PetEx Brings Humane Store Model to San Fernando Valley
Downey Shelter Dogs Get Second Chance at PetEx Retail Store
By Melissa Maroff, Best Friends VolunteerBack before some of the more high-profile Los Angeles pet stores stopped selling puppy mill dogs and went humane, Ron Levi, owner of a lower-profile pet store in the suburbs, began visiting shelters—simply because he wanted to do the right thing. After dealing with some red tape from government-run groups, Levi’s store PetEx quietly became the first in the L.A. area to convert to a humane model.
Tucked away in a strip center in the San Fernando Valley community of Tarzana, PetEx, in addition to offering pet food, supplies and grooming—has quietly found homes for some 60 shelter dogs since December 2008. The number is still growing.
Selling Dogs is "Not a Good Thing"I visited the shelter and saw what was going on, I realized selling dogs was not a good thing to do,” says Levi, who opened as a pet supply/grooming store in 2006. He later began selling puppies he purchased from breeders and brokers. After making the decision to go humane in March 2008, Levi visited several Los Angeles city shelters and adoption events, hoping for an arrangement whereby he could offer shelter dogs at his store—but the best he was promised was a two-week wait for each dog.
“I told them they have tons of dogs, so why couldn’t they let me find good homes for them?” Levi says. “They kept telling me there are procedures. Basically, I got lost.”
Finding a Way to Make it WorkHis quest took a more positive turn when a regular customer, who also happened to own a pet boarding facility, introduced him to the administrator at SEAACA, a shelter in Downey. A few days later, a truck pulled up to his store filled with dogs from SEAACA. He decided to choose four dogs and see how it would work out.
“They were spayed/neutered and had all of their paperwork; my groomer made them look beautiful and within a few weeks we found them good homes,” Levi says. “They were so open and so wonderful at SEAACA, and even offered to deliver the dogs,” he recalls.
He told them he’d come to the shelter instead. And that’s what he’s been doing since. He makes the nearly 40-mile drive from Tarzana to Downey two or three mornings a week in order to give some lucky dogs a second chance. On an average day you’ll find 10 to 12 dogs at his store, and on a good day, maybe only two or three.
Levi says he unfortunately doesn’t have the space for bigger dogs, so he has to be limited to puppies and smaller breeds up to two years old. He charges a flat adoption fee of $300, which includes neutering, shots, a microchip and the shelter’s 30-day health guarantee.
“I charge a decent price because I want you to adopt, not go to a breeder,” he says. “The supplies keep me in business, but adoption is the center point of the store.”
Store Good for Pets and PeoplePetEx’s large inventory includes a wide range of foods with a good selection of organic and holistic brands and a premium, yet affordable Canadian dog and cat food line that also features varieties comparable to prescription diets (which PetEx sells exclusively in the area). The store also carries a full line of pet remedies, including aromatherapy, and just about every other accessory a pet could need from the basics to designer and high-end imports that can’t be found anywhere else.
“I want customers to have the whole nine yards,” Levi says, which includes grooming services seven days a week and free pet food delivery. “Even if it’s out of the area, we try not to say no,” he boasts, and also guarantees to beat the major retailers on food prices. He says the good relationship with his customers is what brings them back, and word-of-mouth from regulars is what helps get the dogs adopted.
“We treat our dogs like kings,” Levi says. “I’m blessed with a staff that cares about dogs, he says, which is evident when you walk in.
Hoping Other Stores Adopt Humane ModelLevi says he can’t tell other pet store owners what to do, but hopes they will all adopt humane models, and if they go humane in one of their stores, they should do it across the board—not have adoptable dogs at one location and sell puppy mill dogs at another. Some stores have both puppy mill dogs and adoptable dogs. In fact, he has leases pending for seven more humane pet stores of his own, but the economic slump has pushed those further into the future so he can make sure the Tarzana store remains healthy.
A Los Angeles resident for 30 years, Levi says he definitely sees public opinion about selling dogs changing—even among those who aren’t familiar with the concept of puppy mills. “My customers care about animals and appreciate that I’m helping,” he says. “Instead of dogs being put to sleep, they’re finding good homes.”
For more information about the campaign against puppy mills Visit
Puppy Store Free LA.
Read about the recent rescue of more than 200 puppy mills dogs through the
Pup My Ride program.
Posted by Sandi Cain, Best Friends Network VolunteerPhotos by Courtney S. Gilmore: Top, PetEx staff with pups; middle, rescue dogs await new homes; bottom, groomer Susie primps the pooches.