We were getting a lot puppies from a place I'd never heard of before.
As it turns out, a new puppy selling store has opened in the farmer's market down the street. I'm not sure if they are referring customers to us or if people are just finding the closest veterinarian within a ten-mile radius and we're it, but for some reason a high number of them are coming through the clinic.
The puppies we've seen so far are in good health.
The myriad of breeders the dogs are coming from are all from PA, and mostly from Lancaster.
One year after the legislation meant to shut down the puppy mill capitol of the world, the puppy mill capitol of the world is still producing puppies. It doesn't logically follow that just because all these dogs are from Lancaster, they must be coming out of puppy mills, or at least not out of puppy mills as most of us who are aware of them think of them. For all I know, the puppy millers have just downgraded their operations. One of the other tricks they use is to use family members as owners. "Oh, I don't own any dogs. These are my son's dogs. Those are my daughter's dogs. Those are my wife's dogs. Those are my dad's dogs." And so it goes. There are loopholes in everything.
What really bothers me is that a lot of people who put their voices against the PA puppy mills have gone silent, thinking that last January's law had solved the problem.
So what now?
The puppies we've seen so far are in good health.
The myriad of breeders the dogs are coming from are all from PA, and mostly from Lancaster.
One year after the legislation meant to shut down the puppy mill capitol of the world, the puppy mill capitol of the world is still producing puppies. It doesn't logically follow that just because all these dogs are from Lancaster, they must be coming out of puppy mills, or at least not out of puppy mills as most of us who are aware of them think of them. For all I know, the puppy millers have just downgraded their operations. One of the other tricks they use is to use family members as owners. "Oh, I don't own any dogs. These are my son's dogs. Those are my daughter's dogs. Those are my wife's dogs. Those are my dad's dogs." And so it goes. There are loopholes in everything.
What really bothers me is that a lot of people who put their voices against the PA puppy mills have gone silent, thinking that last January's law had solved the problem.
So what now?
Now its your job to track the health issues?
ReplyDeleteNo clue. But you are right, not every dog is from a mill. I think there is a major difference between mill and maybe farm that produces dogs. Tsuki was from such a farm... dogs kept in clean kennels in a barn and three litters (2 shiba, 1 golden retriever) were on the ground at one time. Nicest Mennonites you'll ever meet, and called the dogs by name.
I wonder if Boss-man is aware of the competition. He's been complaining a lot lately about how bad sales are. I've not been satisfied lately with the condition of most of our dogs, especially since it falls to two apathetic kids to look after them lately. I/we just can't make those two care enough to communicate their intentions (feeding and med schedules mostly) with the rest of us. I wonder how you think ours compare with theirs?
ReplyDeleteI think at least a part of the problem is that a certain someone abandoned us :( lol
@inu Jen: I'm sort of doing that now in a very loose, informal type of way. I look at the dogs who come in from PB (private breeders) and the ones that come in from the stores and with the older adult dogs, I've been noticing that many of them have fatty tumors. It's weird. The tumors don't really DO anything, just look unsightly. Interesting, though.
ReplyDelete@ochiru: The Boss-man is aware. I told him about it the last time I was in, and his first question was the same: "Are they as good as our dogs?" But he already knew about it when I told him, and he looked glum.
I haven't seen enough to make a good judgement, yet. From what I've seen so far, they are about the same. The warranties are about the same, except the farmer's market store guarantees against hip dysplasia for one full year.
That's funny, because when I asked Boss-Man's favorite underling about it today, she told me that it's not a big deal because the other place sells sickly puppies with no warranties and no vaccine history. But this is the third work night in a row that I've had a customer talking to me/in front of me about the farmer's market place and how much cheaper they are there. This could spell trouble for The Pet Store.
ReplyDeleteOh, they def. have vaccine histories and warranties. The vaccine histories aren't usually as extensive as ours, typically one Neopar or DHPP and that's it. But they do have them. And they also have warranties. I'll check it out more closely when the next one comes through. I have only seen on receipt, a guy bought two Shelties from there and they had stapled the receipt to the warranties the same way we do and he didn't take it off. Two Sheltie pups, no supplies was over a thousand. That price total seems comparable.
ReplyDeleteI think what's going to hurt the store more than anything are all the other stores in that shopping center closing down. The grocery store really bothers me, that was a huge draw. People often stopped by the store just because they were already in the shopping center, and might as well since they needed something anyway. Now, not so much.
On the plus side, I think the farmer's market is only open Friday and Saturday.