What do I know about puppy mills, I'm just the dog trainer.... *rantish*

    • Gold Top Dog

    What do I know about puppy mills, I'm just the dog trainer.... *rantish*

     I went to the flea market on Sunday after getting the day off. I had Sandy and she found a friend. A little 9 month old yorkie/chi mix. The lady that owned him and I started talking and I mentioned I'm a trainer. She said she was having problems house breaking him and when asked where she got him, she said from a pet store called Doggy World or something like that.  BUT! He couldn't possibly be from a puppy mill! Her daughter (or what ever) brought her dog over and Benji (the pup) wasn't submissive or nothing! Cuz we all know puppy mill pups are submissive. And the store promised that all the pups were from reputable breeders. *bangs head*

    She spoke to the vet at the store and he said that Benji was healthy, yada.. But 2 weeks after she bought him, the pet store was shut down due to a Parvo epidemic. They lost 30 dogs.   Benji was one of the lucky ones. He wasn't affected.  He was neutered at 3 months cuz he kept mounted the furniture Huh?

    By the end of the conversation, I just handed her my co-worker's card and said call her. 

    • Gold Top Dog

     Wow...I couldn't handle people like that. *Facepalm* I'm glad their dog is okay though and that he wasn't affected by the Parvo spreading around.

    • Gold Top Dog
    I've had to hold my tongue back so many times when I worked with clients.  I just cringed when I hear something like "I paid $2,000 for my “Malkie” , she must be from a good breeder five states away who flew her to me at 5 weeks old. Why is she so sick now?"  Yep, and while you were waiting for your genetic disaster to arrive a healthy puppy or two of the same mix was put down in a shelter somewhere...Angry
    • Gold Top Dog

     Yep yep! She paid 950$ for this little guy. Oh he's cute enough and full of him self but what about down the road? When the early neutering and bad breeding catch up to him. *sigh*

    • Gold Top Dog

    That's horrible. Poor little thing, poor owner.... poor you for having to even have that conversation with her.

    • Gold Top Dog

     The way I handle this is with a handout that people can read privately.  It tells them how to figure out if they were duped, why it's important to purchase from reputable sources, and how to tell who is and isn't reputable.  I preface it by telling them that no matter where they got their dog, the dog is part of our "training family" now, but we are providing the information to save the dogs that must live under less than optimal conditions because of this industry.  Sometimes, they still get offended or don't believe, but some of them have actually come back and asked me how they can report a breeder or get a pet shop raided;-)

    • Gold Top Dog

     I'm hoping she calls my training partner.  I haven't heard anything yet but my fingers are crossed. It's not often we get puppy mill pups but we have gotten a couple BYB dogs.

    • Bronze

    I agree with you. It's so difficult to keep your mouth shut when you hear someone gushing about how they spent all that money at a breeder. They think it sounds impressive that they spent so much money buying a dog. They probably have no clue as to the difference between a reputable breeder and a puppy mill.

    Like I always say, buying a dog from a breeder/pet store means the death of a shelter dog.

    It's a shame people are so ignorant about shelters and rescue groups. There are some wonderful puppies and dogs. If they want a pure breed so badly there are plenty of those around as well.

    I stop commenting a long time ago. It falls on deaf ears. Sad though!

    • Gold Top Dog

     

    I'm just the dog trainer....

     

    You don't have to be a dog trainer to know the facts.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Oh I agree 100% Tiffy. You don't have to be a dog trainer but you do have to open your eyes. This lady refuses to acknowledge the fact of the possibility that her dog may be a puppy mill dog. On top of that, she feels he doesn't need training.  He's not housebroken, has no manners, doesn't listen at all.. I'm sorry but a dog like that needs some training in some way.