Ask the Frenchie Geek - Is there EVER a ‘good’ pet store?
bullmarketfrogs May 19th, 2008
Hi, I am in the process of buying a frenchie puppy, and I have read that it is an absolutely no no to buy from a pet store, but I have heard great review on this one.
http://www.linkremoved
Just wondering if you know anything about this pet store in long island, NY.
Thanks.
Carol writes -
I’m going to do my ‘calm deep breaths’ exercises while I answer this question, as it’s the only way for me to be sure I won’t end up smacking my head against the monitor repeatedly.
That said, let me put this as plainly as possible.
There are NO GOOD PET STORES.
None. Never. Not ever.
There is NO SUCH THING as a ‘good breeder’ who would sell to a pet store. Let me repeat that - NO good breeder, ever, would sell a puppy to a pet store, for the simple reasons that -
- They don’t have to. Good breeders have long lists of people waiting for their puppies
- Good, caring breeders are paranoid nutjobs, which is a good thing. They have applications, questionnaires and sometimes even home visits. Getting a puppy from a good breeder is like buying a house, only slightly more invasive - because good breeders care, deeply, about where their puppies go, and to who. No caring breeder would EVER hand one of their babies over to a pet store to be re sold to a stranger
- Pet stores count on ‘cute’ to sell puppies, and cute equals ‘young’. Most pet store puppies are 8 weeks old (and oftentimes younger). Good breeders of French Bulldogs rarely let their puppies go before 10 weeks, let alone before 8 weeks of age.
So, if we can accept that good breeders don’t sell to pet stores, where do the pet stores get their puppies from? The answers are simple -
- Backyard breeders. These are novice, inexperienced breeders who toss two pets together to make more pets. When they can’t sell them, they sometimes hand them over to pet stores for re sale, and the pet store makes a hefty profit on someone else’s ignorance.
- Commercial breeders - this is a fancy term for ‘puppy mill’. Yes, those horrid photos of filth, misery, neglect and despair are supported and funded by pet store sales - and by you, if you patronize stores that sell live puppies.
- Commercial brokers and dealers - the first chain in the price mark ups of puppy mill puppies. A broker is the “middle man” for puppy mills and pet stores. They are the ones who buy a puppies, often in bulk lots, from puppy mills, and then sell the pups to the pet store, another broker, or (less frequently) directly to the public. Brokers may also frequent puppy auctions to find, and may sell puppies on to other brokers.
- Cheap European imports - more and more frequently, pet stores buy bulk lots of cheap import puppies, toss them in crates at as young as five weeks, and send them on 24 hour plus transatlantic flights. The 50% death rate of these imported puppies is a small price to pay for the mark up pet stores can get for these tiny victims, as pups bought for$500 can be re sold for $2500 or more.
Let’s be clear about something else - pet stores LIE. They will do everything in their power to convince you that their pups come from ‘caring breeders’. Ask them to put their money where their mouths are, and to show you the paperwork on the pups and to supply the names and contact information on those ‘caring breeders’, and you’ll get shown the door. Pet stores count on the naive, the impatient, and the gullible.
Don’t be one of them.
Learn more here:
- Where do pet store French Bulldogs come from?
- The Wrong Puppy wants you to avoid the nightmare of imported broker puppy sales
- Upscale Pet Stores Sell Puppy Mill Victims
- Prisoners of Greed - pet store puppies are victims
