Not sure if you all are familiar with Cabelas?? It is considered to be (was!) a very reputable, quality retail chain, dealing in the sale of sporting goods; not unlike L.L. Bean. I received this email from one of my Lab Yahoo groups. But, it applys to all breeds! Now THIS is a responsible breeder who is outraged at the sale of "pedigree" puppies at "tent" sales held by Cabelas on weekends in the parking lots!!!!!!
Please, do not shop/order from Cabelas and encourage others not to as well. If you can, please just drop a short email to their customer service dept. (link below) to voice your outrage or just to say you will not be shopping there until this practice is stopped. Permission to cross post has been granted.
Why on earth a HUGE retail chain such as Cabelas would have to resort to selling puppies in their parking lot is incomprehensible!!
Here's the email...
----- Original Message -----
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:42 PM
Subject: Puppy Sales
Dear Cabelas Marketing Staff, I am a labrador breeder in Michigan for the
past 18 years and have just learned with horror and disappointment that your
store has started promoting the sale of puppies on certain weekends right in
your parking lot. As a long time breeder and member and officer of the
Huron River Labrador Retriever Club for the past many years, I have worked
very deligently all these years to promote the responsible sale of puppies.
Selling puppies from a parking lot, wherever that parking lot may be,
certainly doesn't fall under that catagory of responsible breeding. I make
a point of screening my buyers very carefully to insure that they will be
loving responsible pet owners. Pet owners who will love, feed, house and do
the necessary veterinary care when their pet should need it. In other
words, I have at least two and many times more meetings with prospective
puppy buyers to get to know them and feel comfortable that they will provide
the kind of home my puppies deserve. I also want to insure that they
understand that if for any reason this puppy, or dog as the case may be,
needs to be placed, then that pet is to be returned to me.
Puppies are living things and as such, can't just be sold off as you would
an item of clothing or gifts or hunting equipment. Promoting the sale of
live animals from your parking lot is promoting the sale of living things in
a careless and irresponsible manner. You are giving the "backyard" breeder
and "puppy mills" an outlet for sales their animals which many times have
been raised in deplorable conditions. The requirement of "papers" is
precious little when selling animals that possibly have not had the
necessary health care, have been raised in a filthy kennel and just
"cleaned-up" for the day to make a good showing at the sale. As
responsible breeders, we have been working hard for years to eliminate the
backyard breeder and especially the puppy mills where puppies are churned
out in unbelievably horrible conditions to be marketed on an unsuspecting
public.
A very important step in the sale of puppies is being left out in this
parking lot tent sale. That is the step when prospective buyers come to
visit the kennel where this puppy has been raised. It is at this step that
the public gets to see the houseing for the dogs, many times at least the
mother of the puppies, other animals living at the same facility and they
get to spend time with the breeders themselves and get a feel for what these
people are like. They also have the opportunity to go home and reflect on
what they have seen and decide if this is the right place to buy a puppy
from. These are VERY important parts in the puppy buying decision that
parking lot sales can not possibly afford the unsuspecting buyer. In the
parking lot, buyers are forced to make quick decisions and to impulse buy
when they had come to Cabelas to shop for clothing, gifts or hunting and
fishing gear, not even thinking of purchasing a puppy.
We all know that puppies are adorable and that alone makes them a very
saleable item. But our question to you, from responsible breeders, is what
happens when this puppy goes home, to a wife that had no idea that her
husband was going to impulse buy a dog? She has a fit, says you're not
bringing that "dog" into my house... so the puppy is put out in a kennel
where he gets little of the attention and love he deserves. These "outdoor"
puppies often get none of the early simple obedience training that make them
good "doggie citizens", so in a matter of months, there is an unruly,
barking dog in that kennel that irritates everyone... especially the
neighbors, who eventually start to complain about all that racket.
Inevitably, this dog ends up in a pound to be destroyed through no fault of
it's own, because you, yes you, Cabelas, and the breeder of this animal were
more interested in the money you could make than the welfare of these
animals.
On behalf of the concerned breeders of labrador retrievers and other breeds
of dogs, we implore you to cease and desist this inhumane and deplorable
method of selling unsuspecting animals, who deserve better. I for one will
not shop in your store until these "puppy sale" weekends have ben
discontinued. And I will tell everyone who will listen what you are doing
and ask them not to shop in your establishment either. Just so you are
aware, this news of your newfound money maker, yes we are aware of the $50
Cabela gift certificates, that must accompany each puppy sale.... this news
is spreading like wildfire across the internet and I would imagine you will
be birraged with emails and letters from angry breeders who are as unhappy
about these puppy sales tactics as I am.
Sincerely,
Annie Cogo
Windfall Labradors
517)546-7722
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