We do not torture the animals in our store.
Gasp!
What's more, all of my co-workers love animals and deeply care about the welfare of the animals we work with.
This is a blog about what REALLY goes on in a pet store that sells animals. All our trials, tribulations, sufferings and joys I am willing to share with you.
I am the kennel manager at the store. OMG, yes, we're one of THOSE stores. The ones that sell PUPPIES. Horror of horrors.
Well I'm here to tell you that all the brainwashing you've received from PETA. . . it isn't quite the Truth. I am sick to death of people accepting everything animal rights groups push at them for face value, never once questioning the validity of their claims, and condemning innocent people in the process. Literally ignorant people seeing dreaming puppies in my kennel and screaming that my dogs are dying or having seizures. I am mad as all hell about the preconceptions people come in the door with. One day I wondered how I could change it. This is my attempt.
My goal here is to help people become aware of their own preconceptions. If only one person follows my blog and goes in to the next pet store they encounter with a mind free of rubbish and ready to make their own judgement based on what they actually SEE there instead of going off half-cocked based on someone else's judgement clouded by half-truths and propaganda, I will be satisfied.
I guess I only have one question... where do the puppies come from?
ReplyDeleteI'm more than willing to believe that pet store workers truly care, deeply, about the animals they work with.
And I'm more than willing to believe that some pet stores really do try, honestly, to provide for the health and social development of the puppies they have while they are there - in the kennels.
But how did the puppies get there? What are customers supporting,really, when they buy one of the puppies from your store?
My first shiba was from a Menonite Farm in Lancaster (horror of horrors!) and I gotta say - I dont' have those people at all. Yes they kept their dogs in enlarged "hamster cages" and never let the dogs out unless to breed, whelp or sell. And yes the shiba I left with had inguinal hernias (disclosed), grade 1 LP & a migrating jaw(undisclosed). And yes they did give me a discount to take the hernia dog, and I didn' tknow any better.
But thats how they made their living. The dogs were livestock.
I've spent time with pigs, horses, goats and chickens. They have personality and the ability to bond. Which is what I assume we love about our dogs. They really aren't different from dogs.. or humans.. at all. And yet for most, its acceptable to keep those animals the way the Menonite farmers kept the dogs. And they do it for profit. Not for the welfare of the dogs.
I think my main gripe with pet store dogs is that we're making it TOO easy for just ANYONE to buy a puppy. I'm glad you dissuade people from purchasing when you can. But face it - I bet most store workers don't do that. They want to sell, selling keeps you in business and keeping in business keeps your paycheck from stopping.
Being able to walk into a store, point to a puppy, produce $1000+ and walking away with a 10-20 year commitment, walking away with a living breathing commitment, it just doesn't seem like something worth supporting. For the dogs sake. But then, I'm on the rescue side of dog welfare so I've been working with the product of "cast away" 10-20 year commitments.
I'm hoping from reading your blog I get a cross perspective into what happens in these stores. Thanks for blogging.
Jen, thanks for asking. The answer is going to be too long for a comment reply. I will try to get a post up addressing it tonight.
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