Getting a Dog, part V

This is the fifth in a series of articles on Getting a Dog. All articles are linked from the menu on the right, in the Articles section.

Getting a Dog - Part V
Pet Stores

To avoid any confusion, I need to first clarify what I mean by "pet stores" in the context of this article, since this is an article about getting a dog. I am not talking about stores such as Petsmart or PetCo, whose primary business is the sale of pet supplies such as food, toys, and bedding, and that offer space to rescues for animal adoptions. What I am talking about are pet stores that sell live dogs and cats, usually young puppies and kittens.

Although it is illegal in some countries to sell live cats and dogs, or even other pets such as rabbits and mice, stores that specialize in selling live animals are a common occurrence in the United States, in the form of privately-owned businesses or franchise stores such as Petland.

Most people view purchasing a puppy from a pet store as the fastest and easiest way to bring a dog into your home. Some people may also view it as the only way, as it does not require a lengthy process, nor a long drive to a breeder. You simply walk in with your credit card, pick out the puppy you want from the selection that is currently in stock, sign and initial a sales contract, and pay for your purchase. And then you get to take your furry little purchase home with you.

Sounds good, right? Well, let's actually back up a bit and get down to the nitty-gritty: what pet stores offer and what you actually get.

The first thing you may notice upon entering a pet store is that they have puppies on prominent display. Most pet stores have cages with glass fronts so that customers can see the puppies all day long. These cages usually have newspaper on plastic or wire-grate flooring to make clean-up easy on the staff, since these puppies are not walked or housebroken at the store. In most places, the price and some information about the puppy are taped to the front of the cage:

Boxer, $1500, AKC registered

The staff members at these stores are usually young, teenagers or in their early twenties, and eager to let you hold the little bundle of fur while they tell you all they know about him. They tell you that he comes with AKC papers, which means he's a purebred and a quality dog, and that he's so expensive because he has papers and is a really rare color.

By now, you'll have a hard time not being sold on this dog because he's beyond adorable as he is playing in your arms and chewing on your fingers, and store staff tell you he's such a good puppy, and very smart, and just the best dog you could ask for. Unfortunately, with the majority of pet store puppies, that's not the case.


Where Pet Store Puppies come from

If you have read the fourth article in this series, which dealt with the different types of breeders and how to tell a reputable breeder from a commercial breeder or backyard breeder, you have probably already realized that no reputable dog breeder would ever place his puppies in homes by selling them through a pet store. Remember, a good breeder wants to place his dogs in good homes, screen his purchasers carefully, and remain in contact with them over the lifetime of the dog. They do not sell them to stores that allow anyone to walk in with a credit card and walk out with a dog, no questions asked. Which should have you asking the question: where do the pet store puppies come from, then?

Pet stores purchase dogs from one of these places:

• "Puppy Mills" - Large-volume commercial or backyard breeders
  
• Commercial Breeders
• Local backyard breeders
• Puppy brokers

I have already talked about commercial breeders and backyard breeders in part four of this series, but I have not yet talked about brokers or puppy mills.

A broker is a middle man who purchases puppies and then sells them to the local pet stores. Brokers get their dogs from the same places pet stores purchase from: commercial facilities, local backyard breeders, and auctions. Sometimes brokers place ads in the newspaper offering to buy puppies from people who have had accidental litters.

Brokers must be licensed, but just like commercial breeders who have to be licensed by the Department of Agriculture, there are plenty of things going on that violate the standards of the Animal Welfare Act. Licensing does not always equal quality or standards of care.

Most commonly, when we hear about pet stores in the media and on websites, we quickly hear that they are primarily supplied by so-called puppy mills.

The term "puppy mill" is used to describe any breeding facility that produces a large amount of puppies each year. This means that they have a lot of dogs they are currently breeding, and that they usually breed litter after litter (on every heat or every other heat) until the dogs are no longer suitable for breeding. In many cases, these dogs are living in awful conditions, such as spending their entire lives in small wire cages or outdoor kennel runs, receiving the minimum amount of care necessary and hardly any interaction with humans. After all, the less money these places spend on thier breeding program, the more profit they make selling the dogs.

The term puppy mill does not describe any one specific type of facility. It can apply to commercial breeders, as well as to local backyard breeders. If they pump out hundreds, if not thousands, of puppies each year, then the term applies.

Some people may wonder why it matters where and how pet stores get their puppies. It’s simple: it matters because you don’t know what you're getting.

The breeders who sell puppies to these brokers or directly to the stores don’t do any health testing on their breeding stock; they don’t socialize the dogs; and they really don’t care whether the puppies are healthy and free of genetic defects. This means that there is a very good chance that, when you receive your puppy, you will receive a dog that is ill and will require hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in order to fix him – if he can even be fixed.



What "papers" really mean

Even though pet store puppies originate from commercial facilities and backyard breeders, you will notice that most puppies at your local pet store are offered along with some type of registration papers.

The first and most important thing that you need to know about "papers" is that papers do not equal quality. Papers don't mean that your dog is from good parents; that he matches his breed's written standard; or that he is in good health or free of genetic diseases.

Pet stores usually offer pups with papers from one of these organizations, but may offer dogs with other registrations as well:

• American Kennel Club (AKC)
• Continental Kennel Club (CKC)
• American Hybrid Kennel Club (AHKC)

Out of the registries listed, only the American Kennel Club, or AKC, is a reputable registry. All other US registries (not foreign registries such as the United Kennel Club (UKC), for example) are vanity registries offering "papers" that are worth barely as much as the paper they are printed on.

The AKC, or American Kennel Club, is the largest registry in the United States. It registers only purebred dogs and only from breeds that the club currently recognizes. This means that some breeds recognized by kennel clubs in other countries cannot be registered with the AKC. It also means that anyone who offers you AKC papers with a mixed breed dog either lied to the AKC when he registered the litter or is handing you forged papers.

The AKC will register any puppies that were born from an AKC registered dam and an AKC registered sire. It does not mean the puppy will match the breed standard or be from a good breeding, or that both parents are healthy and worth breeding. It only means that both parents were registered with the AKC.

The CKC, or Continental Kennel Club, is an organization that is often mistaken for another registry by the same abbreviation, the Canadian Kennel Club. The two should never be mistaken for each other. The CKC offers registration for any dog that “appears to be purebred”, as long as you mail in three photos of your dog and have two witness signatures that attests the dog appears to be purebred, such as from your vet, a breeder, or a trainer.

The AHKC, or American Hybrid Kennel Club, is an organization offering papers for both purebred dogs as well as mixed-breed dogs, and encourages AKC transfers, breeders of designer dogs, and pretty much anyone else to register their dogs and litters with them.

You have to really wonder about dog registries and the purpose that papers serve. With AKC papers, at least, you are getting proof that both the parents of your dog have been AKC registered, which means that they both are purebred and that their parents have been registered with a reputable kennel club before them. With papers from some of the other registries that basically let you send in your dog’s photos and description, you’re getting no proof of anything, let alone a quality dog. It’s just another way for people to make money, similarly to registries offering "certifications" of service dogs sight unseen. The registrations benefit from people sending them their dogs’ information so they can get papers, and the stores and breeders that sell dogs with those papers benefit from a gullible public who thinks that this equals they will be getting a quality puppy.

Don't fall for the reasoning that "papers" equals a quality dog!



Pet Store Guarantees

Nearly every pet store will require you to read and sign a sales contract prior to purchasing your new puppy. Similar to any contract that you would expect to sign prior to making an expensive purchase, such as a computer or a car, this contract will tell you what guarantees are offered, and it would behoove you to read the contract prior to signing it..

A guarantee is important because you need to know who is responsible if you bring your new puppy home, take him for his first vet checkup and his shots, and find out that he is seriously ill or has genetic defects. Most pet stores will guarantee your purchase only for a specific amount of time, and if you do not have your puppy seen by a veterinarian during that time, or don’t contact the store with the problem during that time, you will get nothing.

You may find that even if you return to the store with your sick puppy prior to the date your guarantee runs out, you won’t receive much.

Most stores offer to replace the puppy with a different puppy in the store, who might be just as sick as the one you are returning. In most cases when stores replace puppies, the puppy that you have returned will be put to sleep because it’s cheaper for the store. Some unscrupulous stores will even put them back up for sale so that another unsuspecting buyer will end up with the sick puppy. And some places will tell you that the puppy will “grow out of the problem” to see whether you will just take him back home and hopefully not realize that puppy won’t grow out of his heart murmur until the guarantee is up.

You should know that most states have puppy lemon laws on the books and that pet stores and even some breeders are bound to them, even if they do not make you aware that you have rights in addition to the contract you have signed. If you must buy from a pet store, please make sure that you know at least your state’s lemon laws! Click here to check out puppy lemon laws in your state.

to be continued