“He’s such a nice guy and the staff is so friendly and helpful.”

Of course he’s a “nice” guy; he sells precious puppies to people in the neighborhood. Nobody would want to buy from a mean guy—a guy that profits from dogs living in misery. He wants your business.

That is sadly the perception that many people (perhaps most) come away with after visiting a pet store…unless they’re “in the know”—or have at least a general idea of what a puppy mill is—and even then—it’s not always enough. Pet store owners and their staff have all the right answers…they’re not stupid, after all. Except, you can’t always blame the staff—they may need their jobs—or may not even know the real story. Now the owners, that’s a whole ‘nother story.

“My wife loves dogs, dogs and babies, that’s why we got into the business,” was what I was told by the owner upon my visit to a pet store in my Los Angeles neighborhood (before I really knew the whole story about puppy mills). I asked the very pleasant couple where they got their dogs from, and their response was: “From conventions (as in auctions) and private breeders in the Midwest (as in puppy mills).” I like to consider myself an intelligent person, but I’ll admit, they almost had me. Until I realized how silly it would be for a California pet store to import animals from private breeders in the Midwest when they could much more easily get them from private breeders locally. Not to mention that responsible breeders don’t sell to pet stores—let alone—out-of-state pet stores. But I learned quick.

Many of us do…then there are those others who need a little more convincing. Take for instance a pet store that opened not too long ago in Northern California (an area of the state known for its progressive stance on animal issues). The organizer was vilified, as were the protesters by many of the locals on an area newspaper’s Internet forum. About half of the posters were supposedly “satisfied customers” taking up for the store, and the other half were puppy mill protesters, including some of us from the Los Angeles area.

“I can’t believe people can be this evil. I bought my miniature schnauzer puppy from that store and I called the USDA and SPCA in the city the breeder is from and they both said that the breeder is a reputable breeder,” posted one woman, who went on to say, “I am thrilled that the store is in our community. I love my puppy. All the employees there are super friendly and knowledgeable. People need to worry about other things in our community, like homelessness.”

The same old story: if you worry about animals being abused…then of course it means you don’t care about people—after all—they’re mutually exclusive. And we can only venture to guess what this woman does for the homeless—my guess being “nada.” Not to mention the notion that the SPCA would actually vouch for a dog breeder—let alone a dog breeder that supplies pet stores.

Another caring “humanist” echoed a similar sentiment later in the forum: “There is a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, American soldiers are getting killed daily. We are in severe economic times. And a pet store has 126 response, what is wrong with your priorities? There is something wrong with our culture when puppy mills get more attention than the war, shame on all of you.”

I don’t believe any of us ended up asking him, since there is a war going on in Iraq, why is it that he’s wasting his time scolding people on an Internet forum? Shouldn’t he be out there fighting the good fight or lending moral support—or whatever it is he thinks those of us with screwed-up priorities should be doing?

And still, yet another of the pet store supporters proposed that an investigation be opened by the local police to uncover the source of the protest organizer’s “information” (documented evidence of puppy mills). Where is her solid proof, he demanded to know. He went one step further to suggest that: “If no solid facts are found, the organizer should be brought up on charges and held accountable for attempted sabotage of a locally owned business.” Then he bemoaned the fact that he has to live in a place where so many people “protest” everything under the sun. Obviously not from here (“here” as in the United States).

Said another woman: “I went to see the store owner and he had no idea of what Hunte (as in Hunte Corporation…the name just screams mom and pop kennel, doesn’t it?) and Lambriar (both puppy mill brokers) were all about. He only got one order from each of them when he first opened the store. He has not ordered from them since. He is dealing with the breeders directly. He even had a flight itinerary to go and visit the breeders himself. He is flying out at the end of October and taking a video camera with him to show the breeders’ kennels and homes.” She went on to say that he is even willing to take one of the protesters with him. Then she asked if anyone would be willing to go because he will pay for expenses, since he’s a “really nice guy.”

Then one of the practical protesters suggested to the owner: “In these tough economic times, why not save the plane fare? If you give us the names of the breeders that provide your puppies, we will see what we can find out.”
This same wise person also proposed to the owner that he make available the breeder information in his store window because it could only help his cause, right? To the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t gotten around to it yet.
At one point, someone from “our team” thought he would try to appeal to these forum pet store apologists by way of reason: “Now, it is true that a puppy mill puppy is still a puppy and deserves a home, but here is the problem with buying that puppy: the money goes to reward the dealer, the pimp, the slave trader. By giving money to the pet producers you tell them that they should keep breeding; business is good! What you need to do is NOT buy that puppy, and when the pet store sends that unsold puppy to the pound to be euthanized, you can go save him--he’ll love you all the more for it! You can even use some of the money you save on a store-bought dog to make a donation to the shelter system so they can keep abandoned and lost dogs longer before euthanizing them,” he wrote.
“And if enough people stop buying dogs, and instead adopt dogs from the shelter system and rescue organizations, then the puppy mill business will dry up and stop. And the cruelty and misery they create will stop too.”

So eloquently put, you’d think (or at least hope) that would be the end of discussion. No such luck. There was a slew of well thought out retorts, including my favorite:

“I have the right to a pure breed if I choose. You can’t always find what you want at the shelter. Freedom of choice!! Why arent you people protesting LUCKY’S for selling dead animal meat…cuz you eat meat! Hypocrites. (Busted…not a vegetarian or vegan among us animal activists).

So, as we see from this one little forum…it’s an uphill battle…but if we persist, there’s no way it won’t be mission accomplished. Because just as with Prop 2…we have the truth on our side.

Prop 2 sent the message loud and clear that, “No—happy cows DON’T come from California”—nor do chickens and pigs. And hopefully some day very soon—they will find out that pet stores are not what they seem either.

Story Written by Melissa Maroff
Writer, and Puppy Store-Free-L.A. Volunteer

Posted by Jennifer Krause, Best Friend's Staff
Coordinator, Puppy Store-Free-L.A.

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