to any of their local shelters. Most goes to lobbiests and commercials and to pay their corp. heads. Pretty sad when you think you are sending in money to help animals ....what you are really doing is funding the laws they are trying to get passed.

x2

None of it helps the animals. Well take that back VERY LITTLE helps the animals

[Shyshoos]

I tend to disagree with this statement as it has been proven already that little to NO money that they make goes to any of their local shelters. Most goes to lobbiests and commercials and to pay their corp. heads. Pretty sad when you think you are sending in money to help animals ....what you are really doing is funding the laws they are trying to get passed.

Like I said, they may not do everything right, and I agree their financial spending is wacky.

[wolfy-hound]

Sorry, I've personally seen no-kill shelters I wouldn't give a dead hamster to. They warehouse animals in substandard facilities in packs. Weaker dogs were killed when the pack turned on them. Dogs were fed by throwing in large amounts of food in one or two places, so that the strong ate, and the weak got weaker.
I've also seen a place that bred dogs commercially(mostly dachunds) and they had well over 100 dogs. The kennels were well made, the dogs were clean and healthy. The puppies were fat healthy animals that would make good pets for people.

But by most people's standards, they would STILL be labeled a puppy mill. Never mind that the dogs are healthy. Instead of focusing on labeling breeders, why don't you focus on enforcing laws that already exist for humane care for the dogs? I.E. appropriate shelter, vet care, food and water.

I've seen pet stores that take kittens in, then sell them. I don't mind it, as long as the kittens are vetted and healthy. If you want a kitten for free in front of the supermarket, go get it.. then spend the $200 at the vet for all the stuff a kitten needs and hope that it's not sick already. Get a well vetted kitten from a reputable sho, shelter, or pound.. and you usually pay $60 and you get a kitten already checked by a vet. The shop that sells the kittens for $60 that has vetted the kittens doesn't make a ton on the kitten, anymore than they make a ton on the puppies they sell. They make their money on the accessories. The puppies and kittens draw in customers.

IF the shop is taking proper care of the animals, there should be no onus on them for selling puppies and kittens. They should also be making certain that their suppliers are treating their dogs, cats and the puppies and kittens properly as well, i.e. clean, fed, watered, sheltered.

Too many times people just automatically label ALL breeders as bad, either they are "backyard-breeders" or "puppy mills". Pick one, the only difference is number of animals. No one waits to see if they are caring for the animals properly, it's still a "bad thing" just because they breed.

HSUS only wants to outlaw all animal ownership INCLUDING owning dogs or cats as pets. They've already stated as such in some of their literature, and that's their goal. They'll just do it in a sneaky way so it'll get past all the blind doners who think "Ooo, a picture of a puppy, they must be good!" and hand over their money, and then blindly believe whatever they're told, because the HSUS says "humane" in it.. they must be right.

[Shyshoos]

Sorry, I've personally seen no-kill shelters I wouldn't give a dead hamster to. They warehouse animals in substandard facilities in packs. Weaker dogs were killed when the pack turned on them. Dogs were fed by throwing in large amounts of food in one or two places, so that the strong ate, and the weak got weaker.
I've also seen a place that bred dogs commercially(mostly dachunds) and they had well over 100 dogs. The kennels were well made, the dogs were clean and healthy. The puppies were fat healthy animals that would make good pets for people.

This is a description of a good breeder, not a puppy mill. (And the description of a severely illegal "shelter". Are you sure it wasn't a pound? I've seen pounds like that--one dog had his tooth hanging from his gums...) I was describing a puppy mill, and that's what you'll see on the Petland investigation. I have no problem with reputable breeders, as you described, no matter how many animals they have, as long as each and every one of them is loved and well cared for.

But by most people's standards, they would STILL be labeled a puppy mill. Never mind that the dogs are healthy. Instead of focusing on labeling breeders, why don't you focus on enforcing laws that already exist for humane care for the dogs? I.E. appropriate shelter, vet care, food and water.

It's sadly true.

The puppies and kittens draw in customers.

IF the shop is taking proper care of the animals, there should be no onus on them for selling puppies and kittens. They should also be making certain that their suppliers are treating their dogs, cats and the puppies and kittens properly as well, i.e. clean, fed, watered, sheltered.

I still condone pet stores that supply breeder's puppies. There are humane society's and shelters that have thousands upon thousands of animals brought in every single year and if a pet store chooses a breeder's puppies over helping the homeless ones, then I just see a money-greedy company that isn't doing any good for the lives of dogs. Dog breeders = breed dogs and sell them. Pet stores = "we care for animals" =/= buy from breeders instead of taking homeless ones off of the shelter's and humane society's. I love pure bred dogs, and I'm not saying they shouldn't exist, and I'm NOT saying it's wrong to choose to buy a pure bred over a humane society or shelter puppy (it's a nice act though!). What I'm saying is dog breeder's should do the pure bred selling while pet stores who want to sell puppies should help out their local shelters. If the pet store doesn't have a local shelter, if it knows who it's buying it's puppies from and it's not a dumpy puppy farm, then okay; have at.

We have a small local pet store right down the street, and it's the epitome of animal love. They have a list that you can put your name on, and how many kittens you have, and as they sell what they currently have in the store, you can bring in the unexpected litter. They also do this for puppies. They don't over-price them--they sell them for about $20--and because of that they aren't neutered or spayed. They are given their first round of shots though and very, very well taken care of.

HSUS only wants to outlaw all animal ownership INCLUDING owning dogs or cats as pets. They've already stated as such in some of their literature, and that's their goal. They'll just do it in a sneaky way so it'll get past all the blind doners who think "Ooo, a picture of a puppy, they must be good!" and hand over their money, and then blindly believe whatever they're told, because the HSUS says "humane" in it.. they must be right.

And just like when we see an adorable puppy in a pet store and do no research, we may be buying from a puppy mill. But it's true, people don't do a lot of thinking when there's a pretty puppy or kitten staring them in the face.

[wolfy-hound]

Sorry. Pet store is a business.. not a shelter. They are entirely entitled to sell pets, including purebreds if they like.
Why not say the shelters should do their job of finding homes for all their animals.. and the pet stores can sell the purebred pups? Why do you automatically think "pounds" are all bad? The pound up the road from me has been pretty darned good at rehoming animals and keeping everything clean.

I'm not saying bad places don't exist. I'm saying stop relying on those labels to say "wrong" and "right".

It's not the pet stores fault that people buy/adopt pups or dogs and then give them up to shelters. It's not the breeder's fault that someone buys a dog then decides later they want a new one and they "dump" it into a local shelter. No matter how much you try to research the new owner, sometimes they fool you, or sometimes they plain change their mind, or the economy makes them need to give up their pet.

It's akin to saying that all big breeders of snakes are evil mills and they should only sell direct to buyers and never supply pet stores with well-bred snakes. There's rescues with thousands of snakes needing homes.

People who WANT a dog, snake, cat, kitten, etc can CHOOSE to adopt from a rescuer, pay for one from a shelter or pound, or buy from a breeder, or buy from a pet store. Those people are then responsible for their pet. They are supposed to care for it. I'm all for encouraging people to adopt homeless pets from the shelter, but I won't tell someone they are wrong for wanting to buy a purebred puppy. I WILL encourage them to make sure of where that puppy is from, whether it's checking out the breeder or checking to see where the store gets puppies from.

One tactic I see locally is that large breeders 'farm' out the puppies to people so that it appears that the person 'selling' the pups only breeds a couple litters. They send pups to the flea markets with a person.. again, so it looks like it's just a person with a couple dogs. That encourages folks to buy pups, and they will never know that the pups came from a large commercial operation, sometimes with very inhumane conditions.

The way to stop inhumane treatment of animals is use the existing laws to punish people who don't give humane care to their dogs. Don't worry about how many dogs, or whether they sell the dogs, or "adopt" the dogs, or keep them forever as a no-kill shelter. Worry instead about whether the dogs are being given proper shelter, food, water and vet care.

Labels like "pound", "shelter", "no-kill", "petstore", or "puppy mill" don't tell you whether the animals are cared for properly or not.

[catawhat75]

Entitled to sell pets, right and wrong... How about morality and ethics? Not that those two things matter much anymore.
Wolfy, would you support a mass BP breeder who kept them in horrendous conditions and ONLY cared about selling the babies and making money. I truly thought that with you working in a pet related field would be a bit more educated when it came to how stores like Petland operate.
Yes, it would be great if people were responsible enough to research before they buy that cute puppy in the window. But that's what those stores rely upon, the IMPULSE buy.

Nothing wrong at all with purebred animals, nothing wrong with responsible breeders- lots wrong with mass/mill breeders.