Not all stores are all that bad
Years ago me and my wife bred chihuahua's. This was never done for the sake of a buck... The first few batches did go to a pet store. And much to my surprise, they would not take them without an "inspection". They shop owner came out to the house, met the dogs and looked at what we had for the pups. As well, he was very clear that they would not take the dogs until 10 weeks (not that we wanted them to go sooner).
The only reason we stopped going through the pet store was the fact that the pet store was not to particular on who they would SELL them to. The last 2 batches we sold ourselves so we could screen the potential buyers. To this day (8 years later) we have most of those that bought stay in contact.
These dogs were bred not for the money, but becuase raising little pups can be rewarding. And most stores WILL NOT BUY FROM MILLS. Usually if word gets around that they sell anything from a puppy mill, there business is over. It is just not worth it for a store to loose most of it's business to dave a few hundred bucks. Think about the way you buy fish, do you see any stores wanting to buy cyanide caught fish?
All I am getting at, is that the stores are mostly quite good, and most breeders do it because the love doing it. I hate to say it, but most of the problems out there are from irresponsible BUYERS. We turned away 3 times as many people as we actually sold to. Far too many people see a cute puppy, buy it, and then are unable to correctly care for it.
I don't blame the stores, or the breeders. How many times have there been complaints about some store selling a fish that would not work in someone's tank, and everyone blames the store. What about the guy buying the fish without doing a little research FIRST. Same goes for dogs. I have never seen a store keep a huge dog in a pen for any length of time, but yet I have a 150 lbs dog living next door to me in a yard that is 15' X 20' and never let out.
Let's put some blame where it belongs, there is a reason that all of these "rescue" groups exist in the first place. And they rarely have to "rescue" from a pet store.
|