Pet store dogs

[Aimeedyan]

I did not buy my dog from a pet shop chain, but from a local SMALL village store. There was no reordering because I bought Max, there was just one less jackrat running around the pen in the middle of the store. This store doesn't always carry dogs. Sometimes they have them, sometimes they don't.

Like I've said earlier, we put over a year of thought into this purchase, and months of serious thought when we were looking. I found our dog when I went in to buy finch food.

He's loved and he loves us. End of story!

You may have said this earlier, but what the heck is a jackrat? Do you mean a Jack Russell Terrier - Rat Terrier mix? Or some other mix?

 

[Magic Mom]

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There are a million and one reasons why somebody may not be able to adopt from a shelter. Some shelters have incredibly unnecessary restrictions (must have a backyard, no small children, etc.) that keep people from adopting. Others make the process so long and drawn out that people give up (as a pp has mentioned).

When we were looking into rescue dogs, we found that a lot of the rescues wouldn't adopt to military families. When I found Max, I practically had to beg them to let us adopt him, because we were military. At that point if they had said no, I was ready to move on to a breeder instead. So I can understand that rescue/shelters aren't for everyone.

 

[TLSnell1981]

This thread really took a nasty turn early. Some folks aren't happy unless they being mean.

 

[Montana Minnies]

I love my Cockapoo he's sweet, very loving and I wouldn't trade him for anything. He didn't cost me anymore than my beagle did and he's very smart and such a big baby.

That is good to know as I got a cockapoo in June and he is now 6 months old. My parents & I have had cockerspaniels and poodles before so I thought this might be a good type of dog to have.
I live with my 89 year old mother and she has a 12 year old cockerspaniel. ( I got him for her after my dad passed away and she thinks the world of that dog.) Yes, he was purchased from a pet store. He was somewhat hyper as a pup, but has calmed down much as he got older. I also had a minature schauzner and a peekapoo that were 9 & 6 years old when they passed away last year. Very sad for me. Yes, I got them also at a pet store, but it was a local one whereas the cockerspaniel was bought about 200 miles from where we live. I found an ad over the internet from someone who lived close to us and corresponded with her, recieved pictures of the cockapoo and saw him before I purchased him. I also saw his mother ( who was the cockerspaniel), the poodle I didn't see other than a picture of him. He seems rather large for a cockerspaniel/poodle.
I was wondering how big your Cockapoo dog is as I was thinking ours would get to be about the size of my minature schauzner.
Both my mother & I are dog & cat people so even if he ends up being bigger than what I wanted, we will love him anyway. ( My dog & cat are my kids. )

 

[froggy5657]

The poor puppy mill puppies.

They are normally very disease prone and often have many medical issues.

Buy from a trusted breeder, and DO NOT SUPPORT PUPPY MILLS

 

[sunnyday123]

Yes indeed

I am a HUGE animal lover. I have one adopted pug as well. I'm big on adoption, but the insults toward hockeymom are just wrong!

My third pug came from a pet store in a mall.

A FM told me she had noticed her sitting in there for 2 months. I went in and looked at her and noticed she was $500 off due to an umbilical (sp?) hernia. I guess people were put off by that and no one would buy her.

Well *I* did !!!!!

What else was going to happen to her if I didn't? Gee-I guess I saved her life.

Some people really need to get a grip and not be so quick to judge. Everyone has their reasons for the pet they have. And I agree that those puppy mills are sickening.
If that animal that is chosen is loved and well cared for, that's all that matters. As long as people keep breeding them, these animals still need loving homes, as well as shelter animals.

THANK YOU! Like I said before, I got my lab from a backyard breeder. Had no idea what that was at the time, ended up spending thousands at the vet. Wouldn't change a thing, and if I had the chance to do it all over again, I would. She was the best dog I've ever had.
There is no right or wrong in this debate when it comes to the owners.
The pet stores, and puppy mills need to be judged, not someone who finds a puppy at a store, gives it a good home and takes care of it.
Shut the stores & mills down. Write to your congressman. Pickett or have a sit in. Just don't be mean and judge people willing to give an animal a home and love.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Just don't be mean and judge people willing to give an animal a home and love.

 

[teskak]

Agreed

The reputable breeder will never want to hear of thier dogs being in a shelter. They will take them back and try to rehouse where possible.

Or one I know of unfortunately became damaged and was aggressive to male dogs & most men. He was taken back to live the rest of his natural life with the breeder and indeed had the best retirement of all. After losing his 'jewellery' his job was to be companion to the female show dogs in heat While nothing could be produced, there was a whole lot of loving going on

 

[#1hockeymom]

You may have said this earlier, but what the heck is a jackrat? Do you mean a Jack Russell Terrier - Rat Terrier mix? Or some other mix?

He's a JRT and a Rat Terrier mix. He's less than 15 pounds, all very short Rat Terrier fur, and I'd say a personality of both. He's all white with giant brown/tan spots.

We fell in love with him before we knew what he was. I ended up going home, googling, then coming back later that day to take him home.

Thank you to everyone for your support and for understanding my side of this arguement. I don't believe in puppy mills, either. I think they are horrible. My dog didn't come from a puppy mill. He also isn't AKC, which seems to have another group up in arms. He's a great dog. He's funny, loving, smart, and a great member of our family.

 

[Nana Annie]

He also isn't AKC, which seems to have another group up in arms. He's a great dog. He's funny, loving, smart, and a great member of our family.

I am an ancient show dog person, but I am also of the growing group of people who realize that while we show people breed to better our breed, we cannot possibly keep up with the demand for pet quality family members.

We cannot complain about people buying from petshops and backyard breeders if we also make it almost impossible to get a puppy from a responsible breeder.

So, the solution is to mentor backyard breeders in raising litters responsibly.

So, a responsible breeder does not have to have AKC dogs. They could be your JackRats or, even though it makes me shudder, Golden Doodles.

BUT...A responsible breeder will....

1) do all the health certifications before they put a litter on the ground. That means hips, eyes, elbows, cardiac, thyroid, addison's disease, and any and all diseases that are common to the parents' breed(s) need to be checked before they breed the dog.

2) not breed two dogs just for profit. There has to be a well thought out reason for breeding two dogs together before doing it.

3) make sure all puppies, whether AKC or not, are sold on a spay/neuter contract and follow up to make sure it is done. Or do early spay/neuters before the puppies even leave their home.

4) keep the puppies until they are actually ready to leave. That means no puppy goes to a new home before 8 weeks, preferably 12 weeks.

5) know the history of the dogs they are breeding. Does the cocker they are breeding to the poodle have a history of temperament issues? Cockers, due to overbreeding by puppy mills have had their temperaments notoriously ruined. A good breeder will not breed a dog with a questionable temperament just to create a litter for profit.

6) will stand behind their puppies for a lifetime, including microchipping with their info.

7) be available for the lifetime of the dog if you have questions about training or anything that might happen to the dog. They do not just take your money and disappear. You should be able to go back to the breeder at any time with questions about house training, temperament issues, etc.

7) will have buyers lined up for a litter before they produce it. They will ask questions of the family, temperament test the puppies, and place the best suited puppy with each family.

You can find breeders - whether they are breeding top notch show dogs or the latest designer fad - that follow the ethics of a responsible breeder. You should be comfortable getting that puppy, knowing that the breeder put a lot of thought in that litter instead of just how it was going to pad their bank account.

Do your research. Don't buy that puppy, no matter how cute or how sorry you feel for it in the pet shop window. You can have a quality dog, for a decent price, without supporting the puppy mills or the unethical backyard breeders. Ask to see the cerf test, the OFA results, the cardiac results.

A family member who is going to spend the next 10 - 18 years in your home deserves the same kind of research that you would do for your next car, big screen tv or refrigerator. It should never be an impulse buy. Impulse buys are the main reason that dogs end up in shelters.

 

[PlutosFriend]

It still falls back to the breeder. A good responsible breeder doesn't hand over a living being to anyone with the cash in hand. They ask for applications. They check in on the animal. Most importantly, they REQUIRE the person to return the animal to them if they can't care for it.

(in the same vein, reputable breeders of certain breeds are hard to find locally and people often have to travel to find one)

Well said Amy!

Even good dog owners don't keep in contact with their breeders. None of my friends do. My parents and I don't. Why would we? It's our dog. We're not showing it, it's just our pet. I would hazard a guess to say it's like that with most people.

I send pictures of my girls to their breeders all of the time They seem to seem to really enjoy seeing them in their forever homes

account.

Do your research. Don't buy that puppy, no matter how cute or how sorry you feel for it in the pet shop window. You can have a quality dog, for a decent price, without supporting the puppy mills or the unethical backyard breeders. Ask to see the cerf test, the OFA results, the cardiac results.

A family member who is going to spend the next 10 - 18 years in your home deserves the same kind of research that you would do for your next car, big screen tv or refrigerator. It should never be an impulse buy. Impulse buys are the main reason that dogs end up in shelters.

Well said, Nana Annie. Hopefully a lot of people have read what you wrote and learn something from it. I am not an expert on dogs, but I do love them. I am sure most can tell I did not rescure my two girls, even tho it is very possible to adopt pure bred dogs from the shelter. I searched and searched for reputable breeders of Cocker Spaniels, til I found what I was comfortable with. If reputable breeders were the only ones doing the breeding, I feel the shelters would be a lot less full!
With that being said, I would LOVE to know what I could do to help put a stop to places like Petland!! They opened one in my area a couple years ago. I have gone in, just to look, and did ask some prices out of curiosity. All you have to do is google Petland and you will read horror stories of sick pups If anyone seriously knows how to help battle puppy mills, or places like Petland, PM and let me know!

 

[FHS_chick_2005]

around here ive never seen a pet store sell dogs or cats... only small rodent-like animals, fish, and reptiles. every once in a while i see local shelters doing adoptions at the pet store... but i could never see myself spending alot of money on a `mutt`... i have a `malti-poo` as the vet and petco call her that we rescued from having to go to a shelter. we got her and her brother for free from DFs moms coworker, he had to get rid of them because he lived in a no animal appartment.

i have to take back my previous statement about not spending alot of money on her tho... after getting her shots, fixed, and having to take her to the vet for foxtail in her eye and ear.. plus getting her groomed once every few months she has gotten pretty expensive but i wouldnt give up my baby for anything in the world!!

 

[DLSuperVet]

First and foremost I'm always an advocate for getting pets via your local humane society or specific breed rescue.

You'll see a lot of mixed breeds these days rather than pure breeds in an effort to make a better pet. Pure breeds are more prone do disease and may have personalities that are not always what new (or veteran) pet owners want and the result is ill-trained pets and/or returned pets.

Mixes are an attempt to take all the good aspects of one breed and mix them with another.

I don't know if it's been said in this very long thread that a lot of pet stores get their dogs from puppy mills out of state. I'm not saying they all do but many do. By purchasing a dog without adequate contact with the breeder you may be supporting a puppy mill.

**Proud owner of a Carolina Dog**

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Ok I leave for the afternoon and obviously missed something.

 

[daisax]

Its in my contract that my dogs' breeder wants to see a picture of my dogs or have some contact with the owner at least once a year. If she doesn't hear from the owner of her pups , she will contact them. It has nothing to do with showing. Most of her pups are sold as pets. She just likes to keep track of her pups as much as possible and make sure they are well taken care of.

While it's reassuring and emotionally fulfilling to see pets grow up in their homes, it's also very helpful to follow entire litters through their lifetimes for health reasons. You are not doing future generations any favors if you continue to breed a line of dogs that just happen to work out where the ones you keep and breed live to be 14 and healthy as a horse, but half their siblings die before the age of 6. That's a devastating thing to do to people, and a responsible breeder is looking in as many directions as possible to ensure that the overall health of the dogs she's producing is sound. And that's the kind of background information that backyard breeders ("I've got one, and you've got one, let's make puppies and sell 'em!") don't take into consideration.

Petshops, backyard breeders and reputable breeders are all making profits from creating more dogs when shelters are filled with dogs.

As Nana Annie pointed out - there's no profit in showing/breeding dogs ethically. None. It's about $5000 for a championship in my breed (on average) and that's not counting care and feeding and health testing (annual cardiac exams and tests, among other things). The only purpose of a championship is to prove that your dog is one of the superior ones whose genes SHOULD be passed on -- and an ethical breeder may also decide at the end of it that despite the championship, the dog is STILL not worthy.

My 2nd collie I got from the breeder. Didn't pay for her , she was placed with me. Why? The breeder couldn't show her because her teeth were crooked. Believe me I know.

It's a cosmetic flaw, probably... and yet if you keep breeding bad teeth to bad teeth in a couple of generations you have a dog that can't close its mouth properly or pick up kibble from a bowl. Some of the decisions breeders make seem hopelessly superficial, but they're projecting carrying a specific trait on into the future. And there are so many dogs in the world and in shelters that there's absolutely no reason to breed anything BUT the best and healthiest. And most dogs would prefer to be king of their own household than one pet in a busy kennel of working dogs, so placing them works out best for everybody.

It's the attention to detail that keeps a boxer looking like a boxer, and a shih-tzu like a shih-tzu. Most shelter mystery mixes are not all that far removed from purebred dogs -- when people don't do the selection, dogs revert back to a very basic genetic form.

Will I go to a rescue? I don't know. I have small children in and out all day and 3 cats. I cant's risk getting another dog that has that problem. There are breeders out there that will test for that and other issues, and that is probably the route I will take.

While most rescues in my breed are simply untrained juvenile goofballs, I agree that in some breeds temperament is a greater issue, and deciding whether a rescue group is on the level or not can be hard. There's another
option, which is contacting a breeder and putting the word out that you're interested in an older puppy or dog that didn't work out in the show ring or is retiring. Sometimes promising puppies just don't mature to expectations, and something like a slightly wry bite that the poster above mentioned could mean that the dog needs a loving pet home instead of a show career. The dog will already be housebroken, trained to a leash and basic house manners (usually, assuming they're house dogs), and such a pup can be a bargain. Sometimes there are even retired champions available, though this is usually done friend-of-a-friend style.

You'll see a lot of mixed breeds these days rather than pure breeds in an effort to make a better pet. Pure breeds are more prone do disease and may have personalities that are not always what new (or veteran) pet owners want and the result is ill-trained pets and/or returned pets.

Mixes are an attempt to take all the good aspects of one breed and mix them with another.

Hybrid vigor is only scientifically valid in the first generation, and it assumes that you're starting with two good specimens to begin with. A golden retriever with bad hips bred to a poodle with a nasty temperament is not going to produce beautiful, exceptionally healthy goldendoodles. And many of the people doing these breedings don't give a rip about the hips or the temperaments of the dogs they're using -- just their genitalia and their prospects for generating money.

 

[justjudy]

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[Jynohn]

Go to the Humane Society of the US website. They have tons of info. on their campaign to stop puppy mills.

Please be careful when supporting the HSUS. Yes, they are campaigning to stop puppy mills, but they are an extremist group whose ultimate goal is to end animal use altogether. That means no meat, eggs, dairy products, leather, fur, etc. They'd also like to see an end to all pet ownership. That means that they not only want to stop puppymills, but they want to completely end the breeding of all domestic companion and farm animals.

The HSUS is behind some very radical and extreme anti pet owner legislation, and I'd just hate to see people supporting them without knowing the facts about their true agenda.

 

[Dax]

Funny, someone got busted JUST THIS WEEKEND for running a puppymill from there home...This is in my area..

Lakeland Puppy Mill Found

This can happen in your own backyard, and is a shame. As it stands right now, the dogs have not been surrendered to Animal Control, so they cannot be adopted out yet.