[TheBigAnimation]

The closest Pet Land near me is Pet Land, Deerfield Beach. I've been there before and I saw with my own eyes a puppy that had a strange cough and other puppies that didn't look too good. I don't know how to go about getting them shut down/getting the puppies to safer places, good homes, etc.

I want to get a puppy mill raid going, I feel like there just isn't nothing I can't do - I have to do something - so I planned something - to buy a puppy from Pet Land and present its documentation to the Humane Society. Thing is I contacted the HSUS and told them about my plan and they said 'we don't recommend this because we have plenty of documentation already'. If they do, why are they not stopping Puppy Mills right now?!

That's my problem. So that's why I want to do this plan, but I'm still not sure without getting in trouble, so I need peoples advice.

Anyone care to share their opinions?

 

[Gally]

They dont do anything because as long as they are not abusing the dogs and providing them with food, water and shelter, puppy mills are not illegal in most places. If you buy a puppy from them you will only be putting money in their pockets and supporting them to continue their business.

 

[TheBigAnimation]

I've understood the idea of buying a puppy is supporting them, for the longest time I've understood it.

But how else are they going to get raided/shut down/investigated/etc? What should I do?

 

[Crantastic]

You buying a puppy will do absolutely no good at all.

 

[Kayota]

bring it to the local news

 

[TheBigAnimation]

I'm open to suggestions - what can I do to help?

 

[Kayota]

If you bring it to the news they may run a story on it which will bring it to the public's attention and cause them to push for something to be done. Do your research, throw together a short report and let them do the rest.

 

[Willowy]

I'm not sure there's anything that CAN be done . Puppy farms are legal and receive the same benefits as a cattle farm or chicken farm. They are big business and we all know that money rules. If you see sick puppies or bad conditions locally, call your local Animal Control (or whoever takes care of that in your area). Contact the local TV station and see if they want to do a story on puppymills. That might help raise awareness. Be sure that they emphasize that the only reason these places exist is because people keep giving them money.

 

[3's a Charm]

Perhaps you could "visit" PetLand and talk to some of the customers that are buying puppies there. If you had info for local rescue groups, photos and information about puppy mills etc. maybe you could change a few minds. You could pass out flyers, form a meetup group of dissatisfied puppy customers, set up an info booth outside the business etc. You will probably be asked to leave the store and I guess you might get in trouble, but these are the only ideas I can come up with.

Don't buy a puppy or anything else from that store.

 

[RabbleFox]

Contact your local news and peacefully protest in front of the store. Do not hesitate to offer "reading materials" for their costumers. Stand outside their store and ask incoming customers, "Would you like to learn about Petland puppies today?" Hand them a concise piece of paper that explains where these puppies come from and what conditions their parents live in, the health issues associated with such practices, and why buying a pet store puppy doesn't help anybody. Do you know what mill the puppies come from? That always helps, putting a name on the operation.

You can also suggest that anyone interested in a puppy could easily visit the local shelter and adopt a puppy for much, much less than the purchase price of the Petland puppies. I was in my first pet store that sold puppies ever just last weekend. Although the pups looked well taken care of in the store, we (we being knowledgable Dog People) all know where the puppies originated from. The pups in the store were selling for way more than I would pay for a pup of that caliber. They had a "Border Aussie" for $800! I could easily get a purebred Australian Shepherd or Border Collie, registered and all, for much less than that mutt pup. He was cute, but not $800 cute. And he was the cheapest one!

 

[HollowHeaven]

I hate to break it to you, but puppy mills are legal as long as they're abiding by very very basic standards. The ones that aren't are rarely caught. You have to have A LOT of proof before someone will do something.
All petstores, unless working with local shelters, are supplied puppies from BYBs and mills. Petland is one of the worst.

If that store is providing them with food, water and extremely basic care, there is nothing you or anyone else can do. Puppies in stores are sick, they're sad and that's how it is.

Buying a puppy will do nothing but support them and make room for another puppy to come in sooner.

 

[Laurelin]

The best thing you can do is report any misconduct possible. There was a puppy store in the town I used to live in that was investigated multiple times for animal abuse and just now was FINALLY shut down. Even with the newspapers running stories about the animals all being seized and housed at the shelter due to cruelty they stayed in business for years afterwards. It just closed early this year and complaints started in well before I lived there (2005-2010). Why people continue buying from such places, I will never know.... And even after the one store was closed, another puppy selling store opened up two weeks later in the same mall.

You can also go on yelp,consumer complaints, etc and post reviews too.

 

[Crantastic]

Really, the best way to take these places out is to make sure they're not profitable. Campaign against them, educate people about them, and NEVER buy from them (don't buy pets or supplies). A lot of pet stores have closed down in recent years simply because people are getting better-educated about puppy farms and are refusing to buy from places that sell puppies from them.

 

[Kayla_Nicole]

I agree with contacting the news, and posting reviews online. Also, you can always get some friends together to stand outside the store with signs showing what puppymill conditions are like or hand out flyers when people enter the store. I know several people who have done this many times at their local pet stores and they have eventually been closed down.

 

[Laurelin]

Even with animal cruelty complaints it's hard to get anything done. When I was at the shelter the police seized 28 puppies from said store and in the end 26 were returned to the store to sell and only two ended up being kept by the shelter..... despite quite a few of the dogs testing positive for parasites.

There was also another store a few years earlier that sold a kitten that later tested positive for rabies!

Yep, definitely don't buy from pet stores.

 

[JazzyTheSiberian]

Whatever you do,don't get a puppy from there(or any pet store),& don't get any supplies from petland either.

If you have a Facebook(or any other social network), you could start up a page on FB about your local petland. You could start a website, blog, or even make YouTube video.

I think contacting the news, sounds great,& it will inform many people about petland.

 

[TheBigAnimation]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I actually want to write up a pamphlet on puppy mills/dog breeds/etc and make that available to as many people possible, but I will do my research, actually I wrote a Puppy Mill essay over the summer (which I got an A on!) and I visited several pet stores around Florida to get some information on how to write this, so I researched. This has also made me inspired to write a book - Don't Overlook The Breed Seem like a good idea? I want to talk about things like outlawing Pit Bulls in states like Florida/Miami and stuff because of dog fighting, talking about dog anatomy and whatnot, the lineages of dogs and proper breeders VS puppy mills. It'll take a long time to write, and I hopefully will get it done one of these days as I just thought of it last night - but here's a link to my Puppy Mill essay, please take a look if your interested and tell me what you think! I want to edit this up a little bit and maybe make this available to more people? (The essay)

http://sta.sh/01frehto4jnh

(And I know that there are plenty of resourceful books out there to look up stuff on dogs and whatnot, but I still would like to put something into my own words!)

 

[GrinningDog]

Yeah, I have a Petland near me, as well as a store called Fetch, which is even more puppy-selling-centric than Petland. Not a whole lot you can do. I visit the puppies occasionally and report signs of illness to the store associates. I "played" with a Papillion pup once that had a pretty serious upper respiratory infection. I made sure to tell several employees, including the manager, and made it sounds like I was interested in buying that particular pup, once it was healthy.

The local Petland does get protested occasionally. I'd be interested in participating, but the protesters are a little extreme/crazy for my taste. And they're against all dog breeding. Pity!

 

[JazzyTheSiberian]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I actually want to write up a pamphlet on puppy mills/dog breeds/etc and make that available to as many people possible, but I will do my research, actually I wrote a Puppy Mill essay over the summer (which I got an A on!) and I visited several pet stores around Florida to get some information on how to write this, so I researched. This has also made me inspired to write a book - Don't Overlook The Breed Seem like a good idea? I want to talk about things like outlawing Pit Bulls in states like Florida/Miami and stuff because of dog fighting, talking about dog anatomy and whatnot, the lineages of dogs and proper breeders VS puppy mills. It'll take a long time to write, and I hopefully will get it done one of these days as I just thought of it last night - but here's a link to my Puppy Mill essay, please take a look if your interested and tell me what you think! I want to edit this up a little bit and maybe make this available to more people? (The essay)

http://sta.sh/01frehto4jnh

(And I know that there are plenty of resourceful books out there to look up stuff on dogs and whatnot, but I still would like to put something into my own words!)

Sounds like great idea! Make sure to posted your essay on here when your done

Glad to see there's someone else my age here, I thought I was the only one who was 16(maybe there are other DF that are 16, but not that I know of)

 

[Fade]

We are having a issue in our county with this.

Dept of Ag. provides licenses for these breeders. Pet stores around the country sell puppy mill dogs and they are not breaking the law so getting the pet store investigated is tough. They usually even have a vet on staff or one that comes in. Puppies coughing i happens. even in shelters if one starts, then it spreads like wildfire. the term for it is called "kennel cough" You could organize a peaceful protest in front or near the store. thats what they do in our area. Find out where they get their puppies from somehow. Really the root of the issue is the puppy mill they are buying from. And thats a whole nother story. if it was easy to shut them down they would not exist. but the fact is they are protected by the law as long as they provide food water shelter and basic vet needs. Animal control can not usually even investigate them its all handled by the Dept. of Ag. Its all legal so protesting and complaining and spreading the news is all you can do.

In our area someone took disturbing pics of a puppy mill in the area and posted them on facebook and it went crazy and did spark a investigation but to no avail they just gave him a few "fix this" citations and he goes on his merry way breeding dogs in terrible conditions. the person taking the pics actually broke the law by trespassing and stuff so. yea you gotta be careful and not get to crazy about it or you end up in jail and the breeder gets to keep breeding.