Under All That Bling, It's Still a Puppy Mill Dog

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-02-04 14:00:00 UTC
Topics:

I recently learned that a Pawsh Puppies opened in the mall near my childhood home. Since I couldn't bring myself to go anywhere near the store when I was visiting, I thought I'd check out the website. It was pretty much as I expected -- a store that sells expensive accessories for expensive accessory-sized dogs. It's a "luxury dog boutique carrying the latest and trendiest in designer canine couture."

They say their stock of teacup or toy breed puppies (to go along with all of that couture, of course) doesn't come from puppy mills, a claim that's backed up by USDA licenses, as if those (or AKC certifications) are good for anything other than lining cages. Pawsh Puppies is just "simplifying the process of purchasing a puppy from a breeder," including the option to finance your purchase!

I don't know if the breeders that supply these particular stores are the large-scale operations that come to mind when you think of puppy mills, but pet stores are notoriously deceptive about where their animals come from. By definition, a puppy mill is "a place where puppies are bred for profit," so if you're a breeder that's selling your puppies to become merchandise in a mall boutique, or any other storefront, you're a puppy mill.

Nearly 50 Chicagoland pet stores have signed on to the Humane Society of the United States' "Puppy Friendly" Pledge.  These are the places that won't try to sell you a puppy and then congratulate you on your "adoption." (I'm not sure why this still needs to be said, but apparently it does: Buying a puppy from a pet store or breeder is not adopting.) That's because they've made a pledge to their customers to promote adoption instead of selling puppies in their stores.

Don't let the rhinestone collar fool you. If you're buying a puppy from a pet store, you're supporting puppy mills.

Photo credit: IntangibleArts

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
PREVIOUS STORY:
The Curious Case of Macho B
NEXT STORY:
Super Bowl Countdown: 5 Actions in 5 Days to Protest Skechers' Dog Racing Ad

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.