Today on my lunch hour I visited a newly opened pet store (regional chain, not a national chain) that had puppies for sale in closed compartments behind plexiglass on wire flooring, with AT LEAST 2 days worth of soiled newspapers beneath the wire bottoms. The store is advertised as open, however their official grand opening will be this weekend, so they are still in preparation stages. This is no excuse for the filth in the cages . . . shelves were well stocked and there were plenty of employees milling around (in fact two asked if they could help me) who should have been attending to the welfare of these dogs . . . some had no water, one had 2 toys and another was up and alert but had not one toy to play with. I mentioned to one of the guys about this . . . could he please throw a toy in for the puppy that was without . . . he shot back that "they" are cleaning the cages and will attend to it . . . excuse me, but NO ONE was cleaning ANY cages during my 45 minute visit.

All the puppies were purebreeds (according to their individual cage signs) except one gorgeous girl who was a mix of collie, lab and cocker. I talked up one of the employees (who may have been the manager) about this dog . . . he said all the puppies are from "their breeders", and sometimes a breeder's dogs will get out, so this is the result . . . Can you imagine?? I guess this guy took me for a pushover . . . but the real atrocity is that this mixed breed puppy had a price tag of . . . are you ready?? . . . $399.00. I can't imagine that they will sell this puppy at their absurd price, but I'll tell you this . . . if I could afford it I would take the dog just to save it from that place . . . the purebreds will get sold for that kind of money . . . several already had "SOLD" stickers on their plexiglass, and the store has only been opened for a few days.

The guy then asked if I wanted to meet the puppy, and he explained that this meant I could only hold it and not put it down, because the get-acquainted-with-our-puppies area was not partitioned off yet. I told the guy that the puppy has excrement on her ears and feet, and his reply was "lol, she just needs a bath" . . . I guess her filthy cage bottom was invisible to him!!

Before I spoke with the employee, I knelt down and was talking to the dog, and when I put my hand up to the plexiglass, she kept rubbing against it and looking up with wagging tail; she couldn't understand how come my hand was there, but she wasn't being petted . . . . . . it was so sad . . .

I just want to do SOMETHING and don't know where to begin . . . should I report the store to . . . ?? Should I picket their "Grand Opening"? They are advertising the local celebrities that will make appearances . . . should I try to contact each and ask them if they would reconsider and boycott?

I just had to share this with you . . . sorry it is so lengthy . . . any suggestions on how I could make a difference would be appreciated. How I wish it was unlawful to sell dogs in pet stores . . . there are so many in shelters waiting eagerly for a home.