# Visited a pet store today.....



## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

I visited a pet store today for the first time in 10-12 years. I was killing time before a meeting and I guess I have masochistic tendencies because I KNEW better.......

Well, sure enough. Two Maltese puppies in there. Just adorable and it broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes and ticked me off all at the same time.

When I asked the clerk where they got their animals, she said breeders in Oklahoma. They had pugs, chihuahuas, maltese, Lhasa's and other breeds and there was a grandmother with two small boys selecting a chihuahua. I can certainly see what a huge undertaking it is to try to shut down puppymills when these pet stores put these furbabies out in the public eye for sale like that. The cages were glass front with wire floors and each had a 15" x 15" perforated rubber mat to curl up on. On mat had feces on it and the puppy was curled up on the wire grating instead. Another cage had 2 puppies and only one mat. 

I can see where it is all but impossible to turn your back on these puppies when you see them in there. You want to buy every one of them to "save" them from the pet store. It made me angry to have to harden my heart like that and walk away.

Anyway, my own fault for getting into the situation to begin with. I just had to unload some of my hurt and I know you all understand. I'll never do it again. I'll stick with PetsMart and Petco from now on.


----------



## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

i think peta.org had an email address where you can send someone an email about a petstore that is performing animal cruelty or something. i'll try looking for it.


----------



## Maxismom (Mar 24, 2004)

There is one on 63rd and lexington nyc and i go in there sometimes and look , call me crazy but i just dont have a problem when people buy from pet stores , my way of thinking is every animal needs a home and regardless of where they came from they need to be loved too
i am now convinced my Maxi came from a puppymill , yes i have the papers , yes i spent 1700 on him, and yes the place i got him from claims they have a few breeders that work with them and Maxi came from a breeder but my point is he is a beauitful baby and i take excellent care of him, nothing is to much for my furbaby and my vets receptionist said to me no one takes care of there animal like you do which i thought was a nice thing to say........my point is that whether they do or not if the owner takes good care of them than they stand a chance
im tired of reading all this negativity about pet stores because it scares people away from buying these poor pups........im not promoting them by any means but i also dont think its the problem.........some stores down in nyc take excellent care


----------



## kit001 (Jul 6, 2003)

I agree with MOST of what you said Maxismom. But I also understand why everyone is down on petstores and why they say you need to "harden your heart" but at the same time, my Morgan would have been put down very soon if I hadn't gotten him out of the petstore and the same, my vet never blinked an eye when they knew I had bought him froma petstore. He simply couldnt' get over how healthy and happy he was and how SPOILED! lol He was shocked when he asked who did all of his grooming and I said I did. He said it was a wonderufl job and he actually said he was glad that Morgan had found a good home. 

My feelings are very simple, if you leave the puppy in the store and he isnt' bought, he surely will be put down, and then another one will just fill his spot. I knew Morgan had been in that terrible cage for 6 months and I am sorry, but I DID CRY. I even went so far as to DEMAND to my husband that we buy him! (In 25 years of marriage I had NEVER done such a thing, but there was just something telling me I had to have him and get him out of there) His price had dropped drastically and he was six months old, I knew what was next if someone didnt' buy him and I had wanted a maltese for so long. So it was a good opportunity for the both of us. I held him and it was instant love for both of us. I dont' and won't regret taking him out of there. The happiest part of the whole story is, they are now closed down for sanitation reasons and they replaced the store with a salon, NO MORE PET STORE!


----------



## Maxismom (Mar 24, 2004)

Hey listen i don't promote bad people which is anyone who mistreats an animal..........Like your Morgan, my Maxi is my life i adore this furbaby and he will always be taken care of but how about all the poor babies that arent. I understand the negativity in regard to pet stores but i still feel that people need to buy these babies and give them a loving home
its the puppymills that need to be stopped and thats up to law enforcement agencies to crack down on this
but in our life time its not going to happen so in the meantime we need to save these babies........I will say other than some colds and minor things Maxi is healthy, happy and beautiful , he has a beautiful disposition
and looks to boot, everywhere i go people stop me and comment about his gorgeous face.........I did not know anything about anything before i bought maxi i bought him on a whim...The place i had heard about which is breeders pick in hartsdale i thought were breeders they operate out of a house like place off of a main shopping avenue so when you go in there you think you are dealing with breeders 
in any event i knew alot of people that have gone there and purchased there pets.............Now of course i am educated but i have no regrets because i adore maxi and im glad he is mine
i look alot when i am by pet stores and although i love all the puppies none of them grabbed my heart like Maxi
so i guess to each his own


----------



## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




----------



## kit001 (Jul 6, 2003)

I couldn't agree with both of you anymore than I already do. Like I said, if you dont' buy th epuppy, they will surely put him down and another puppy will just be put in his place.

And yes, to think of the cruelty of some unscrupulous breeder who is only worried about the money and not the LIFE he is screwing with is just about as low as anyone can go.

I've said it more times than I can count, they need to regulate breeders in some way or another, for instance, my mother ran a day care center at one time, the State came in every six months or so, not to mention the Fire marshall and a building inspector and she had to meet certain standards before she could get her license and open her doors. Are these little ones less of a living being than children and dont' deserve the same?


----------



## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




----------



## kit001 (Jul 6, 2003)

I know exactly what you mean about the vet thing. They had the same deal going with a vet here ,so I am leaning towards it is a money thing and not so much that the vet wants them to get the best. I took Morgan, like an idiot to this guy, even though I had my own vet whom I adore, but did it anyway (and swore never to go back again). I simply hated the nurse. I wanted to smack her a couple of times. She was hurting him and you could see it and I said something, out of a reflex thing, it just slipped out of my mouth, and she got snippy and said, "all these small breeds are whinney and cry babies, you have to stand your ground with them" That really infuriated me.


----------



## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




----------



## Maxismom (Mar 24, 2004)

Vets are just as bad they charge up the kazoo you have no idea how much i have spent already i go to this vet because he is down the block from me the place is so clean and they run it like a real hospital the vets are top notch but it still annoys me that they charge so much so they are in it the same way as all the othe rmoney hungry brokers
but until something happens this is what we have to ocntend with
we arentgoing to change anything as much as we would like too
like i said don't think i promote or condone this because i dont
but our repsonsibility as pet lovers is to give these furbabies a loving home and i have done that Maxi is safe and loved
and everyone on this site from what i can tell cares the same way


----------



## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

i think i mentioned this before---but i think sprite and ellie are from a puppymill---but im still not sure. anyway, the lady i met asked me all these questions (basically interviewed me) and then she was like 'ok, you sound responsible...blah blah blah' and sold me sprite. when i went back 7 months later...she remembered me. asked me how i was doing in school and wanted to see how trained sprite was. i called her again recently for her address to send pics (its been a year)--and she was like "i remember you saying that sprite and ellie didnt get along, how has it been". she remembers everything, its crazy. but it still upsets me that sprite and ellie are from another state(missouri). 

i dont like petstores--its sad that the dogs die---but if people never bought dogs from petstores, then puppy mills would stop sending dogs there. 

at the peta.org site, they have pics of how dogs are killed at shelters and pounds. they'll cram like 15 dogs into a box and kill them with carbon monoxide. its the most disgusting thing ever---and its government owned!

anyway, cynthia(my sister) and i are thinking that in a year or two of maybe getting a 4th dog. a great pyrenees. and we've decided that we want to rescue one from a shelter. i hate and love the whole puppy experience---but im leaning a little towards an adult that i dont have to housebreak! :wacko:


----------



## pico's parent (Apr 5, 2004)

I wasn't thinking very clearly when I initiated this topic but certainly had I been I would have expected this kind of dual-sided response.









I just believe, knowing business as I do, that if every present Maltese owner got up on their soapbox every now and then (and especially when someone says oh-how-darling-what-is-she-a-maltese-i-want-one) and campaigns against petstores and educates about puppymills, then fewer people would go to a petstore for a Maltese.

Then when the petstore has to put down a couple of Maltese (I'm not sure that's what they do) because Maltese don't sell, they will stop buying Maltese from the puppymill because they are losing money by buying inventory that they can't sell.

Now before you scream at me about the casual way I wrote "put down a couple of Maltese", realize that somewhere far away where you can't see the darling face and the bare gums and the breast tumors and 24 hour a day cage life, etc. is a Momma Maltese who is being given hormones to make her produce more litters more often. And a male being given Viagra to keep him at stud longer and more frequently. And both are fed low quality food, given little attention except at mating and birthing time and rarely do their little bodies feel a loving touch, get a cuddle, chase a ball or get a nap-lap much less play on the grass in the sunshine or get a peanut butter Kong or a pupcorn treat. All of the things we do for our furbabies, the Momma and Dad NEVER get. They are treated like dirt used to grow crops until they go fallow and then what?

So yes, it hurts terribly to harden my heart in a petstore, but it hurts even more to see 250 dogs in just one puppymill who live the way I described above. How civilized are we to allow this kind of mistreatment of man's best friend? And we allow it when we support it and we support it when we knowingly buy a puppymill pet. And before I got Pico and became more educated (after the fact) I could have easily bought from a petstore in ignorant bliss. But I know more now and knowing what I know simply can't do it.

Puppymills and petstores just love the people who buy from them to "save the puppy". They LOVE you! You keep them in mansions and big cars and you keep their business thriving and the profits streaming in.

Ouch! Who threw that piece of rotten fruit at me? Ok, I'm outta here


----------



## ilove_d&m (Apr 7, 2004)

> _Originally posted by doctorcathy_@May 27 2004, 08:28 AM
> *i dont like petstores--its sad that the dogs die---but if people never bought dogs from petstores, then puppy mills would stop sending dogs there. *


I totally agree with you!!!


----------



## ilove_d&m (Apr 7, 2004)

Pico's Parent....I couldt agree with you more.

Very well said.


----------



## kit001 (Jul 6, 2003)

Sorry, I only half heartedly agree. I totally understand it all, I do, but those puppies ARE put down and it isn't just Maltese. (ALL breeds) And when those pups dont' sell for one reason or other, they put them down and THEN GET A NEW BATCH FROM THE PUPPY MILLS. This is why they need to regulate this crap. Like I said before, those dogs, I am not just talking about the puppies, I am referring to ALL OF THEM, need to be treated right and the only way that is going to happen is through regulating the breeding & breeders. I see it as, no matter if you buy them for the pet stores or not, it is just going to keep going in that vicous circle until regulations and laws are put into place. A person should not have to feel guilty for saving a puppy from a short cruel life in a cage. And I dont' feel that it is a "few maltese"...every puppy counts, no matter the breed or where they came from. I wouldnt' carry that attitude of a small child, I surely look at a little puppy in the same light, just because it isn't human doesn't make in any less important or it's life less valuable. Sorry, but that is my feeling and I can't help it.


----------



## TikisMom (Jul 22, 2003)

I have to say Kit001 you took the words out of my mouth. I have been following this topic each time it comes up. It is the laws and regulations that need to be changed and inforced! 

Judi


----------



## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




----------

