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Onya, Sandra, keep fighting the good fight. I agree with the person who said that a puppy is not a 'product'.
I've been trying another action in making people aware of what their choices are in buying a puppy.
I've been targeting the people AFTER they've bought a puppy from a pet-store.
(I'm deliberately replacing my particular breed's real name with 'X'.)
Works like this...I do rescue work for Breed X. We've also set up in our region a Social Group for owners of pet X's so they can socialize the dogs & swap helpful info about behaviour or health or diet or whatever.
When I see an ad for a pet-shop that lists 'Breed X' among the dogs they presently have, I phone that store & ask to speak to the person in charge. Very pleasantly, I tell them how we have a Social Group for Breed X owners which costs nothing but which allows owners to exchange helpful info about their dogs.
And I ask, would they consider passing on the contact details for this Breed X Social Group to anyone who buys an X puppy?
So far, the managers I've spoken to have said it's a good idea & have gone to look at our group's website & then have said they're happy to pass on the contacts to X buyers. One woman said she'd go back in her records to find & notify people who'd brought X's from her store in the past.
Now when those X owners who've bought from petshops link up with other X owners, they learn about all the options & pros & cons of getting an X....including rescue. Then, when they get their second X...they are more widely informed & have more contacts. X's are a small & enchanting breed so people usually go & get a second one.
There's a pattern emerging, SOME people get their first Breed X from a petshop but, with contact socially with X owners, their second X tends to come directly from a breeder or is a rescue. They also pass on these wider options to friends & acquaintances who ask them how they can get an X puppy.
Marie
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Thats great for you to do that! The public really needs to be more educated about puppymills. If I even try to talk about it to my family or whatever, they just think I am nuts.
My sister purchased McKinney (bye :( ) from a pet store. Here is the website of the breeder. What do you think? He came from Missouri too.
As far as I know, there are no Petland stores in Utah. The only pet stores I have purchased supplies from are Petsmart and Petco.
But, there are several pet stores here. The ones closest are called Animal Ark. Is there a way you can find out info about individual pet stores? I asked them once if their pups came from puppymills and they gave me some crap about that, and they did say they came from out of state breeders.
I went into one pet store called Jay's Jungle. There was a beautiful black/white cocker spaniel in there...almost full grown..in a tiny cage. He was howling, filthy, and eating his own poop. They wanted around $600 for him.
