I shouldn't have done it, but I did...

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by gaddylovesdogs

A few months ago I went into a pet shop. They had three or four GSDs, two Shiba Inus, Goldens, Chis, Beagles....and a "cockapoo". I took out a lovely two month old female GSD and played with her...she was a great girl and I hated to leave her in a place that reeked of bleach....it was very sad.

Cass--that's a great site you posted!! I'm going to make a t-shirt with the things they have on there.....might even pass them around to friends. I've been meaning to make a t-shirt that says, "STOP PUPPY MILLS" with stoppuppymills.org on the back....I'd like to sell some and then donate the money to someplace like PETA.

I'm going to make a t-shirt too and make a patch that I can sew onto my bag. I don't think I'll be welcome in any petstores after it though. LOL I'm creating a webpage (just a personal one for me) and I'm going to include a whole page on this very subject. Gonna make sure there are 'say NO' banners on all the pages, with links.

Cass.

P.S. There are petstores that have adoption centres? I wonder if we have them down here, because that is a great idea and a good alternative to what we've got.

[PitBullie09]

Cass-Love Your Signature!

[Sayuri]

two Shiba Inus

*Sob* Why why why why why? I apologize for the near unintelligible post, but this is just like ripping my still-beating heart from my ribcage. I don't want my breed to become petstore fodder. I don't want people to find out about my breed. I don't ever want to deal with the multiple adverse effects of popularity....and I'm going to have to no matter what.

[PitBullie09]

Thats why Im happy puppy stores cant sell Pit Bulls or Am. Staffs anymore. But they can still sell Chihuahua's. Poor babies. Dont you guys wish we could do something to stop them!

[oc_spirit]

To answer the "where do they go if they're not sold?" question, they'll either get moved to a different pet store, dumped at the shelter, or euthanized. It's so sad!

Petcetera (the biggest pet store near me) has the adoption place for both dogs and cats and they will NOT sell any puppies or kittens that aren't rescues, but they do sell rodents, birds, and fish and I'm pretty sure they're not from reputable breeders. My local pet store only sells fish, They refuse to sell any other type of live animal.

Cheers!

[Ritz459]

Petsmart sells fish, birds, and the rodents. They also have cats up for adoption, and on certian days, dogs. And I'm glad Petsmart sells fish because my little sisters Black Molly had about 70 babies and we gave them to Petsmart. lol We kept 3 babies but sadly they all died.....

We were at Petsmart one time and this lady had the Macaw that was in there, out of its cage and was 'walking' it around the store. She came up to the cash regester where we were at and she put it in the little basket things that you can use as a cart. It was just sitting in there like, "What are you doing?" but when she picked up the handles for the basket, that bird wanted out of there! His eyes got big and he started climbing out. She was like, "Ok, I guess you don't like the handles huh?" and she lifted him out.

But ya, the petstore in the mall (I think it is called Passpet), I feel soooooooooooooooooo sorry for all of the animals in there! At least Petsmart keeps the cages of the rodents and stuff clean! The petstore doesn't even bother to seperate the male and females so then they have lots of little hamster babies!
What about broke my heart was when they had a Weimaraner stuffed in a tiny cage, and an American Bulldog stuffed in a tiny cage. I felt sooo sorry for those dogs.....exspecialy the Bully. It looked at me with the saddest eyes (that were slightly runny) and just sat there. I wanted to just take it and hold it in my arms and tell him that everything was ok......poor little baby..... and what really sickens me is when they have the 'holiday specials' and not only do they have the window cages and the cage cages stuffed with dogs, the floor is covered in pens with dogs too!!! That is when I really get ticked....

[ChiChi]

Well i geuss i am one of the few lucky ones, We dont have petstores that sell puppies! There maybe some petstores that do in other places of NC but not here, *that i kno of* if there is any than i think they went out of business because i went to a store that had little puppies CRAMMED in a TINY TINY little cage, like as big as a ten gal tank, kno what breed they were??? GSDs!!! but i am pretty sure they went out of business, which i am very happy about that! but PetsMart is rele a great place, it is the only place i shop for my baby, and another Little Store called, PetSuperMarket, that is where we buy treats, because it is closer to our home than PetsMart, but i am rele happy with there adoption days! CHEERS FOR PETSMART!!

[cragarmom]

There's not a PetSmart near me, but the Petco we usually go to has adoption days for both cats and dogs.

But here I am, two days later, and the thought of that little white mini still breaks my heart.
I think it's the fact that she looked so much like my Cragar, but also, she just wasn't doing psycho things like the other dogs. She was just sitting there. And she still looked healthy - her eyes were clear, nose wasn't runny, she looked very alert, she had a nice coat (although I can't tell for sure since I didn't ask to hold her)...

they'll either get moved to a different pet store, dumped at the shelter, or euthanized

The way she looked/acted makes me think that this is her "first stop" on the pet shop tour, that she hasn't been moved from another store yet... which makes me even more sad, to think that I should get her out of there now, before it gets worse...ya know?

But there's no way...

It just makes me so sad.

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by PitBullie09

Cass-Love Your Signature!

Thanks.

I think the adoption idea is the way to go down here. I'll suggest it to 'Say NO' and see if they can convince at least one chain to switch to adoption. Or maybe another can start up with that idea in mind.

Cass.

[calgal]

Maybe instead of trying to inform millions of folks who may buy from a pet store, we should first copy the information about puppy mills and hand them out to all the shops who sell dogs. Tell them if they don't stop the sale of these animals you and some friends will picket the store to inform customers about puppy mills and and will tell the people that the store owner even knows about puppy mills and doesn't care about their suffering. I'm sure he may stop selling them.
This site will let you know what you can do to help. http://www.puppymillrescue.com

[gaddylovesdogs]

The thing is that most stores JUST DON'T CARE. They can make a lot of money by selling these sick animals. They don't care if they come from a mill or not.

[Cassiepeia]

Yeah, if the product is cheap (and they are just items to sell) and it sells well... they'll buy it. They couldn't care less where it comes from as long as the dogs & kittens don't look like they're just about to drop dead, it doesn't matter to them.

Cass.

[oc_spirit]

Also it's easy to stop picketers by calling police and having them take you away for public disturbance...

Cheers!

[Owned by Lucy]

Actually, as long as you are on public property and not blocking the entrance or exit then the police are not allowed to remove you. It is your right as an American citizen to protest anything you see as injust. If you choose to protest make sure that all the information you are proclaiming and distributing are factually correct. If any of it is false they can sue you for liable

[Cassiepeia]

The problem with picketing here is that most pet shops are in shopping centres. They're enclosed buildings and are privately owned so you wouldn't last 5 seconds before security would escort you out.

Getting a big name celeb behind the 'no live animals in pet shops' cause would be the best thing to happen though. However it seems that most big name celebs are more than happy to support pet shops/brokers/puppymills/byb.

Cass.