The Great Puppy Debate

[CdnRottieMom]

I can't give my thoughts at this moment becaus I'm at work and really should not be on the net on this site. But things are slow at work. I was briefly checking out the local newspaper in my area and came across this article. Just curious what are your thoughts? I will be able to post mine later tonight.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/ne...9-772ed867d058

[britishbandit]

Wow, I'm so glad you pointed that out!

I personally would be THRILLED to see Corbret's be banned from selling puppies. And I wouldn't be upset one bit if they were put right out of business. If you remember just before Christmas, they apparently had a "break-in" and all the puppies "stolen". I still think that was all a set up to get insurance money. When the investigators found no sign of forced entry, and that the door had been left unlocked, and alarm not armed....(yeah, and someone just happened to "break-in" the one day an employee "forgot" to do these things)......word was, there was no money coming to them. Then all of a sudden the owners (not the police) somehow "recovered" all the missing animals. YEAH RIGHT!

And that BS about stopping them selling puppies will only encourage BYB?! Ummm. Well since that's how they get their puppies, obviously it's already a problem. I've even seen them advetize in the paper, that they will take on puppies that BYB's themselves are unable to sell. So wouldn't it really work the other way around? If they were unable to take on pups that weren't selling, maybe these people that supply them would stop breeding rather risk being stuck with "leftovers".

If they are that worried about "business", and want to do something right. They could always team up with the local humane society and rescues. They are full to capacity most of the time, euthanizing animals right left an center, because there is no room for them. I'm sure these organizations would be more than willing to work something out if they stopped selling puppies and kittens (most of which are "designer dogs").

But honestly, I don't want to see any animals placed in the care of these people. The last time I went in there (granted, it was a long time ago) the cages these animals were in were CAKED in feces and urine. And the sad part was, there were kids hovering around all these cages dying to take one of them home, despite the overwhelming smell and condition of the animals and cages.

I'll definately be writing a letter to the editor about that article. And I encourage others to do the same!

[calgal]

I think a law, everywhere, should be passed to stop the sale of animals in pet shops and also limit the number of unspayed and un-neutered dogs one can have and to also to not allow them in outside cages or to live outside. This will put the millers out of business because we would then be able to report any BYB or miller. It just has to start somewhere.

[CdnRottieMom]

LOL ... I am thinking about writing a letter to our local newspaper. Dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills and byb. There is really no difference. Once the puppy is sold the pet store could care less about the type of family who purchased the puppy and the same with the puppy mill or byb the puppy came from.

A lady (let's call her Jane) at a pet supply store (that doesn't sell pets), told me that earlier this year a lady purchased some expensive maltese mix (toy breed mix) because she thought the puppy was so cute and it would look so cute sitting in one of those dog purses. A little background about this lady who purchased this puppy. She lives in a rich area of town, she's kind of snobby, she never in her entire life even owned a puppy or any pet for that matter and didn't realize until she got the puppy just how much work puppies are. After 3 days of having this puppy at her house, she wanted it gone. She tried to return it back to Corbret's Pets where she purchased it and they wouldn't take it back. So then she asked Jane if she knew of anyone who wanted the puppy and Jane said she has customers that come in and sometimes ask her. That she will spread the word. After 3 weeks of this puppy being at this lady's house, she calls Jane and says "come and get this puppy, I want it out of my house today. So Jane gets her address and drives through the rain and snow to her huge house to get this puppy who has been kept majority of the time outside.

Jane then snaps at her and tells her this puppy is too young and not an outdoor breed of dog. The poor puppy was soaking wet and cold. Jane then proceeds to put the puppy's crate in her car and asks the lady if she has a towel to dry the puppy off, otherwise she was not taking the puppy. So this lady hands her a towel then proceeds to tell her to keep the towel that she doesn't want it back.

Happy ending was that Jane found this puppy a loving forever home with a great family.

So if Corbrets Pets has issues with puppy mills and byb. For one, this is where they got this poor puppy from and when the snob of a lady did not want the puppy, they would not take it back. Not even for free.

If their puppy selling business was shut down, it would not upset me one bit.

Their pet store where the puppies are kept does stink and the feces is disgusting. The Humane Society as busy as they are, takes the time to clean up regularly after the pets they care for. I guess people feel sorry for these pets and think they are doing the dog or cat a favour by buying them.

British Bandit -- I do remember that whole puppy scandal that took place last year just before Christmas. It did smell of scandal and you were right when you mentioned that to me. Miraculously the puppies turned up when Corbrets didn't get their insurance money. Funny thing is, after the puppies were found, there wasn't a follow-up in the paper to state what actually happened.

[britishbandit]

Well I did write a letter to the editor today about it, so hopefully it'll be in tomorrows paper!

Boy was it ever hard though, and there was no way I was getting in everything I WANTED to say...LOL. Unfortunately, there's a 300 word maximum. And me and my big mouth could've wrote a book with what was on my mind, but I had to settle for what I could get in. Obviously they don't only sell "designer dogs", but that's the majority from what I see advertised. I realized after the fact that I should've mentioned it isn't just mutts, and probably had enough room to add the sentence, but I still think I got my point across about unethical breeding. I also thought after the fact about adding that plain and simple, no ethical and responsible breeder would ever sell to a pet store. They ALWAYS keep in touch with new owners and are there for the life of that dog no matter what.

Anyway, for anyone who's interested, this is what I sent in.

In regards to The Great Puppy Debate July 20th 2007

I personally think it's an excellent idea to ban the selling of puppies in pet stores. To say that this will only cause more backyard breeding is a contradiction. Who else but BYB's/mills breeds the mixed breed dogs that Corbrets sells? From what I hear, most of the dogs in there are designer dogs ....mutts. “Breeds” no ethical or responsible breeder would ever breed. No standards or guarantees on health, temperament and personality traits, looks...etc. No titles to prove that the dogs bred were even worthy of breeding. No testing for genetic diseases. These pet shop dogs are sold to just anyone, no screening to see if the place they are going is even a fit home for a dog. No help what-so-ever after the fact. All for profit, with no care in mind of the animal in question. Just another piece of property to be sold.
As for the sale of puppies accounting for 50% of the profits, well there are plenty of pet supply stores in the area, who all seem to manage to stay afloat without having to sell animals. Maybe the problem is the fact that people are becoming more educated on BYB’s, puppy mills and unethical breeding. I personally won't buy anything from a pet store that sells animals outside of joint effort with the humane society. Not even a strip of rawhide. I refuse to promote the unethical breeding and placement of animals in any way. Perhaps if Corbrets didn't sell puppies/kittens, more people would buy supplies from them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who steers clear due to that reason alone.

[britishbandit]

OY, here's another article from the Windsor Star today on the subject.


A caution to the commission
Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Concerned there may a link between cruel puppy breeding mills and area pet shops, the city's licensing commission is investigating whether the sale of puppies should be banned in city pet stores.

Administrators are preparing a report on the controversial issue and will also explore whether such a ban would encourage people to adopt strays from the Humane Society, thus lowering the number of dogs that are euthanized each year.

The city should proceed very carefully here because pet stores are private businesses and banning them from selling pets is like banning computer stores from selling computers. It could easily put some stores, particularly smaller ones, out of business as residents bought puppies from other sources, including other municipalities.


Mike Drouillard, the owner of Corbret's Pets, a fixture in Windsor for more than three decades, said he would have no choice but to shutter up his two stores and leave town if Windsor banned him from selling puppies, which account for about 50 per cent of his business. Not only would the city lose several jobs if that transpired but it would lose the $135,000 Drouillard pays in municipal property taxes.

Coun. Alan Halberstadt, a member of the city's licensing commission, says he has yet to encounter any solid evidence that would convince him to support a ban. If the commission does dredge up some evidence a ban would reduce cruelty to animals, it best be compelling and irrefutable given the economic hardship a ban could potentially create.

The local humane society already keeps tabs on pet stores, monitoring the pedigree of each puppy, which helps ensure puppies from mills don't wind up in area homes. Breeders who fail to meet acceptable standards can be fined up to $60,000 and face up to two years in jail under amendments to the Ontario SPCA Act in 2002. This should be sufficient to protect both puppies and new owners from purchasing dogs raised in the sub-standard conditions of a puppy mill, where dogs are treated poorly so the owner can maximize profits.

The city should ensure anyone running a puppy mill -- or selling puppies churned out by one -- is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But city officials would be barking up the wrong tree, and needlessly interfering in the market place, if they banned the sale of puppies in pet stores.

The city should proceed very carefully here because pet stores are private businesses and banning them from selling pets is like banning computer stores from selling computers. It could easily put some stores, particularly smaller ones, out of business as residents bought puppies from other sources, including other municipalities.

Well if that isn't just the worst comparison they could've made. Comparing the sale of living animals with computers. Ok everyone, please be sure to have your PC's and laptops altered, we don't want any unethical breeding of your motherboards. Please don't keep them locked in cages laying in their own urine and feces. And for heavens sake, don't abuse and neglect those computers, it may cause them physical and psychological damage. What a crock of......... It's really amazing what people will do and say to "get what they want". What will they come up with next?

It's also brining up economical issues. Saying if they banned the sale of puppies in the pet stores, the city would lose money if the owners up and left to do it somewhere where it wasn't banned. OH WELL, not really such a big loss, since there's only 3 pet stores in Windsor that actually sell puppies. Two of them are owned by Corbrets, the store in question here. The other, is a store that mainly sells exotics (rarely ever puppies), such as lizards, snakes, turtles, spiders, chinchillas, sugar gliders....etc. Who obviously aren't kicking up a fuss, since a ban of selling puppies wouldn't really affect them.

[CdnRottieMom]

That is a crock, comparing computers to animals! I'll be sure not to let my computer go near another one when it's in heat (LOL). What the city doesn't understand is that the unemployment rate is high in this area because it's dependent on the automotive industry which hasn't been doing all that great to begin with these past 5 to 7 years. Due to this people are losing their jobs, their homes, and are having a hard enough time as it is feeding their families. They are being given no other choice but to rehome or hand over their pet(s) to the Humane Society. Comparing a puppy mill to a byb who pumps out a breeding every time their dog goes into heat for the money is the same thing IMO. There's no difference. Corbret's selling more pets isn't helping in the over population issue at the Humane Society. The exotic pet store you referred to that rarely sells puppies, hardly ever sells puppies because no one buys from them any more because they sell over priced sick purebred puppies and word is getting out fast (unfortunately some buyers had to learn the hard way with huge vet bills) and they had a lawsuit against them for selling a stolen Boston Terrier last year that was taken from someone's backyard who lives on the West end of the city. The owner was tipped off anonymously a couple of days after the dog went missing and went right away to the store after he reported his dog stolen and found his dog their. So they hardly ever want to go back into the dog selling business for now. Haven't been in their lately but since that last incident, you never see dogs for sale in their store. Plus they're located outside of city, so the ban wouldn't affect them. I would love to go sit in at City Hall and give my input when they try to kybosh(sp?) this ban.

[carjo]

From one rottie mom/animal advocate/animal lover, good for you and speaking out. Alot of people just talk about it and you did something about it!! With u all the way!!