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Find every dog and cat rescue organization in your area they have mass emailing systems and can send out a press release and encourage others to write to the newpaper and tv outlets, possibly even a picketing of the place. It worked here - solicit their help.
I just wanted to answer some questions so everyone knows what is really going on.
First let me say as far as someone accusing the new owners of being affiliated with a puppy mill or using the store as a front to sell dogs is an assumption on your part.
These puppies come from all over the United States. We prefer to purchase puppies from local breeders, but unfortunately there is only a few in this area that meet the high standards of our owners. The breeders we select are researched extensively. All the puppies come with papers of their breeding and Vet visit records. When we first receive them at our store, each puppy goes to see the Vet.
The cages or pens have been constructed as per specs supplied to us by the Animal and Control Center. We have had to change some minor items and we have regular visits from animal and control. We requested their presence on many occasions and want to see more of them to make sure we are not only doing the right things, but to also ensure the safety and well-being of the new additions to our family.
As far as the cleaning of the areas. We have on staff at least 3 to 5 employees whose only job is the care of the puppies. The cages and pens are cleaned out once in the morning and at multiple times during the day. When you feed them as good as we do. They go many times during the day and night. If we could only tell the future, then we could be there every time one of the little puppies does his or her thing. This is a constant thing that is being addressed constantly throughout the day. Stuff is being picked up all day long, do you know how much bedding we go through? Just because you see wet bedding material doesn't mean it is where they just went. It could also be that they spilt their water while playing. Puppies do play a lot.
As far the dogs eating their own droppings. Have you ever seen a dog smell the rear end of another dog? Have you ever seen a dog eat their own or another's droppings? Have you ever seen a dog mark their own territory? Have you ever seen a dog lick themselves? So you say because you saw one eating some stuff we have puppy mill dogs? Show me a puppy that doesn't go a lot if they eat right. Puppies sometimes don't know any better. Their just puppies. Please do a little more research before you accuse us of that. Please ask animal and control if they have ever seen a dog eating another dog's stuff.
Animal and control has been invited to our establishment on many occasions by us and you, in order for us to make sure we are not only taking care of our new family, but to see if we can do better. The care of our new family is very important to us and we take it very seriously.
I also want to point out that we have had people drop off cats, kittens, birds, fish, reptiles and whatever other animal you can think of. Some of them we need to refuse, but most of them we take in and find them a good home. Each one of our animals are treated the same. They are brought to the Vet and taken care of very well.
The night holding cages are old bird cages which we retrofitted. We disinfect and clean these cages thoroughly every day. The cages have been at this store for fifteen years and mostly used for birds. Instead of throwing them out, we used them. By the way, some of the puppies are left in their own cage until they visit the Vet. We want to protect all of the other little puppies and that is our main concern.
]Please make sure you inquire to the Animal and Control personnel on how their last visit went and when they will be coming to see us again. And make sure you ask her what she thought of our facility.
The bird you mentioned was dropped off by someone who couldn't take care of her. She (Sassafrass) was doing really bad when we first received her, but she is doing a lot better since we have provided her with lots of food, love and the attention she so rightly deserves.
We invite you come in and follow our daily cleanup and feeding routine so you can get a better picture of what is involved in taking care of these puppies and to help you understand how much love our new family receives.
And if you have any extra bedding please drop some off, we go through a lot of it and could use some more.
Thank you very much for a great article and your concerns.
Roger, Employee
My Whole Pet Market
Last edited by hrcwebb; 09-01-2009 at 06:05 PM..
Reason: Better Quality
I need some help formulating a plan of action. I live in Palm Beach, Florida - there is a large pet store in a very busy plaza, next to a giant post office, gym, Bealls and Kmart. The store had never sold dogs, but was recently sold and changed hands, and it appears as if the new owners are a puppy mill using the store as a front to sell dogs.
I went in one day and they had constructed this horrendous table top cage system out of gardening lattice, 6 "cubes" each 2x2x2ft and with atleast 3 puppies in each "cube". They also had a pen of plywood and gardening lattice in their front display window approximately 4ftx2ft, with 2 large breeds - possibly labs. As we were there they were getting a shipment of 3 german shepards in, which were put in the visiting area. The cubes of puppies were filthy, their paper was soaked and soiled. The girl that worked there said they had just gotten the puppies in that week this was their first shipment, and they only buy from local breeders. It seemed like too big of an assortment from local breeders and I decided to give them a few days to get the cage situation figured out since they had just gotten the dogs in that week.
I went back a couple of days later. The display pen in the window - approx 4x2 ft. was completely filthy, and it was loaded with puppies. I counted atleast 15 all different breeds, they were instantly eating each others poop, a clear sign of keeping the den clean in a puppy mill. The man working there walked by said that was normal, "puppies do that". I left, and called animal control; the commercial licensing division. It was after hours so I left a message on the voicemail about the overcrowded conditions, and lack of cleanliness.
I went back a few days later to see if the situation had improved. Apparently animal control had paid them a visit, in addition to their hodgepodge of homemade cages they had makeshift holding areas made with training pens on the floor. There were 2-3 dogs in a cage/pen. Their paper was soaked with pee and it was in puddles on the floor. They had also placed smaller breed dogs in bird cages. In the back of the store where there was a set of cages that looked like bird cages, but were the cages you see online in the puppy mill videos. Inside the puppy mill cages there was one lone puppy by himself on the wire floor. They had atleast 20 different breeds. On the way to the car I told my mom they were obviously all puppy mill dogs, then my mom - the genius, said they were the puppy mill; using the store as a front to sell to the public directly.
We live in Palm Beach, which borders the Everglades where there is a lot of land, there are a lot of breeders - birds/dogs/horses/fish that live there because there's so much land. There was a recent bulldog puppy mill bust in Loxahatchee about 10 mins form here. There was also a place called "Puppy Palace" in Miami, they had 3 locations; and were shut down this spring by the sheriff and animal control. I'm thinking these are breeders from the Everglades/Loxahatchee area.
I'm going by tomorrow to see what the situation is, if there is no improvement who do I escalate this to? Do I keep calling animal control's commerical division? Should I call the local Humane Society? Do I call the news? PETA is about an hour away picketing the Petland in Deerfield Beach, should I contact them?
Please see the last entry derived from the scource, an employee.
On the way to the car I told my mom they were obviously all puppy mill dogs, then my mom - the genius, said they were the puppy mill; using the store as a front to sell to the public directly.
i dont understand this thing about them being having a store as a front for a puppy mill. wouldnt it be a puppy mill that also owns a store to sell the puppies directly to consumers? i dont understand what makes the store a front. if i own a farm and a supermarket, is the supermarket a front for my farm?
SHOW SOME PICTURES ..:: shouts the observer from Mn::!.. starla and others post some pictures of the place "Roger" has nothing to hide then he wont mind ..
cage shots and the mess your seeing .. fer real pictures tell the facts and a cell phone picture works well
As long term and loyal customer of this store, I wish to point out that Roger is entirely correct in the store's conditions. I will come on later this evening when I am on my own personal computer and post pictures of both the birds which have been accused of plucking as well as my own PERSONAL puppy which I took home from the store, who is in wonderful shape and is completely healthy, both with the store's vet's health certificate and the vet I personally use - The owners drove all the way to Georgia to ensure they got a healthy breeder which met their standards to get their Schnauzers from. The current owners take great pride in their store and the wonderful conditions of the puppies. Like I said, they will even make the 10 hour drive to Georgia to ensure they get healthy puppies from reputable breeders. When they say the puppies are purchased locally, they must mean the state of Florida (I know some puppies are from WPB, some from Daytona, etc) and occasionally Georgia, I'm sure they will happily clarify if questioned.
As far as the birds, not a single bird in the store plucks their feathers. Even Sassafrass, the rescue (who was neglected, malnourished to the brink of death, dehydrated, etc on point of arrival) does not pluck, she merely has a skin allergy which causes her feathers to fall out. She has only been there 2 months, I believe, and is already almost completely feathered since I saw her when she first came in. Many people come in and see the birds they have in the back and mistake them for ill; these birds are merely babies, as is posted in the window labeled "Nursery." Many people do not realize that birds are born entirely featherless and are brought in when they are a month to two months of age. The department's employees personally hand-feed and raise them and I've personally seen many people mistake them for sick since they are isolated in the back. They are isolated because at such a young age their immune system is very weak and could easily get sick if they were on the floor where customers could interact with them. People just don't seem to have enough knowledge about these animals and make such strange assumptions. If these birds were really sick and in such sorry condition, why would they be featured behind a huge class window for all to see?
I have been shopping at this store for.. gosh... 7 years now? I purchase all my animals there because they are the best to be found in the area. I have both fresh and salt water fish and tanks I've purchased there (and I've never lost a single fish!!), 2 birds I purchased there (large and small, as well as all their supplies), and the most recent addition, our Mini-Schnauzer puppy. You should see the true size of the pens the puppies are kept in - the big front pen is at least 5 foot by 3 foot (seems like a small difference, but it really is substantial) and there are only 2 dogs in there. I think they were young Goldens? - I've never seen a pet shop designate so much time and space to their animals... just go to your local chain store and see how they keep their dogs and cats (which are usually Peggy Adam's rescue animals, and she doesn't seem to mind seeing the cats in a 2-3 foot square dog kennel all day).
I'm an avid animal lover and spend a great deal of my time researching how to best care for both my birds and dogs, though my birds are my passion. I have never had any cause to complain about this store or I would never shop there.
There is always a question in one’s mind when reading this kind of horrific tale, do we “respond” to such rubbish, will that further the writers goals and encourage these horrible lies, or do we turn a deaf ear. Our decision to issue a “response” is made solely with the intent to set the record straight. We won’t be drawn into this debate, nor will we tune back in to see any hail storm of response, but we did want to take the opportunity to set the record straight. Whether we are believed or not, that will be up to the reader, but we will issue a response……. We are the new owners of My Whole Pet Market, formerly Kookaburra’s. We are not a puppy mill nor a front for anything …we are good and decent people who love animals and are trying like everyone else out there these days to make a living and support our children. We are working hard to keep the doors open of a much loved staple in our community, a family owned and operated pet shop. Being the victims of unknowingly purchasing a puppy from a store that sold puppy mill puppies once, it was our philosophy when buying the store, that if we gave people an option to buy a puppy that was breeder raised, we would be doing our small part to close down the puppy mills………. Who could have ever imagined that we would have ended up on the other end of the animal lovers by trying this breeder program? We spend many, many hours each week traveling to the homes of good and decent breeders, and checking out the facilities where our puppies come from. It has not all been a great experience, but certainly has opened our eyes…… Breeders come in all different shapes and sizes and with a variety of different ethics. But we have done our best to choose what we feel are honorable small home breeders……The tales in the previous post is nothing shy of out and out lies. Our birds without feathers are not the result of cruelty or self mutilating animals…… the back room the writer describes is our nursery with birds who have not yet grown feathers. The word Nursery is clearly written above the window! Or perhaps the writer describes the beautiful McCaw that we rescued from a life of starvation? Yes, Sassafrass was starving and missing feathers when she joined our store! I challenge anyone to take better care of their birds than our store! Fresh vegetables and fresh fruits to the tune of hundreds of dollars a month! An experienced and ethical team of experts raise all our birds like they are caring for their own children! I would trust them with any bird, to receive the best care that is available! Our Bird Dept team is the Best! The cages are immaculate! As for our puppies…… We have never had over 15 different breeds of puppies in our store at one time, EVER! Their cubicles, not cages well surpass state code in terms of sizes! And we did build a nice surrounding so that none of our dogs had to live in cages while waiting for their forever families. We have never taken a puppy into our store without first going in person to the breeders home to inspect and to see the parents! Our puppies do not ever lie in urine or feces, but occasionally like all puppies will, they spill their water bowls, and that is a challenge to catch it within seconds of a spill…….. We also have a full time staff to be sure that we clean up any poopie that may happen, so we may get that up the second it happens. We are just human and sometimes it does take five or ten minutes to spot an accident, but it is immediately cleaned. We are not perfect, but we are animal lovers and treat every pet in our shop like it is our own.My grandfather and his father before him owned a pet shop, and were loved throughout their community. It is such a shame that there are some people that just want to hurt us because no matter how we are doing it, they don’t agree with the selling of puppies, instead of giving us the benefit of the doubt that we are good and decent people trying to do things the right way. We can agree to disagree, but not that we don’t love the animals in our care! Perhaps if the small family owned, neighborhood pet shops were still as prevalent as they used to be, there would be less cruelty to animals. We host a children’s animal husbandry class, free of charge, every other Sunday, so that the neighborhood children will be raised with the love of pets and their decent care. Special need children and at-risk children attend in school and camp groups and are taught the proper way to love and care for animals…….. I wonder why that was not mentioned in the writer’s words……. How this type of program may stop animal abuse in the future…….We welcome this discussion, but when conducted respectfully, politely and professionally, we are happy to answer any questions. When someone goes on line and just tries to scare the public by telling these outrageous lies, we will have nothing else to say. Animal care and control has been besieged with complaints…… they are out visiting us constantly and checking to be sure that we are living up to the code and good ethics. We have not gotten even one citation. I'm sure that is public information, just ask them! They know who we are and how hard we work to do it the right way. What are all these animal lovers doing wasting that precious resource, because they don’t like the fact that we are selling puppies. They are filing false reports and just stirring up innuendo at the expense of animals that really do need protecting. Our puppies are under the constant care and support of Veterinarians who oversee their health and welfare once they are in our care. We are in full compliance with all the laws that protect animals and our Veterinarians are there for us to guide us at any and all times. Anyone coming into our store will see that we have many puppies of the same breed, because they are litters coming from breeders. We have never had 15 different breeds of puppies under our roof! Many of our puppies come home with us every night, so that they can enjoy the socialization that our homes offer....... even our staff members take puppies home at night..... because we love our animals!How will there ever be change if people like us, trying to do it well and differently, are thrown under the same bus as the people out there that are not operating for the well-being of animals.If the debate is about whether there should be Breeder programs and pure bred dogs, we are all in it for the discussion. But the way to have that intelligent discussion is not to just hurl accusations about false and deplorable conditions in our store that are untrue. The writer is using some terrible accusations to get good and caring people to gather in fury over our store. We are under the supervision, as every pet shop is, of the Animal Care and Control. Any doubts about our ethics and treatment of the puppies and other pets under our care, they will surely have their eye on us, and everyone knows how to reach them. Using the internet to destroy good and honorable people by telling lies is just terrorism. In this day and age when we all desperately need to be working, how unfair! Come visit our store, and you will get to know who we are, how experienced our staff is, the quality of our products and how much we love our animals! J. ScottOwnerMy Whole Pet Market, LLC
When the following rescue organizations all close their doors because there are no more homeless animals in your area, lets say from Jupiter down the coast to Boca Raton then maybe you can justify commercial breeding just for profit.
there is no point in defending yourself here. there are too many nuts that think it is evil to open a pet store, no matter how well it is operated.
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