I know I have told you guys this story in some form in various threads, but wanted to share my experience here in detail. I hope this is useful for members looking for a puppy.
The husband and I had been talking for months about getting a puppy. Then, when my husband was away for a month and I had nothing to do, I started looking into places to get puppies. My first target was Yelp, as it usually is for anything. My search was for, 'Pet Stores' in Los Angeles. I was very surprised to find most pet stores DON'T infact sell puppies. This was very surprising to me at that time. Finally, I found a store that sold puppies. I also saw they had really, really bad reviews. When I read the reviews most of them said, "Pet store puppies come from mills, these guys are bad" etc. I rationalized I am not gonna listen to these hippie dippie people and went to the store anyway.
And boy was I happy. They had so many puppies in there, all so cute. I chose a maltipoo and they put him in a small room where I could play with him. I was in love! He was the cutest puppy ever. I even chose a name for him, "Suvé". I put a deposit because my husband wasn't back yet and I know I couldn't take care of the puppy by myself. Then I went back home and started researching raising puppies obsessively. While I was doing that I ended up reading more about puppy mills. That's when I realized what an idiot I was for ignoring the Yelp reviews. So I went back to the store and asked for my money back. Well no surprise they didn't return me my money. And what's even worse, I knew Suvé would probably be euthanized now if no one bought him soon. That was definitely the hardest part about this. But I tried to forget about it.
Next I googled 'breeders' and found this one 'family owned pet store'. Now this place had better Yelp reviews so I decided to go visit them. This place had about 20 puppies, maltese and yorkies. Cuteness overload! I even picked a puppy I wanted. He was the cutest pup ever. White little ball of fluff, very feisty, wanted to push all the puppies from my lap to make space for himself. The owners clicked a lot of pics for me and I put a deposit on him again! Thankfully, my husband still wasn't back so I couldn't bring the puppy home yet.
Then I came home and started doing maltese specific research. That's when I found Spoiled Maltese. I read a post about how no reputable breeder would let a puppy go before 12 weeks. My puppy was 8 weeks old. This rang a bell. I spent the next few hours reading up about quality breeders and realized my puppy's breeder was a BYB! I think this was the hardest decision to make. I called my husband and talked to him and we decided to not get this puppy. Luckily, these people returned me 50% of my deposit. Still, I was heartbroken about not getting my puppy.
Thanks to Spoiled Maltese, I ended up finding a great breeder and that's where Gustave came from. But it does make me frustrated when I hear people use lame excuses to get puppy mill/BYB puppies even after finding out the truth —
Money: I am not rich, I lost a lot of money but I realized I could think about my money now and spend even more in medical bills later. That wasn't even an issue though. I work really hard to earn money. There is no way I am funding animal cruelty with my hard earned money. That is my biggest objection.
Getting attached to the puppy: Don't even get me started on this. I still think about both those puppies. I know how hard it is. But saving yourself heartache is not a good excuse to put animals through horrible conditions at puppymills. How can you love one dog if you are supporting cruelty to thousands?
Saving a puppy: No, no one becomes a hero by saving one pup at the cost of many, many other pups living life in ****. You're not a hero, just a disillusioned human being, move on.
I know you guys know all this. Yet, whenever we tell new members about perils of getting a pet store puppy I have often heard the argument, "Well, you wouldn't know!" which is why I wanted to post my story. I do know! I know how hard it is. It is still a lot easier than the alternative. The right thing might be hard to do at that moment, but you will never regret it in the long term .
The husband and I had been talking for months about getting a puppy. Then, when my husband was away for a month and I had nothing to do, I started looking into places to get puppies. My first target was Yelp, as it usually is for anything. My search was for, 'Pet Stores' in Los Angeles. I was very surprised to find most pet stores DON'T infact sell puppies. This was very surprising to me at that time. Finally, I found a store that sold puppies. I also saw they had really, really bad reviews. When I read the reviews most of them said, "Pet store puppies come from mills, these guys are bad" etc. I rationalized I am not gonna listen to these hippie dippie people and went to the store anyway.
And boy was I happy. They had so many puppies in there, all so cute. I chose a maltipoo and they put him in a small room where I could play with him. I was in love! He was the cutest puppy ever. I even chose a name for him, "Suvé". I put a deposit because my husband wasn't back yet and I know I couldn't take care of the puppy by myself. Then I went back home and started researching raising puppies obsessively. While I was doing that I ended up reading more about puppy mills. That's when I realized what an idiot I was for ignoring the Yelp reviews. So I went back to the store and asked for my money back. Well no surprise they didn't return me my money. And what's even worse, I knew Suvé would probably be euthanized now if no one bought him soon. That was definitely the hardest part about this. But I tried to forget about it.
Next I googled 'breeders' and found this one 'family owned pet store'. Now this place had better Yelp reviews so I decided to go visit them. This place had about 20 puppies, maltese and yorkies. Cuteness overload! I even picked a puppy I wanted. He was the cutest pup ever. White little ball of fluff, very feisty, wanted to push all the puppies from my lap to make space for himself. The owners clicked a lot of pics for me and I put a deposit on him again! Thankfully, my husband still wasn't back so I couldn't bring the puppy home yet.
Then I came home and started doing maltese specific research. That's when I found Spoiled Maltese. I read a post about how no reputable breeder would let a puppy go before 12 weeks. My puppy was 8 weeks old. This rang a bell. I spent the next few hours reading up about quality breeders and realized my puppy's breeder was a BYB! I think this was the hardest decision to make. I called my husband and talked to him and we decided to not get this puppy. Luckily, these people returned me 50% of my deposit. Still, I was heartbroken about not getting my puppy.
Thanks to Spoiled Maltese, I ended up finding a great breeder and that's where Gustave came from. But it does make me frustrated when I hear people use lame excuses to get puppy mill/BYB puppies even after finding out the truth —
Money: I am not rich, I lost a lot of money but I realized I could think about my money now and spend even more in medical bills later. That wasn't even an issue though. I work really hard to earn money. There is no way I am funding animal cruelty with my hard earned money. That is my biggest objection.
Getting attached to the puppy: Don't even get me started on this. I still think about both those puppies. I know how hard it is. But saving yourself heartache is not a good excuse to put animals through horrible conditions at puppymills. How can you love one dog if you are supporting cruelty to thousands?
Saving a puppy: No, no one becomes a hero by saving one pup at the cost of many, many other pups living life in ****. You're not a hero, just a disillusioned human being, move on.
I know you guys know all this. Yet, whenever we tell new members about perils of getting a pet store puppy I have often heard the argument, "Well, you wouldn't know!" which is why I wanted to post my story. I do know! I know how hard it is. It is still a lot easier than the alternative. The right thing might be hard to do at that moment, but you will never regret it in the long term .