Is it really not a good idea to buy a puppy for a pet store?

[bcla]

I get that there are a lot of reasons why some want purebreds, whether it's popularity or vanity. Sometimes its an assurance that the dog will be a certain size when adult. Many especially want papers, and apparently the AKC says they inspect breeders, but there are accusations that they look the other way with some obvious puppy mills because registration fees are their primary source of income. And buying from a pet store is a way to get that without being subject to invasive and sometimes insulting queries and testing by some breeders and rescue programs. Some people claim to have been blacklisted because their kids did something that they didn't know would be held against them during a visit. Maybe they're well-meaning, but there often doesn't seem to be a good faith attempt for any kind of learning about a dog's needs, but rather a few minutes to gain a superficial understanding about how a family might treat a dog.

 

[Jennasis]

My family got refused a puppy many years ago at the famous North Shore Animal League. After letting my sister and I bond with the puppy we had chosen, they took my mom into a back room for an interview where they grilled her for 1/2 an hour about our family and pet history. They asked if we'd had a dog before (we had) and where was the dog now..my mom explained the dog had been stolen from our yard. The interviewer began grilling her about what we did to try to get the dog back. My mom said the dog found it's way home about a week later. "So where is the dog NOW??" They demanded. The dog nappers came back and stole it again (neighbor witnessed it). The lady jumped up from the table, slamming the chair she was in against the wall and yelled "Well...given this new information, we couldn't possibly consider you for one of our dogs!" and then stormed out.

 

[Magpie]

Just for the record my one dog that stays in Fla due to his age and medical condition I picked up on the side of the road after seeing him thrown from a car. He was malnourished and it took a lot of time and expense to get him well again. He's been a good pet and it feels good to have given him a good life. Our other dog is a very tiny chihuahua that we got from a breeder in Ontario. We take her back and forth we us and she too is a very nice companion and a well traveled dog. I understand the puppy mill thing. But again that doesn't mean you punish the puppy.

Choosing not to perpetuate the problem is not "punishing the puppy".

Besides, if it WAS, then exactly how many thousands of shelter and rescue puppies are you also guilty of "punishing", because you didn't adopt every last one of them?

 

[goofy4tink]

We have our third 'from a breeder' golden retriever. We tried to get a rescue dog...we were denied. After filing out a hugely long application, where we had to provide our vet's phone number, we waited. A week later we were told we couldn't get the dog. Why? We didn't take our indoor cat to the vet every single year!!! When the vet heard this, she just about lost it!!! She has now asked to be called to the phone if any other rescue people call looking for patient info. She was horrified that we were denied.
So, back to a breeder we went. And to be honest? Our current pup is a bit of a mutant! He has had some health issues from the start...an undescended testicle that was up in his stomach, an adult tooth growing out of his hard palate, constant ear issues due to very small canals, stomach issues. I should have known better though...it was a litter of just three pups! And the breeders weren't all that helpful going forward....they pretty much washed their hands of us once we told them of the neutering issues! The odd thing is that the breeder, that we loved but didn't have any pups for us, that recommended this breeder had a very different reaction to undescended testicles...if it didn't drop by the time the dog was neutered, the mother dog would be spayed..it's a genetic defect and needs to be stopped, even if it means a dog not reproducing.
But, we really, really had wanted to adopt a dog...but it was made way too difficult! Because we didn't take our cat to the vet yearly (our dogs go several times a year!!), and we didn't have a fenced in back yard, there were no dogs for us. One has to wonder why there are so many dogs in shelters!!!! NOT!!!

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

We got our first golden retriever at a pet store chain. We were young, walked through, saw her, went to the "love room" and couldn't put her back. So she came home with us and lived with my dh and his parents until we got our house.

We took her to play with his brothers dog about 2 months later. The two played hard and the next day she couldn't walk. We went a different vet then the one our puppy package was with and she was diagnosed with hip dysphasia in both hips at 5 months old. Our new vet was amazing. She went one meds immediately and we monitored her play. As an adult she learned to run differently and lived to the ripe old age of 16, laying down in the backyard and just not waking up. She was an amazing dog, through 3 kids and a new puppy, everyone that ever encountered her couldn't believe how amazing she was.

That being said the puppy store was awful. We called to let them know and they said there was nothing they could do, we could return her and get another dog. I was livid we weren't looking for anything and we wouldn't have dreamed of returning her, so they could put her down! Never again from a puppy store!

 

[wilkeliza]

My family got refused a puppy many years ago at the famous North Shore Animal League. After letting my sister and I bond with the puppy we had chosen, they took my mom into a back room for an interview where they grilled her for 1/2 an hour about our family and pet history. They asked if we'd had a dog before (we had) and where was the dog now..my mom explained the dog had been stolen from our yard. The interviewer began grilling her about what we did to try to get the dog back. My mom said the dog found it's way home about a week later. "So where is the dog NOW??" They demanded. The dog nappers came back and stole it again (neighbor witnessed it). The lady jumped up from the table, slamming the chair she was in against the wall and yelled "Well...given this new information, we couldn't possibly consider you for one of our dogs!" and then stormed out.

Doesn't surprise me about NSAL. We got denied from them as well. Only one that denied us. Every other rescue I have been an automatic yes because I was an Animal Care Technician for the ASPCA so yeah I think it is pretty clear I can be trusted with the care of animals. NSAL was for something stupid like the fact my fiance and I aren't yet married (or engaged then) and we both work 9-5 even though we work in the neighborhood that we live in so going home for lunch to take a dog on a walk is absolutely not big deal. The rescue we finally got our pup through loved us so much they begged us to take our pups brother as well because he needed someone who would be patient with him.

 

[desamnik]

I have read through this entire thread. Just thought I would update my story. DH's co worker had sent him a picture of the Yorkie that he was picking up this weekend from a breeder. We were saying oh she's so cute, wouldn't it be nice to have a puppy. We started looking for breeders and "I" only 'I" briefly thought a pet store might we a quicker way to get a puppy. So...fate worked for us, co worker let us know that the breeder had 1 male left. He wasn't sure why, and gave us her phone #. I called her and, what had happened was a woman had visited w/ the dog over a week ago, said she wanted it, but never came back, called, or left a deposit. So...my dh went to "visit" the puppy Wednesday night, and we are now the proud owners of a non puppy mill pet store baby yorkie! We feel like this puppy was meant for OUR family!!

 

[Shanoops]

Here, it's pretty well known that pet stores get their animals from mills.

Isn't there a pet store in, I want to say Seattle (?) where all dogs come from rescues? I personally don't understand paying hundreds or thousands for an animal but I'm not a pet person so..

There's a small chain here in the Philly area that gets all their cats and dogs from a rescue. They started the conversion process in 2015 and have now converted all their stores over.