An inside look at Los Angeles pet stores and shelters
Last weekend, a few of us from Best Friends went on a trip to conduct some research. We preach that people should adopt pets instead of buy them, and decided to choose an area and take a tour to gather info. We wanted to know if there really are as many puppies for sale in stores and classified ads as we think, and how many of the same kinds of animals are sitting in the shelters. We picked Los Angeles.
Some quick background information; California has the third highest number of pet stores in the country behind Florida and New York. The majority of stores are within an hour’s drive of Los Angeles, and in some areas, there are several shops selling puppies within a few blocks of one another. Read on to learn what we found.
Puppies & Purebreds Galore, at your local Shelter and StoreAt one pet store in the mall, we counted 66 puppies for sale. Prices ranged from around $1,000 to over $2,500 for puppies in all shapes and sizes. There was a Boxer, a German Shepherd, an Akita, a yellow Lab, and about every small breed imaginable. We inquired about the yellow Lab puppy, who was just under four months old, and starting to get “big” by pet store standards. “He’s on sale for fifteen hundred dollars,” said the young store employee.
Who would buy a Lab pup for fifteen hundred dollars unless he/she comes fully trained for something or other—leading the blind or disabled, hunting, obedience, anything? At the very least, a puppy that expensive should have had OFA certification against hip dysplasia somewhere in his pedigree. But no such luck. From the store, you get either APRI or AKC papers which don’t guarantee the health, temperament or conditions under which the pup was raised. It says that, right on the papers. Puppies come unspayed or neutered and with no microchip, and since they’ve lived in a wire-bottom cage since they were born (learning to urinate and defecate in their own living area) good luck with housetraining. So what
do you get for all that money? A cute pet for a couple thousand bucks.
Shelters Full
Later that day at the shelter, we walked the rows of kennels in what was an admittedly sad place. 45,000 animals enter Los Angeles’ city shelters each year, and less than half ever make it out. 78,000 end up at county shelters. There at the South L.A. shelter, in a chain link run by herself, was a little yellow Lab pup. If adopted, she would be spayed and microchipped. Her adoption fee was $87.00.
In fact, for nearly every breed of puppy we saw for sale in a store, we saw at least one of the same breed at the shelter. Mini Dachsunds, Maltese, Chihuahuas, St. Bernards, Poodles, Pug, Miniature Pinscher, Westie, Shih Tzu, Cocker Spaniels, Labs, Huskies, Golden Retrievers, and mixes of everything above.Breeders didn’t come up with anything new when they started making “designer” breeds. Shelters have been getting mixed breeds in and adopting them out for decades.
So here’s the thing. If everyone who bought a puppy from a pet store or online or through the classified ads were to have just stopped. Stopped and thought just for a moment about from
where they were choosing to get a new pet. And then, before plunking down fifteen hundred dollars for a pet store puppy, they made a trip to the shelter just to see what was there, to spend a few minutes with a dog, I think many would choose to save a life. It costs a lot less and gives you the warm fuzzy feeling of doing the right thing, being socially responsible, and being part of the solution.
Besides, all pets adopted from area shelters are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped for a fraction of the cost of buying a puppy. What a bargain.
What you can do:While you may be aware of the wonderful, beautiful animals sitting in shelters in Los Angeles and across the country, your friends, family and acquaintances may not be. The most simple, effective thing that anyone can do is talk to people and get the word out.
1.) Visit the county and city shelter websites:
Los Angeles Animal Services (City).
Department of Animal Care and Control (County)2.) Can’t find the perfect pet at a shelter, check
www.petfinder.com, a website with all rescued animals from shelters and groups in every state.
3.) Encourage others to check shelters and Petfinder when looking for a new pet
4.) Volunteer at your local shelter
5.) Download your own “Adopt, Don’t Shop” flyer and post it in your community.
Click here to download the flyer.Need more proof that the shelters are (over)full of great dogs? Scroll through the pictures below, taken recently at a County shelter
(Lancaster location) in L.A.
Posted by Kelli Ohrtman: Best Friends NetworkMain Photo: Puppies for adoption at the South Los Angeles shelter.