From: kathy_buetow@QMS1.life.uiuc.edu (Kathy Buetow)
Subject: Re: LIFE magazine and Puppy Mills
Followup-To: rec.pets.dogs
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 15:54:41 GMT

In article <BsyGpK.FAr@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, hoff@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Wildfire)
wrote:
> 
> Kimberly Laird <U30993@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
> 
> >don't buy from pet stores, please.....
> 
> This reminds me of a question....Here in Champaign, there is a petstore
> that claims it does not buy puppys from mills, and they have posted petitions
> for people to sign to stop puppy mills.  To what extent is this sort of
> thing a marketing ploy, and how much is legit?  I like to stop in and
> look, although it will be quite a while before I can buy a dog.  (I have to
> get the huskys away from my mom before she trades 'em in for cats ;)
> I sometimes wonder where they get their dogs, although they do have papers
> and pedigrees for them.  (An overly eager salesman showed them to me once
> when he thought I would buy the female akita puppy that stole my heart....
> and I almost did :)  Now, I realize that one should be careful about
> pet stores and genetic problems and such, but what about petstores like
> this one?  If more pet stores spoke up against puppy mills, maybe the mills
> would find themselves out of business.....
> No flames, please, I'm just really curious about this and the legitimacy.
> (and how many other stores do this?)
> 			-Wildfire-
> 
>  ||    Wildfire  ||  hoff@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu  ||  lmh44500@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu  ||
>  || "Computers are just the opposite of people.  In computers the software ||
>  ||  goes into the hardware.  In people the hardware..." Torchsong Trilogy ||
>  || disclaimer:  "...my love, you, if anyone, should know that my rules    ||
>  ||         only apply to other people, not myself"  -Friday               ||


Pet Stores "get away with" saying that they don't buy from puppy mills
because technically
they don't buy from puppy mills....they buy from *agents* who buy from
puppy mills.

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT ever buy a puppy from a pet store !!!  It may first
seem as if you
are "saving" a poor helpless creature, but you are merely promoting their
business and
perpetuating a problem.....not to mention the headaches and possible
heartaches you are
bringing upon yourself.

As an aside:  Those who think they can get a "good" puppy cheaper at a pet
store (socialization,
temperament, breeding and health aside) than from a reputable breeder are
*sadly* mistaken !!
I recently got a call from a friend reporting that there was an Australian
Cattle Dog at the
above mentioned Pet Store in Champaign.  After several phone calls and
visits by myself and 
several freinds, I determined the following: 
1)  That it was questionable as to whether the dog  they had advertised as
an ACD was actually 
purebred  (strange markings, longer hair than any ACD I had ever seen,
etc).
2)  That the puppy had insufficient inocculations and wormings.
3)  That the papers indicated that she was from a "breeder" in Southern
Missouri (can you say
puppy mill ?) out of parents who nobody in the ACDCOA had ever heard of.
4)  That the price they wanted for this "ACD" was $100 more than the price
of a *show quality*
puppy from the highest-priced ACD breeder in this country (as far as
comparing the price to
a local ACD breeder such as myself - the price was $350 more than I ask for
my pet quality
puppies)

Sorry, I'm rambling.........but helping people find good breeders and
"stamping out" pet stores
and puppy mills is one of my big "causes".  

Bottom line.....DO NOT be fooled by the pet stores who say they don't get
their animals from
puppy mills....it's all "beating around the bush" B.S. !!!

----------------------------
Katwala Australian Cattle Dogs
Kathy_Buetow@QMS1.life.uiuc.edu
"Australian Cattle Dogs are not just a breed....they're a way of life !!!"
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs