Did you buy your dog from a petstore?

Did I purchase my little girl from a pet store - No Way!

But she is a pet store puppy.

I worked for 10years in boxer rescue - and my little munchkin was slated to be euthanized by the pet store - and they were convinced to turn her over to rescue.

She is now an absolutely gorgeous almost 3 year old breed standard brindle boxer - who has already had two TPLO's and will need to have further surgeries - at least one of which will be a spinal surgery for lumbosacral Stenosis and Spondylosis. I use her as an example of why you should never purchase the pretty puppy in the window. Even if you can ignore the horrible treatment their parents get - it can still wind up costing tens of thousands of dollars.

I've seen the video and it is very disturbing! The scary thing is, a lot of these people, that do buy from pets stores, aren't even educated enough or, have absolutley no idea, what a Puppy Mill is and thousands of people out there, support Puppy Mills, because they buy from Petstores. I have never, nor will I ever buy a Pet Store Puppy! There are so many awesome dogs, in Shelters and Rescue Groups, that are waiting for good loving homes. It breaks my heart and I will never begin to understand, how anyone who has a heart, can treat a dog, the way that puppy mills treat theirs. I really feel really sorry, for those poor animals, who did not ask to be put in the position they are in and have to suffer, because some Barbaric Idiot, made that decision for them!

Yes, I did.

I regret my descison, but this was 6 years ago. I was NOT aware of puppy mills and Back Yard Breeders. I just saw a cute little shih tzu (coco) puppy and bought her.

I still have her today. And she is about 6 years old. So far, I have not had any major health problems with her. Though she is quite bigger than the breed standard of a shih tzu and she loves to eat!

Anyways, I plan on finding coco's papers, and I will google it, and try to find where she came from. Since she hasn't had major health problems puppy mill dogs get, I am assuming she came from a BYB. My best guess, is that they couldn't sell her, and sold her to Petland. And that is how she came into my life.

But, I will NEVER ever by from petland again. I know better now.

My second dog was bought at a petstore, way back when I was in 5th grade. Before I'd ever even heard of a puppymill. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, the dog who became my Dad's dog just celebrated his 20th birthday last month, and he was about 3 months when we got him. Sadly he's in pretty bad health now, and I'm trying to convince Dad to let me send him to the bridge.

When I found out about puppymills, I vowed never to buy a puppy from a petstore. The pups are so cute and cuddly, but still the images of those poor dogs in the mill and knowing that I'd only be adding to suffering by buying one is enough for me to say No.

Petco and PetSmart are a different story. Puppies and kittens in those stores aren't from puppy mills. They are from local shelters and rescues, those stores donate space to help them get adopted.

It is sickening and horrific. I am sad to say I am from Missouri, known to be a leader in puppy mills. I do not understand why we cannot make stronger laws against this. After all, part of being human is to be humane. No one should ever buy a puppy from a pet store and people should ask the right ??? when purchasing a puppy. I have had breeders hang up on me when I ask how many dogs they have and how many different breeds they have. Insist on seeing the facility and the parents of your puppy.

Yes, years ago we purchased a puppy from a pet store. I was 8 at the time.

He's older now--as a puppy he had parvo, and we were lucky he survived--and *extra* lucky the pet store paid for part of the treatment. He's about the right size for a Sheltie, but he doesn't *totally* conform to standards (closer than some other BYB or puppy mill Shelties I have seen though) and his behavior is like that of a Sheltie--which I am thankful for, and realize is nearly all luck.

He has arthritis now, and he's actually pretty young for it. I cannot stress enough how lucky we were, and how obvious it is that he is a puppy mill dog. I would never do it again.

Yes, unfortunately.

One of my three dogs, Snowy, was purchased from a pet store when I was very young. We had no idea about puppy mills at the time. She's sweet but has had many skin and ligament problems throughout her life.

My other two dogs have been adopted from a shelter and a rescue organization.

I love all three of them very, very much, but I do with I could've gotten Snowy from somewhere else. I feel very bad about contributing to a horrible franchise.

No

Never

Never Will

If I could stand at the front door of a Pet Store, I would....

Block the door

Tell people the Truth

Keep them from going in which keeps the store in business

Let's all help pass the sorry and sad message of how BAD Puppy Mills are, and how bad BYB is.

Good post! Thank you!! :oP

No, I bought my puppy from a responsible breeder.

All pet stores that sell puppies claim they do not come from puppy mills, but the fact is that at least 99% of the puppies sold commercially do come from puppy mills. And the 1% come from local backyard breeders.

Every National breed club, at least in the US (and I'm sure other countries as well) has a code of ethics that includes not selling to brokers or pet stores or auctions.

Nope. Most petstore dogs/puppies are from puppymills and are so sick. They either end up dying young or you pay up the butt for vet bills. Some people get lucky and have dogs in good health though (my childhood dogs came from a small pet store).

People need to watch out for popular pet stores that sell puppies (petsmart and such) most likely they are puppymills. I wish I could save them all.