That’s me screaming in anger and frustration!
The day after my Puppy Mill blog, I went into Petco for dog food. A perfectly nice woman struck up a conversation as we shopped for dog food and I shared kisses and snuggles with her sweet dog. He was clearly a mixed breed and I asked her what his breeding was. He was a Schipperke/Lab Mix. I asked her if he was a rescue. She answered that she had gotten him at World Wide Aquarium and Pets in Upper Darby. As my heart sank, she told me they were giving puppies away one day. Riiight… I asked “Were they giving them away or you bought him?” She must have then realized by the tone in my voice that I wasn’t buying it. She said, “Well, they were selling them. But I asked the man who worked there what happens to the puppies if they don’t sell them and he said that they’d give them back to the puppy mill and the puppy miller will kill them.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So not only is the reality of the puppy mills horrific enough, we have pet shop employees preying on people’s emotions and making them feel like they’re rescuing the puppy if they buy it andpossibly sentencing it to death if they don’t. He didn’t even pretend that this litter came from a reputable breeder, as most pet stores will do. This woman did not even get a purebred dog – not that that would have made it any better. But she paid Who knows how much for a mutt – and not even a “designer breed” mutt! My response to her was “So, in essence you supported the puppy mill”. Then I forced myself to shut my mouth. What’s done is done in that instance. She went on to say that she’d never do that again and her pets from then on would be rescues. That’s great but there are too many people like her caught vulnerable and realizing what they’ve done after they’ve done it and creating a space at the pet store for the next puppy mill dog to move on in. There has to be an awareness and understanding created that the only way to put these puppy mills out of business is to stop buying the dogs. If you are a dog lover and you agree, please open the eyes of anyone and everyone you can – hopefully before they’ve already purchased the puppy at a pet store or from a newspaper ad or over the internet.
I promise that all my blogs won’t be heavy like this! But if I can do some good at the same time that I’m giving pet care tips and sharing stories, I might feel a little bit better. Thanks so much for reading.