Petland

**anna_66** · 08-16-2002, 08:58 AM

I've been meaning to post this for the last week, but you know...

When we went to Cincinnati to the aquarium, we also went to the Florence Mall in Florence, Ky.. Of course, they had a pet store and Ashley really wanted to go in. I see the name "Petland", this sounds really familiar, where have I heard this before? Pet Talk? Yes, I think so, I think this is the one Sandra was talking about in Cape Cod.
Anyway, we go in, what cute puppies (of course). The cages were pretty dirty, they had no food or water and were just laying lifeless. Oh how sorry I felt for them, and to think of the mills they came from.
Let me get on with it.....they had a beautiful Mastiff with the tiger-like markings (can't remember what it's called), and this is the kind of dog Mark wants to get whenever our Angie-boy passes. So I just wanted to ask how much they wanted for it, just to get a idea. "Oh, let me go get him out for you", and before I could say no, she was bringing the brute out.
What a sweetheart, and no more laying around all this dog wanted to do was play and chew on Ashley's purse! The saleswoman (Loretta was her name) kept saying "Oh, you need this dog, your daughter (Ashley) really wants this dog". Oh, why don't you just hit us over the head and steal our wallets already! She was SOOOOOOOO pushy, wouldn't leave us alone. So finally Mark told her no, we did not want this beautiful dog. And Loretta asks "why?" So to be polite he says because it's a girl and he only wants a boy (which is true, but we wouldn't take this dog even if it had been a boy) and it's $1199, on sale, $100 off! What a bargan! When she finally had to take her, she acted really po'd! Can you believe this, she said "Well, you could buy her and have just one litter, she would pay for herself and you could get a boy too." OMG! The nerve of her! Now I see why just everyone is letting their dog have puppies. What idiots!
Well, needless to say this made both me and Mark mad, but what's the use to say anything, it won't change a thing (us getting mad at her, she just works there, but what a sucky attitude to have, just make her have puppies
I'm sorry this is so long, but I just thought I'd tell you about it. People are soooo stupid.

**Daisylover** · 08-16-2002, 11:01 AM

Yes, Petland has a bad reputation among animal rescuers but the public seems to be unaware even though they can see for themselves how neglected the animals are. There is an animal rights group in Toledo the once or twice a month stands in front of the Toledo store with signs urging people not to go in to the store. I have no idea if they are successful of not but they continue their protest.

They really need to be put out of business or clean up their act but it would take a large organized effort and I don't think enough people care and so they stay in business. It's a very sad situation.

**NoahsMommy** · 08-16-2002, 06:23 PM

That was very rude of her, firstly to you and your family, lastly to this poor animal. It sounds as though she wanted her commission badly!

We used to have a different pet store in our local mall. My husband (when we first met) and I were there one day, visiting the cute animals. There was a really trashy couple, with loud-mouthed children buying a golden lab and rotwieler puppies. While the sales lady was on the phone verifing credit...the kids were sitting on the carriers banging the tops and sides yelling "puppy, puppy!!!". I was so mad...unfortunatly, I was too young and dumb to say anything...I wish I would have...the sales lady didn't seem to care at all. Poor dogs...

**Heather Wallace** · 08-20-2002, 03:15 PM

Anna

I think that pet shops should be banned from selling animals. here in the uk I dont think shops can sell cats or dogs anymore, i havent seen one that does for years. Good thing really!

***LabLoverKEB*** · 08-23-2002, 10:42 PM

Poor things!

***LabLoverKEB*** · 08-23-2002, 10:58 PM

Here are some pictures I found, of those horrible, awful puppy mills.

***LabLoverKEB*** · 08-23-2002, 11:07 PM

Test

***LabLoverKEB*** · 08-24-2002, 01:30 PM

Hundreds of thousands of puppies are raised each year in puppy mills.

Mills are distinguished by their cramped, crude, filthy conditions and the constant breeding of unhealthy and genetically defective dogs solely for profit.

Very often the dogs in puppy mills are covered with matted, filthy hair, their teeeth are rotting and their eyes have ulcers. We have seen many dogs whose jaws have rotted because of tooth decay.

The dogs are kept in small wire cages for their entire lives. They never are allowed out. They never touch solid ground or grass.

Many of the dogs are injured in fights that occur in the cramped cages from which there is no escape.

Many dogs lose feet and legs when they are caught in the wire floors of the cages and cut off as the dog struggles to free themselves.

Very often there is no heat or airconditioning in a puppymill. The dogs freeze in the winter and die of heat stroke in the summer. Puppies "cook" on the wires of the cages in the summer.

Female dogs are usually bred the first time they come into heat and are bred every heat cycle. They are breed until their poor worn out bodies can't reproduce any longer abnd then they are killed. Often they are killed by being bashed in the head with a rock or shot. Sometimes they are sold to laboratories or dumped. This is often by the time they reach five years old.

Puppy mills and pet stores maximize their profits by not spending money on proper food, housing or veterinary care.

The food that is fed in puppy mills is often purchased from dog food companies by the truck load. It is often made of the sweepings from the floor. It is so devoid of nutritional value that the dogs' teeth rot at early ages.

Dogs in puppymills are debarked often by ramming a steel rod down their throats to reputure their vocal cords.

Puppies are taken from their mother when they are 5 to 8 weeks old and sold to brokers who pack them in crates for resale to pet stores all over the country.

The puppies are shipped by truck or plane and often without adequate food, water, ventilation or shelter.

Many of the puppies do not survive the trip.

Innocent families buy the puppies only to find that the puppy is very ill or has genetic or emotional problems. Often the puppies die of disease. Many other have medical problems that cost thousands of dollars. And many have emotional problems because they have not been properly socialized in the mills. Don't bring this misery into your home.

Many of the 4000 federally licensed breeding kennels have substandard conditions.

Approximately 3,500 petstores in the United States sell puppies. They sell approximately 500,000 thousand puppies a year. It is estimated that the puppy industry in Missouri is valued at 40 million dollars a year. The puppy industry in one county in Pennsylvania, Lancaster, is valued at 4 million dollars a year.

There are seven states that are known as puppymill states because they have the majority of the puppymills in the country. They are: Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

There is federal law, the Animal Welfare Act, and many states have laws that purport to regulate puppymills but the fact is that those laws are rarely enforced.

Our research has shown that 98% of the puppies sold in petstores come from facilities that we consider to be puppymills. Petstores often tell customers that their puppies come from local breeders or quality breeders. Don't believe them, ask to see the paperwork and find out where the puppies really come from. We even heard about a sign in a Massachusetts petstore that said their puppies were lovingly raised in homes in Missouri. Those puppies actually came from the notorious Do-Bo-Tri in Missouri - a puppymill that has been cited numerous times for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

If the people of the United States refused to buy a puppy in a petstore, the misery of puppy mills would end. Please tell everyone you know about puppymills and the petstore connection.

(I copied and pasted this from a site)

I hope this helps!

**turner** · 08-24-2002, 02:29 PM

We have several Petlands here and I totally refuse to even buy a toy from there. They claim to get their cats/dogs from breeders, ya the "PUPPYMILL BREEDER".

If you ask them which breeder the dog came from....well they don't have an answer for you or they tell you "I can't give out that information, its private" Yep, I bet it is PRIVATE cause if half of the people that buy dogs from there found out where they really came from, I don't think (or would like to think) they would purchase one.

**Andie** · 08-24-2002, 04:32 PM

We have a pet store around here but they don't sell cats or dogs just birds, snakes, lizards, and fish but when I went to St. Louis recently we went in a pet store but the animals in there were from animal control. Dad was actually going to get a couple of Lab puppies but at the time we didn't have the money. I wanted their Mastiff but I wasn't allowed to bu him becuase it was too big a dog to have to deal with in our packed Tahoe and besides it would have been a 3 hr drive (with few stops, you know how men are on trips) so I didn't think it would have been fair to the dog.

**lovemymaltese** · 08-26-2002, 02:50 PM

We have a Pet Land in Macon Georgia, I have seen dirty cages sometimes, but they are usually clean and the employees are nice and knowledgable. I guess the Pet Land in Macon is a rarity.

**lovemymaltese** · 08-26-2002, 02:51 PM

That puppy mill picture is so sad. I had a friend get a puppy from a situation like that and he was starved almost to death. It took forever to fatten him up and to get him to warm to human touch.

**tikeyas_mom** · 03-24-2004, 05:31 PM

we used to have a petland here in Kelowna BC, but it got shut down.. dont know why really. they didnt sell puppies or kitties. they sold reptiles and rodents and fish... o and birds... I kinda remeber it..

**lv4dogs** · 03-25-2004, 09:21 AM

Oh my gosh, I am glad I wasn't there (or am I?) I would of spoke my mind & loud enough for everyone to hear (I do this all the time), I would of explained all about the puppy mills, the way they are treated & breed, ussually have health problems, the fact that you can get a way better dog at a private professional brreder for less money, the fact that so many are waiting in shelters, oh I go on & on & on & on.

**guster girl** · 03-25-2004, 11:21 AM

Well, I'm certainly not sticking up for Petland as a whole. But, I will share a bit of positivity. I worked at the one in Lewisville, about ten minutes from Carrollton, where I live now. I do know, that at the time I was there, no one ever told anyone to breed the puppies. They were all told to advocate spaying and neutering, that these were pet dogs, not show or breeding animals. So, I think a lot of it has to do with the manager and/or the employees. I also know that I got my cat from Petland after I stopped working there (actually got fired because I missed too many days), and, he did come from a breeder that has a website about their facilities. But, I also know that they do get a lot, if not all, of their pups, from Hunte Corp, which I was unaware of the nastiness of the puppy mill business at that point. And, I will say this as well. When I worked there, we all had to keep track of how often a puppy was played with in the course of a day. If a puppy had been played with a lot and was sleepy, they would refuse for people to let them play with them. Or if a dog, for whatever reason, hadn't received a lot of attention, they would tell customers looking just to play with a puppy, or the employees or manager would get the pup out and play with them. Granted, they were in cages when not played with, but, no different than a crate. They always had fresh water bottles, and, small pawed dogs either had blankets or small beds. All of the dogs had rubber mats that they layed on. Cleaning up poo and pee was a HUGE deal at that particular store. It never stayed in the cage for more than a minute or so. I remember specifically thinking that you couldn't smell puppy or anything behind the cages when you went back there. They cleaned their ears out daily, clipped their nails when necessary, bathed when necessary, etc. I also know that they were very cautious with who played with the puppies and were very demanding when it came to the puppies safety. I know I sat in the socialization rooms with kids and dogs all the time to make sure they were gentle, and, so, did all the other employees. I can't say the same for all Petlands, because as far as I know, they are privately owned, so, it's up to the owner and manager how things are run. And, I also can no longer speak for the Petland I worked at. I did get Lock (my bengal) from there, and, I would have preferred to get him elsewhere, but, we fell in love. My boyfriend buys rats for his snake there, and, that's the only reason we were in there to begin with, and, the only reason we go in there anymore. Anyway, just my two cents.