Puppy mill story

[hallswel]

Puppy Mill Story

[Eliz222]

Liz, stories like this make me soooo sad!

People buy these puppies because they don't know better. Years ago, my DH gave me a Cairn puppy that he bought at a pet store. I was horrified! My DH didn't know anything about puppy mills and how these puppies end up in pet stores. This puppy was even "on sale" because he had been there longer than other dogs.

Our area malls use to have pet stores but now they have all closed. There is one pet store, which opened a few years ago, that is run by the Humane Society and adopts out rescued dogs.

[Tuff&Tippy]

That just makes me angry; How could that owner have a conscious bone in his body and sell sick animals. I couldn't get all the pages to load but I hope the Humane Society shut him and the puppy mills down. I don't understand how someone can run something like that, the main reason I decided not to breed Tuff and Tippy was I don't have the proper birthing space, and I didn't want to worry about the puppies not getting into good homes. They ought to put that guy into a cage with no heat

[bradl]

That place gives me the creeps. I also despair about people who would buy [a] fake breeds at unjustifiable prices from [c] a mall storefront or [d] a website. Every time somebody plops down a Visa card at one of these joints, it tells the proprietor they are in the right business. After all, they are just satisfying consumer demand. The 'customer' wants a puppy right now. The right now part is more important than the other aspects, clearly.

Imagine what it would be like if you could adopt children at a for-profit mall store, or order them up off the Internet. Who would be surprised that there was mischief and misery afoot? No one. I'm not saying adopting a child is the same as getting a pet, but I can tell you that every responsible breeder I know considers the whole process a lot more like an adoption than, say, buying a new car. I've heard at least one older breeder say they quit breeding because they just couldn't take the stress of finding appropriate homes any more.

[Tracy A.]

These stories always upset me.

I am suspicious of any breeder that doesn't say "If something should happen, and you don't want the dog anymore please bring it back to me".

[Guest Hagar]

Hi, This the first time I've posted, although I've been lurking since around the first of September last year. I apologize for what will be a long post.

Hopefully, you will appreciate a "Puppy Mill" story with a happy ending. Nearly 15 years ago, my late wife and I went into a local pet store to buy a few fish for our fish tank. My wife had been wanting a small dog for sometime and instantly fell in love with a Toy Poodle puppy. We did not know at the time, but he turned out to be a "Puppy Mill Puppy", and had numerous health problems from day one. Fortunately, we have a VERY GOOD vet, and loved the pup enough to bite the bullet on the medical bills for him. He was very small even for a Toy Poodle and in fact when his weight reached 6 1/2 pounds were concerned that he was on the verge of getting fat. To make a long story short, my wife passed away in October 1999 when the dog was about nine years old. The Poodle died in his sleep of old age at 14+ years of age last August 23rd, and had been my constant companion. If I hadn't loved that little dog, I would not have considered getting another.

Shortly after the Poodle died, I started checking into other small breeds of dogs, having decided that I wouldn't get another Poodle to avoid expecting to have a "clone" of my previous dog.

One breed that kept coming to the top of the list was the Cairn. That was when I started lurking on this site, and started contacting breeders in my area. I found a male Cairn puppy from a local breeder on Sept 15, last year. He was right at eight weeks old when I got him.

Several of the breeders I contacted were found through this site, and were extremely helpful in answering my many questions through Emails and one even phoned long distance. Those contacts helped make up my mind to get a Cairn. They were so helpful, that I feel bad that I didn't get my Cairn from one of them.

"Renny" has proven to be an absolutely wonderful companion. He is now seven months old, so I think most of the training conflicts are behind us. One main difference of the Cairn from the Poodle is that the Cairn is an absolute fanatic for getting his exercise. We started taking short walks when he was barely nine or ten weeks old. We are now up to about two miles every day. My own Doctor thinks the pup is a very good thing for me, since I have lost weight and am feeling great due to the exercise Renny insists on. My cholesteral and blood sugar are under much better control too mainly due to the dog's walks.

Thanks for letting me ramble on. Hagar

[Brody'sMom]

Welcome Hagar,

Dogs are wonderful companions aren't they. I'm glad you are enjoying Renny.

[maggie]

People buy from stores out of ignorance, {me!} I went in to look around one Saturday morning while DH had to run to his office for awhile & fell in love....we had talked about getting a puppy for awhile but hadn't decided on when/what/or from who. My sister had gotten a pup from a very reputable breeder a few months before, she had it for a couple of months and the puppy had an aneurism and died on the spot. All this to say I rationalized getting my store puppy by saying

look at my sister she went to a reputable breeder and got the perfect puppy and he died...Soon after having Kai-lee she developed mild seizures if you look at my very first post, I was questioning what turned out to be "fly biting/snapping episodes"....probably a genetic problem. I have all sorts of guarantees from the petstore, but I wouldn't take her back for all the money in the world, [i think they bank on that]. I'm glad we took her out of what may have been a sad end for her...and I'm fortunate to be able to provide her with the medical care, love, and attention she needs. Fortunately, she only had a couple of episodes, the first one that lasted several hours, and then a much shorter one. She has been a blessing to our family and provides us with hours of fun & entertainment each & every day. Not one day goes by that she doesn't bring laughter to our lives. I pray her problems will remain under control and live a long and happy life!

Would I buy from a pet store again????? Absolutely not, I will try to educate people as best I can, to realize things happen under the best of circumstances, but we don't need to encourage careless, puppy mill breeding, or the environment those little ones live in.

[Fiamma]

Totally disgusting!

[savannahsmom35]

This story makes me sick because it is obvious by the contradicting answers that this pet shop owner gives that he knows that these dogs are sick and they aren't being taken care of. He is in it for the money, he doesn't care a lick about these dogs. What makes it worse, is people spend all kinds of money on one of his dogs expecting to get a healthy new family member but instead they get a sick pupy who will end up either dying or costing thousands of dollars in medical bills. In one of the articles he compares buying a dog to buying a pair of shoes. A pair of shoes is not a living breathing thing. Just that analogy is enough to make me want to go smack him in the head.

I will be honest, when I first starting looking for a Cairn, the reason that I didn't buy one from a pet store is because I couldn't find one in any of the pet stores around here. I am thankful that I didn't find one because it forced me to get Savannah from a reputable breeder. I had NO IDEA about puppy mills. Now that I know of these dangers, I would NEVER consider getting a puppy from a pet store. I loved Savannah from the second I saw her and if she had been sick, I would have had to suck it up and pay all the money that it took to get her better, but luckily, I don't have to go through that and I sympathize with anyone that does.

[tena]

It's a catch 22...people don't know about the conditions the dogs were in, so they buy one, which continues the cycle.

Stories like this make me sad. I look over to Sophie, who while a delightful dog, should never of been bred to start with and know first hand the damage her body and pysche suffered.

I also know and love 2 dogs who were purchased from a pet store specifically because their owners could not bear to leave them in there. The financial costs of the medical care for these dogs has been astounding.

Poor puppies.

[kcsdogs]

Nothing in the world makes me more angry than this kind of thing. I get so ripped off by people who want to breed their dog because it's a purebred and they can make money off of it. At this point it is so bad around my area that people are selling back yard bred puppies for what you would pay for a champion bred dog with health guarantee, that is wrong! I was invited to come look at some Boston puppies down the street from me ( I have a show Boston) 1. The female came from Oregon Boston Rescue and was to be spayed within 30 days, well they have had her for four years now and have had 2 litters out of her 2. She is not a breed quality dog in any way and she came from a puppy mill. 3. The male is as ugly as the female and has an undecended testicle. They are selling these puppies with no health guarantee and no medical care (shots, dewclaws ect ) for $750 and people will pay that for these dogs. I guess as long as people are ignorant about buying a puppy then there will always be a puppy mill out there, but I for one am not afraid to look these people square in the eyes and let them know that they are wrong in doing this and with the case mentioned above I let Oregon Boston Rescue know that one of their dogs is now producing puppies in this area. Education is the most important thing here people need to know where to go to buy a puppy and why or they will keep going to the nearest "dealer" and buy an unhealthy dog and get ripped off.

[Toto]

All this talk makes me worried that I might end up getting a puppy from a mill. How can I tell if a place is a puppy mill? Any main points or tips?

[bradl]

Here is a terrific checklist on finding a responsible breeder.

Profit-oriented breeders are getting very sophisticated and more and more they are at least saying 'all the right things' - although often in the most superficial way.

Profit-oriented breeders are rarely members of any AKC club. They are often full of reasons why they don't need or want to show or work their dogs (too political, they know more than judges, etc.). They sometimes don't know other Cairn breeders across the country and around the world. They may not know much about breed history, or influential dogs in the breed.

They often have more than one or two breeds. It is not uncommon for dog-crazy people to marry each other and if they come from different breeds you will frequently see two-breeds, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. (Side note: a web-savvy friend who does A LOT of breeder-referral has noticed that multi-breed (like four or five ) breeders are beginning to hide that fact with what look like dedicated, single-breed web sites.)

Profit-oriented breeders tend to advertise their dogs instead of relying on word-of-mouth, their activities, and their club affiliations. In this day and age, to be sure, many responsible breeders also have web pages - notice how some seem to empasize their activities and interest in the breed - you will find pictures of show wins and lists of obedience titles and possibly brags about the things their puppies are doing with their new owners, and so on. They document their commitment to the breed. Compare with sites that seem to focus more on the puppies they have for sale and their payment and shipping terms.

Profit-oriented breeders rarely know what diseases or conditions are prevalent in their breed. They don't test for much, if anything. Their guarantees and contracts read more like buying a new car than adopting a living being.

Look at the pedigrees of their dogs. Are they dripping with champions and companion or working titles in recent generations, or are they 'from champion lines' - a meaningless term.

Profit-oriented breeders rarely mention the breed standard.

As hinted at above, modern profit-oriented breeders have access to the same Internet information you do, and if you aren't able to actually meet them and see the dogs in their natural habitat - well, you have to keep your Internet Skeptic's hat on. I strongly encourage you to meet as many breeders as you can - even ones who do not have a puppy to place. I think you will find that as you see more Cairns in person, and meet more Cairn people, you will develop a sense of who's in it for the breed, and who's in it for other reasons.

One final observation - there's nothing wrong with 'just placing some pets' - but if that's ALL someone is doing, it will be up to the OTHER breeders to ensure that in the future, the breed we know today as the Cairn Terrier still exists. It is very easy to lose breed type with careless breeding. Not to mention that it's often the real breeders who end up cleaning up the mess (via rescue) that for-profit breeders create by failing to screen appropriate homes, or take their own dogs back if they don't work out.

[Toto]

I meet the breeder and the dogs and they were all nice, but I don't what the equipment or anything else should be like. The website has all of the information and is accurate with what they acually have, but is it the way it should be?

P.S. I'm not trying to advertise for them either, I'm jsut not sure its normal because I don't know what normal is It was clean and safe it that helps.

OR

Edit: removed link to specific breeder

[bradl]

Potomac CTC also have a wonderful set of articles on finding a responsible breeder.

I particularly like the Just a Pet section.

Ultimately, you have to decide how to weigh what you know against your own value system.

[Anna_525]

I was amazed at what real, ethical breeders would go through to make sure dogs go to the right homes. Our neighbor wanted a second German pointer, and the breeder travelled 3 hours each way to bring the dog to them. It didn't work out for our neighbor, so the breeder came back to pick up the dog.

Edited to add that in our local mall, I was happy when a pet store closed. But last week, another one took its place, one of those franchises where they sell puppies for over $1200 and they have all sorts of guarantees, return policy for genetic illnesses, etc. I feel sad for the dogs. There was one brown cairn terrier who looked around 12 months old already and pretty soon she will have a "$700 off" sign like the older dogs in the store have. They walk the dogs around the mall to attract buyers, of course. But I really can't help but feel sad for them.

[savannahsmom35]

I went through the list and all of those apply to Savannah's breeder except two.

1. If I recall correctly, she did charge a different amount for male and female. (I think???) We talked to so many different people that I really can't say far a fact that she did. Just curious how that would be a problem.

2. Our health guarantee was for 1 year, not 2.

I have been extremely pleased with Savannah and with the breeder as she helped teach me to strip Savannah amd always gave me advise with other problems that we were having (potty training, nipping, etc). We still keep in contact and she still asks for pictures to see how she is progressing. I call her Savannah's foster mom. I think that a good breeder is more concerned that they are placing their puppy in a good, happy home than if they make a sale.

[Lisad]

I havn't read the article yet because I am sure to start crying when I do. I went on the Col. Potter Cairn Rescue web site yesterday and viewed all the "Senior" pups awaiting adoption. I am so saddened that a good percentage of those pups are from breeders who never gave their dogs a proper life. Many of these dogs do not know what grass is and have only known cement under their feet. A large majority have never spent much time outside of their cages. Needless to say, I sat there reading the computer screen and bawling my eyes out. Thank God for rescues and for rescuers. Thank God for responsible pet owners and breeders. We will never be able to stop all the abuse (of all animals) but it brings us some relief and joy to hear a few stories with happy endings like the story Hagar shared.

[amyzap]

our Cairn Daisy was rescued from a Puppy Mill in PA. A very nice lady with lots of cash goes around once a year and "buys" off any breeder bitch that the mills are done with. The ones that they are finished with are normally shot. Then she hands all of the dogs over to the rescue org for that breed.

Anytime I hear a story of someone who bought from a back-yard breeder or a pet store I cringe. My dog spent her first 3-5 years in a wire crate so that someone could buy a puppy from a pet store? come on.

It's all about awareness. Anyone who thinks they "rescued" a dog from a pet shop is dead wrong. Its bad.. way bad and until you've seen it first hand you have no idea.

[tena]

Sophie shares history with Daisy, only instead of breed rescue, she ended up in a very high kill pound. Same end result, thankfully, now an adored member of our family.

When I watch the changes just 3 months of decent living conditions have made for her....I get really, really, really angry. I am so mad she spent her life, dirty, hungry, and mistreated. I hate that someone made her afraid. I cry when she is amazed by grass or a falling leaf. A decent meal, a bed, some excersize, and toys...most importantly someone to be her owner, so she can be a pet. Not much to ask. But denied to her so that someone could make a buck. Just can't handle it sometimes.

I buy nothing from pet stores. Nothing.

Tena

[AllAboutPetey]

Belle, age 3, is also a puppy mill rescue. The Colonel Potter volunteers rescued her in Missouri last April, and we adopted her in June. She was considered "breeding stock". Now she is a member of our family. Never, never, never, never buy puppies from a pet store - that is the only way to break the puppy mill cycle. Thanks Liz for posting those articles. Hope they opened some eyes.

[myhoneymoonbaby]

Just to add to this....I have a close friend who got their puppy from a very, VERY, well known and "reputable" breeder.......who 6 months later, was in the papers and sued because that very same breeder got their puppies from a puppy mill! I don't think there is any RIGHT way.

I say this because after I bought my dog, YES AT A PUPPY STORE and was HARRASSED by people for months, insisting I was an idiot to get my dog there. Well, I didn't walk in thinking I was getting a dog, but rather to browse!

While I see their argument and how puppy mill is a nice way of saying "doggy hell"...I look at it as..."Hey, I saved a puppies life from not only a disgusting puppy mill, BUT an over-crowded dog shop!" If I had the resources to SAVE ALL DOGS, I would.

Maybe we lucked out because Vinny is healthy, but the point is, a dog lover, is dog lover!

People that buy from puppy stores, are looking for the same companionship with people that buy from breeders. So when you ask.."Why would someone be stupid enough to buy from a puppy store"? Because maybe they simply "Fell in love with a puppy"

[amyzap]

honestly until I found westie rescue I had no idea the horror that goes on in the "puppy mill world". I try not to be overly preachy on the subject because you are right - if you dont know and buy a puppy from a pet store do you love that dog any less? no way! BUT spreading the awareness is so important and I think its important to tell the story so other people know and understand.

Maybe when it's time to get a companion for your pooch a rescue dog would be the way to go for the 2nd dog.....

[myhoneymoonbaby]

I very much agree!!