# Pet stores: my experiences



## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Hello. So I saw the other thread and posted on it but it was getting a little off topic. It got me thinking that I should share my experiences with you all. Lets not fight though. We all agree the following things are bad and these are just MY experiences. Thanks for taking the time to read it. 

PETLAND: The worst offender in my opinion. 

I talked about this a little bit in a different thread. But here is what I witnessed. I was hired as a sales person. If you ever go to Petland, you will see associates standing in front of the puppy cages. They are waiting for an opportunity to show you a puppy. These people are SHARKS! Don't trust them. They get commission! It's easy money, if you don't have a soul. When they sell a puppy, it comes with a puppy booster gel (which you have to purchase and they teach us to sell this HARD). The booster gel is a high dose of vitamins and I believe it is to mask any problems the puppy might have until the warranty is up. They do warranty their puppies but its a joke. And even then, you can do nothing for the psychological problems I have heard some puppies end up having.

Parvo. Maybe it was just an issue at the store I worked at. In the back kennel area, there were two huge boxes filled with parvo test kits. Anyone needing THAT many surely was having an issue with parvo. Sure enough, after talking to the ladies that worked in the kennel, it was. One older lady in particular explained (with tears in her eyes) how they test them and how she really wanted another job but couldn't find one. Apparently, having to deal with cute, sick little puppies all day long in the name of SALES, it can get to you. And the ones that tested parvo...poor things. They were locked in this huge metal isolation cage with looked like a giant fridge. I was told by management that they got looked at by a vet and was told by the kennel staff that they usually just died. I did not work there long enough to verify either story. Customers would ask where the puppies went and we were to tell them an associate took them outside to potty and get fresh air. yeah, right. And as we know, parvo is very contagious especially to young puppies, older dogs, and immuno suppressed dogs as well. I wonder if the parvo in the stores ever get transferred to customers' homes?

On my second day, I had to use the restroom. It was next to the owner's office. If you didn't know, Petland is a franchise. So, anyone can run one if you have the start up cash. There was a husband and wife that owned the one I worked at. I don't think anyone knew I was in the bathroom and you could hear EVERYTHING that is going on in the office. I heard a dog warden asking the wife for the paperwork of the 'dead' puppies. So of course, I stayed in there to eavesdrop. Apparently, shortly before I started, two puppies died on separate dates. And now the wife couldn't find the paperwork. I could hear her shuffling through papers and going through filing cabinets as the warden waited. There was fear in her voice too. "What the heck did I sign up for with this job?" I thought to myself. I almost walked out right then but I thought maybe I could learn more so I stayed. 

Puppies would stay in their cages 24/7 except when customers asked to see them. Then we had to carry them to these little cubicle areas where customers could play with them. The puppies were not allowed to touch the pet store floor. Its been a while since I worked there and I can't remember what the reason for this was but it was ENFORCED. I put a yellow lab puppy down that was about 45 pounds because it was squirming so much it head butted me (because the poor thing was cooped up all the time!) and I got yelled at. If a puppy did not get sold for $2000 or however much it was (we had an English Bulldog that was $6200!) it would slowly get reduced down until it did get purchased. There was a wirehair dachshund (my favorite type) that I was really worried for because he was only $600 and had been there for months and months (according to my coworkers). I asked what happens if he never sells and they told me eventually he would get sent back to the broker. I have no idea what would happen if that did occur. Maybe become a breeder (even worse!). 

The prices are ridiculous. I have told countless people when I worked at Petco so many reasons NOT to buy from a store (as I got this question a lot because a lot of people don't realize Petco doesn't sell puppies). Thousands of dollars for a common breed of dog (poodle, lab, etc.) and more for mixed designer breeds that we know are mutts. Nothing wrong with a mutt, I have two and I love them, but there is no reason in my mind to pay those kinds of prices! Not to mention they are mostly sick either physically or mentally. No one should EVER finance a dog through a pet store. But yet, people do all the time or these places would not exist. I am sorry but people are stupid. You want a happy healthy mutt? GO to the shelter. Want a pure bred dog? Get on a list at a shelter or go to a breeder. And the price is not the last money you will spend. Oh no, vet trips for congenital problems or extra behavioral training to stop separation anxiety/excessive shyness, etc. 

My store recently started this promotion where they were devoting cage space to shelter dogs. I thought this was interesting and went to check it out. What a joke. Out of about perhaps twenty window slots, only two were for shelter dogs. They were in the back too so less exposure from the front of the store. They were also almost full grown black labs both times I went. Sorry, I myself am a black lab owner and I took mine in when he was full grown but truth be told, those are the least adoptable as far as I have seen (worked briefly at a shelter). Yes, its good they are doing this but its almost lip service to me. How can those boisterus lab pups compete with tiny fluff balls?

And its not just the dogs that get the short end of the stick: poor parakeets. we had an open cage for parakeets. It was like, a four sided cube with no top. So little kids were reaching in there to grab the scared poopless birds. AT night, I would find parakeets all over the store (under gondolas, under habitats) and 4 out of 5 of them would be dead  I don't think anyone else even bothered to look? mAybe when it was time for inventory? Like I said, I wasn't there long. And one last thing I saw was the ball pythons. I was really into snakes back when this happened so I was excited when they got a shipment in. Only it wasn't baby balls but full grown adults. Females, I think because they were huge. The manager signed off on them and I examined them. They were COVERED in mites. The go under the scales and burrow in the skin beneath. So the scale sticks out. I asked the manager if he checked them and he said he did so I showed him. He just shrugged. Mites are a pain to get rid of and I threw a fit. So the manager told the kennel girls to take care of it. They did, they bathed all the snakes in mite remedy. But still, he almost put them out for sale had I said nothing. 

And that's just what I saw in four days. Even if you don't buy a dog there, don't buy ANYTHING there. Don't give them your money. 

I also worked at an indy mom and pop store:

The place is a fire hazard. It is not wheelchair accessible. The owner knows everyone in all the right places because a friend of mine has tried to get this place shut down for a long time to no avail. The birds have three inches of filth at the bottom. They used to sell puppies and kittens and my uncle bought a poodle there and gave it to my grandma. First time I ever saw a two toned poodle (black and tan). Yes, not conformation for poodles. The owner said she stopped because the people who bred them for her stopped. I asked about why no kittens? She wouldn't tell me. Later on (I worked there for a year) her husband told me it was because one had rabies. They took unwanted kittens from people off the street (for free of course) and sold them. One got sold, went home and bit someone. Turns out, it had rabies. So they stopped selling kittens. CAH~~~RAZY! 

She keeps mice unsexed together and they continuously breed. One time, while counting the mice, I had a total of 98 in one ten gallon tank. I wish I was lying, but I am not. There is more to tell but its an indy store and you will never see it. My point is INDY stores can be just as bad or worse than the big stores.


And finally, PETCO:

Petco has a great store motto: animals come first. Not always the case though. With very limited staffing, sometimes between animal care and customer service, things get...overlooked. 
They get their animals from farms that have horrible practices similar to puppy mills. When you have lazy employees, the animals suffer. I was in management and grooming/training there. I would see birds and tortoises with moldy food, tanks FULL of dead fish, and animals in the wellness room (sick room) with forgotten meds and just general lack of care. Its a per store thing. Some stores are well run and some are not. Petco does great things with adoption. 

That's all I can think of right now.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I haven't spent money at a pet store in almost six months. The only pet stores I will buy from are ones that don't sell ANY animals AT ALL.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

We have a store up here called Farmland. It sounds like your second store but they still sell puppies. Their puppies live 3-4 in one cube. These cubes are the smallest I have ever seen in a pet store. They most cramped one had two half grown beagle puppies and two schnauzer puppies in it. Their bigger puppies (two goldens) are in those big blue storage bins that slide under the cubes. When people want to see them they slide the bin out and when people are done, the bin gets pushed back under. They don't even have someone in charge of taking puppies out for people who want to see them. Anyone can walk into the puppy room and take out a binned puppy. You have to shuffle down the aisles sideways because they aren't wide enough for a person to walk down them. Their fish are your average petsmart species but they are HUGE and in tanks much too small for them. It's a horrible store. I have major puppy fever right now (it started a couple months ago) so I stopped in for the second time (I went in one time when I first moved here) just to go see the corgi and rottie pups, but once I walked in there I remembered why it had been a year since I had last gone into that store. It is just a horrible place and I feel so bad for those pups that I just want to take them all home but I can't for obvious reasons. I will always get my pups from breeders who health test and do things properly. While living my life with my healthy dogs I will continue to look for ways to shut down these horrid little stores...


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

How awful! but what about when you need to but guinea pig bedding, a cage, something like that? I have a rat and a guinea pig and I do go to petsmart to purchase their bedding and oxbow brand food. I've heard the petsmart orders their pets they sell from a mill called rainbow, Its really bad from what I've read and I think petco orders from their too. We dont have a petco here tho.


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

My shar-pei was from a pet store (that has gone out of business recently thank gosh) I dont like to discuss it because I still feel guilty and it wasnt even my fault  My mom brought her to me as a surprise as I wanted a pei for 11 years before getting her. But had I known she was going to get me one, I would have found one not from a pet store. Im just grateful that she has been healthy and as I know pet stores basically suck.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Dude and Bucks mama: I don't blame you for wanting to go look. I have done this too. But you have to be careful you don't accidentily give your heart to someone there. Its so easy to do. You have to stay strong. Your money keeps these stores going. On my last day at Petland, I was showing a yellow lab (the one that headbutted me) and I was telling the customer NOT to buy the dog and a brief synapsis of how bad it is and she felt bad leaving the lab there. She wanted to take it. So I reminded her that her money was the fuel to this horrible fire and to think of the mama and daddy labs, who have it worse and will die sick, abused, and alone. 

More people need to understand the truth. I sent out an email kind of like my post here and it went pretty far! I got responses from all over the country..in fact I got one just the other day and its been years since I sent it. The word needs to get out!


We can all make a difference. 

And AVERTANDAUDRY: this is your call. If thats your only option, then you have to do what you have to do. I would try a farm and tractor store or Trader Horn or something. I am trying to support these places and save money

ex: instead of clumping cat litter, I am going to try horse bedding and chicken feed (that's another story though of course)


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

wolfsnaps88 said:


> Dude and Bucks mama: I don't blame you for wanting to go look. I have done this too. But you have to be careful you don't accidentily give your heart to someone there. Its so easy to do. You have to stay strong. Your money keeps these stores going. On my last day at Petland, I was showing a yellow lab (the one that headbutted me) and I was telling the customer NOT to buy the dog and a brief synapsis of how bad it is and she felt bad leaving the lab there. She wanted to take it. So I reminded her that her money was the fuel to this horrible fire and to think of the mama and daddy labs, who have it worse and will die sick, abused, and alone.
> 
> More people need to understand the truth. I sent out an email kind of like my post here and it went pretty far! I got responses from all over the country..in fact I got one just the other day and its been years since I sent it. The word needs to get out!
> 
> ...


Ive used stall pellets for the past few months for my girls....they are raw fed so it DOES make a difference in their stool and urine but my husband and I both LOVE using stall pellets rather then "kitty litter"......and hey, what can I say, I TOTALLY dont mind that my 2nd bedroom smells like the barn rather then a nasty concrete dusted room!!:wink:


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

I wish i had the option of a store like that but we dont have that here. Maybe I could use shredded paper as bedding and just clean it more often. Sorry getting way off topic, but I do wish I didnt have to go there.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

I wouldn't use paper. The guineas might eat it and it would do nothing for odor control. Nobody is going to judge you for going to Petsmart though


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

AveryandAudrey said:


> How awful! but what about when you need to but guinea pig bedding, a cage, something like that? I have a rat and a guinea pig and I do go to petsmart to purchase their bedding and oxbow brand food. I've heard the petsmart orders their pets they sell from a mill called rainbow, Its really bad from what I've read and I think petco orders from their too. We dont have a petco here tho.


I have four rats. I buy most of their stuff from PetSmart. I can't help it. It's convenient and I certainly don't want to give my money to Farmland. I have been so tempted to get a PetSmart rat lately. There is a super social little black girl there who is just so freaking sweet. Instead though, I found a great little privately owned rescue called Best Friends Rodent Rescue. This rescue is in Kenmore and she took in 80 of the rats from the Hoarders episode. We picked up our two new girl ratties on the second. 

When I walked in my first thought was, "Omg that's a lot of cages..." She runs it out of her home and she has around 90 rats. She has been able to place around 200 in the past few months. She has a bunch of those big tall, multi leveled cages and she has everybody in cages with other rats they like. If she gets a rat that doesn't like anyone, he is given a cage of his own rather than being forced to live with rats he doesn't get along with. My two girls were part of a litter that was dumped at a shelter. They were in with two big black males (one was from Hoarders) who were more like babysitters. They would lay there while the babies hopped all over them and antagonized them and would body block them when one of the babies got too close to the edge of the cage while the door was open. 

Her place was clean, odorless, and there wasn't a single rat in there who didn't look healthy. This IS her job. She puts 100% of her time into it. It was wonderful. She was worried about a virus going around (nonlethal) that generally just made everyone sniffly. She told us that we could either come back later or pick our two and come get them later or just take them home since it wasn't something that would kill them. It was kind of like a cold for rats. We took them home anyways and she sent us home with medication for them even though our girls weren't sick. She has emailed me several times asking how they were doing. We haven't had a single sniffle and all of her remaining rats are almost over the virus. I can guarantee that if I didn't have so much past experience with rats, she would not have let me take my girls home. 

She also has two guinea pigs who ned homes if anyone in our area is interested. Hahaha. 

Just comparing this place and all of the time and care she puts into rats to the way a PetSmart or Petco rat is cared for and kept fully decided for me that I will NEVER buy a rat from one of those two stores. My girls are still babies and, even though they are still just miniatures of what they will be as adults, they are so well socialized. They sit on our shoulders for hours, don't struggle when we hold them and Ace will stretch herself out under my hair along the back of my neck and go to sleep. Deuce is a little more shy but will still happily sit on a shoulder. Hopper, my one petco rat that I had in California was psycho... 

I know that wasn't fully on topic but it does show the difference their "store" can make. Pet store rat... crazy, unsocialized biter. Rescue rat properly socialized by someone who cares... Wonderful pet who enjoys human company.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I've only been to petland once because at the time it was the only place that carried a particular brand of bird food. But even that was enough to send me running for the hills. I rarely go to petsmart/petco to check up on the condition of the animals. I've reported sick birds before and even though got a reply from the manager, I highly doubt they would spend the money to treat $20 parakeets. I find that 90% of time store employees are utterly clueless about their own merchandise, I've asked them or a certain item and they didnt even know it existed, let alone sold at their stores. This one time I had Uno with me and I was passing by a nutro sales rep, so she ran up to me, started petting my dog and asking what I was feeding because he has such a nice coat. At the time it was acana, so I told me. She gave me a puzzled look and told that she never heard of it (no kidding), then she started to tell him how awesome nutro is, blah, blah. I asked her about the rice content and recalls and she tried to come up with some BS excuse(dogs are omnivores, recalls happen, etc). I just thanked her and told her that I know what works best for my dog and I'll just stick with it.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

AveryandAudrey said:


> I wish i had the option of a store like that but we dont have that here. Maybe I could use shredded paper as bedding and just clean it more often. Sorry getting way off topic, but I do wish I didnt have to go there.


Where are you from and what bedding do you use now??


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

When I worked at the Indy store, I briefly bred guinea pigs. I handled the babies and they all went to great homes (the owner made 35 a pig and I saw none of it ) EVERY SINGLE person who took one of my babies came back to see if I had more because they either wanted one or someone saw how friendly they were and they knew someone who wanted one. I stopped after only a few litters because even though it was fun, I was not compensated and I was LOSING money (extra food, extra bedding, etc). My babies were awesome. And all different hairdos too. lol

Petco guinea pigs (and petsmart too) are NUTS! They are farmed pigs and not treated well. Then transported to stores and basically ignored except to clean and sell them. 

I should have started my own business. I could have sold so many babies back then. Much better temperments than store bought. And I think this is true with every animal.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

UNOSMOM, oh please, don't even get me started on food reps. I had an all out fight with one when I worked at Petco. Thats another story though. And when I worked at Petland, I spent some time with a kid helping him with hermit crab stuff. My manager came over and told me to wrap it up and go back over to the puppy cages. I guess the profit margin for hermit crab supplies is much smaller than a two thousand dollar puppy.

Sorry kid. I hope you can reach that waterdish yourself. I have to go stand over here and NOT help you because you aren't spending enough money :/


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

Dude and Bucks Mamma said:


> I have four rats. I buy most of their stuff from PetSmart. I can't help it. It's convenient and I certainly don't want to give my money to Farmland. I have been so tempted to get a PetSmart rat lately. There is a super social little black girl there who is just so freaking sweet. Instead though, I found a great little privately owned rescue called Best Friends Rodent Rescue. This rescue is in Kenmore and she took in 80 of the rats from the Hoarders episode. We picked up our two new girl ratties on the second.
> 
> When I walked in my first thought was, "Omg that's a lot of cages..." She runs it out of her home and she has around 90 rats. She has been able to place around 200 in the past few months. She has a bunch of those big tall, multi leveled cages and she has everybody in cages with other rats they like. If she gets a rat that doesn't like anyone, he is given a cage of his own rather than being forced to live with rats he doesn't get along with. My two girls were part of a litter that was dumped at a shelter. They were in with two big black males (one was from Hoarders) who were more like babysitters. They would lay there while the babies hopped all over them and antagonized them and would body block them when one of the babies got too close to the edge of the cage while the door was open.
> 
> ...




Thats so cool you found a rescue. And I love those cages with the levels (ferret nation cages are cool) I know a good rat forum, I'll pm you. And,I'm in TX and I guess for now I'm stuck with carefresh from petsmart then.


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

I was at petland one time and there was a cricket in the frogs waterbowl. I made the employee get it out before it drowned. She was so irritated with me. Ha!


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

AveryandAudrey said:


> And,I'm in TX and I guess for now I'm stuck with carefresh from petsmart then.


Have you tried feed stores?? Both mine locally(a chain one and a little locally owned one)sell small animal supplies!:thumb:


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

Ugh, I buy pretty much everything online from fosters and smith or other online stores. The pet store here closed down, thank god because they were too lazy to clean anything, 3 people standing around, cages and tanks just nasty. Drove me nuts, I set up a saltwater tank for the owner in the store and helped maintain it for awhile, eventually she took it over and I'd go in, the skimmer was overflowing, tank was 4 inches short of water, which means the salt level is through the roof, all the corals died off, it looked terrible. 

Also I started breeding my own mice because they wanted $4 a piece for them, I was short and bought some at their new location, she let me grab my own. They were all in filthy 10-20 gallon tanks, no hiding spots, nothing to chew, no separation of males/females/babies, just a ton of mice in a dark basement eating rabbit pellets. She gave me several males that got beat up by the others and a couple times told me the mice all died because she forgot to feed or water them. Jesus, I understand they are just feeder mice, but mine get plenty of space, constant cleaning, quality food, stuff to play in/chew on. They'd ask for advice and completely ignore it. 

My Ball Python came from that store's previous owner, when they got it in I checked him out but he was ordered for someone. 3 days later stop in, he's in the same deli container, sitting in the open doorway in March in MN. I had to setup a cage and put him in there because no one would touch him, I had to print out info on care, come in and feed him, when it sold the new owner didn't want snakes in there and the old owner asked me to buy him at cost $35 (captive bred) with free feeders so the hoarder interested in him didn't. Thought I'd rehome him down the line but that was almost 7 years ago.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I go to PetSmart mostly because dogs are welcome and I am doing everything possible to socialize Buck. Nick was on leave for two weeks for Christmas and we were there nearly every day and never bought anything. We go just for the socialization if I don't need anything for the girls (rats). I buy their pellets there but am slowly working them into a "raw" diet. I have never been fond of feeding pellets but can never bring myself to buy them the mixes because they leave all of the seeds which makes up half the bag. 

We were at PetSmart yesterday and I saw a Nutro rep talking to a woman. Her family was standing a little ways away just waiting for mom to finish talking to the rep about what food they should get for their allergy riddled boxer. I walked up to the husband after I pulled down a few bags of various Nutro foods to read the ingredients and said, "I wouldn't recommend Nutro. It is full of rice and stuff your dog won't be able to digest. All of the stuff that her body can't use is what you will be picking up in the backyard." I then directed them over to Naturally4Paws where they would be able to look into Orijen, Acana, etc. and I also suggested raw. 

In the same trip we were also assaulted by a Blue Buffalo rep. She talked to us for a while about unrelated things (she wasn't nearly as pushy as most reps) and you could tell that she was genuinely interested in the conversation we were having but then it got to food. She asked what we feed and I told her we feed PMR. She said, "Have you heard of Blue Buffalo?". I almost said, "Well duh... I feed raw, have dogs, and shop at PetSmart..." but that wouldn't have been very polite and I know that not everyone is as food obsessed as us folks. She says, "Well, when you get tired of raw..." I cut her off and said, "I know what is in kibble and I don't want any of that in my dogs' bodies. I will never feed another dog kibble again. No dog should have to." I'm not exactly against Blue Buffalo and I am certainly not against people feeding high quality kibbles but saying "When you get tired of raw" just really rubbed me the wrong way.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Thanks for sharing this.

We talk about legislating puppy mills and pet stores out of business until we are blue in the face but really, that's not the way to go.

The only way to stop it is to stop buying the dogs - put them out of business from the consumer end.

And when you can google "pet stores" and find all the horrors of puppy mills right on the internet, there's just no excuse for people not being aware of what they are supporting when they buy a dog from a pet store. 

Shoot, we do more research buying laundry detergent than we do dogs.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

When I was like 12 we got a chocolate lab puppy from a pet store without knowing any better. He was SO sick, had diarrhea that was pretty much just blood and mucous... when we took him to the vet they said he was pretty much close to death. Severely dehydrated from the diarrhea, and he was really weak, he had to be hospitalized for two days. Later on we found out that the person who owned the store was actually shut down at a previous location in another city, but reopened in mine. An aquiantance of mine worked there for a bit but had to quit, she said if the kittens were sick they would drown them and send them back for a ''credit'' to get new kittens, Or when puppies would die they would put them in the freezer and also send them back for new ones. If that is true, Im not sure, but either way its scary and sad to think that people can work with animals and think of them as nothing more than store inventory.


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

AveryandAudrey said:


> How awful! but what about when you need to but guinea pig bedding, a cage, something like that? I have a rat and a guinea pig and I do go to petsmart to purchase their bedding and oxbow brand food.* I've heard the petsmart orders their pets they sell from a mill called rainbow,* Its really bad from what I've read and I think petco orders from their too. We dont have a petco here tho.


Not true, while at times I question the quality of care from a vendor, this is not the name of any of our vendors. All of our vendors are based on district. My district birds and now small animals come from a quality vendor in Oregon. Our reptiles come from a very well known herp farm in Arizona. PM me if you wat to know more, but we do not share a vendor with petco. Our vendors are on contract to sell to us and meet our standards. A rep from our company randomly inspects our vendors every three months to make sure that they meet our standards (if they don't they will be cut from our program, I have seen this in my time here).


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## bernadettelevis (Feb 2, 2011)

i didn't red all the posts, but in Austria it is not allowed to sell puppies in stores anymore. I can still remember when i was little, it was still allowed.

However there is a huge puppy mill in germany, well i don't know if you also call it a puppy mill since he doesn't breed the dogs, but buys them from the eastern european countries. Most puppies there have pavo or other diseases. There are over 500 complaints about this "puppy farm" but the authorities don't so anything to stop it  If you want to see the puppies you even have to pay an entrance fee of 4€. How insane is that???


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

bernadettelevis said:


> i didn't red all the posts, but in Austria it is not allowed to sell puppies in stores anymore. I can still remember when i was little, it was still allowed.
> 
> However there is a huge puppy mill in germany, well i don't know if you also call it a puppy mill since he doesn't breed the dogs, but buys them from the eastern european countries. Most puppies there have pavo or other diseases. There are over 500 complaints about this "puppy farm" but the authorities don't so anything to stop it  If you want to see the puppies you even have to pay an entrance fee of 4€. How insane is that???


Pay before you enter? Is he running a puppy zoo?

Actually, there is a reptile sore here where I live that charges an entry fee before you look. She claims there are too many people that come in to look and waste her and her employee's time, apparently if you actually buy an animal what you paid at the door goes towards it. However, with the descriptions from my customers I will never set foot in this store to find out. 
I don't wanna get too much into working at a pet store, but I quit petco even though I was in super debt and had no other options because I could not handle their policies. I work at PetsMart and I love it. However, I will admit that not many petsmarts are as good as mine, I have worked in others that aren't. I just got really lucky with a really great management team and a crew who actually cares about the animals.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Kat said:


> When I was like 12 we got a chocolate lab puppy from a pet store without knowing any better. He was SO sick, had diarrhea that was pretty much just blood and mucous... when we took him to the vet they said he was pretty much close to death. Severely dehydrated from the diarrhea, and he was really weak, he had to be hospitalized for two days. Later on we found out that the person who owned the store was actually shut down at a previous location in another city, but reopened in mine. An aquiantance of mine worked there for a bit but had to quit, she said if the kittens were sick they would drown them and send them back for a ''credit'' to get new kittens, Or when puppies would die they would put them in the freezer and also send them back for new ones. If that is true, Im not sure, but either way its scary and sad to think that people can work with animals and think of them as nothing more than store inventory.


I'm sure that's true, i've seen it on documentaries. It's like buying a toaster - if you get it home and it doesn't work, you take it back for another one. Probably why they froze the bodies - they have to return them to get credit.

I can't remember how many puppies out of a litter actually make it to a home in healthy shape, but I remember being surprised at the high number that died due to illness and poor treatment. And puppies are killed at birth if they are deemed un-saleable for whatever reason.


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## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

We bought echo from petland 10 years ago. He was the last lil long haired daxi all in there horrible wire cages... and my sister and mom gave in. I walked in the door and all of a sudden there was a puppy. His front paws have severe growth plate issues. His paws are basically at a 90 degree angle from where they should be. I blame them but who knows. 

I also went in to price shop kibble at petland... and a 14 year old was basically yelling at me for not giving my 10 month old jack x enough calcium... she had no idea what we were feeding. Whatever, they annoy me.

I only by from petplanet when needed. No animals to be found and the employees remember cashew by name. I like it. Internet shopping for the win mostly


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Huginn said:


> I don't wanna get too much into working at a pet store, but I quit petco even though I was in super debt and had no other options because I could not handle their policies. I work at PetsMart and I love it. However, I will admit that not many petsmarts are as good as mine, I have worked in others that aren't. I just got really lucky with a really great management team and a crew who actually cares about the animals.


As you know Tif, this is my same experience with petsmart and petco...although the petcos where different stores they both stunk and I quit within a week after learning stuff about them!
Ive got to say, I loved working at both of my petsmarts though...the first one I worked at didnt have an amazing management team in regards of them knowing what they are doing, but they allowed us to take care of the animals how we needed to! And well the 2nd one was just great in that regards as well!:thumb:


I dont agree with pet stores selling animals, no....but compared to the large local pet stores that Ive gone into....most petsmarts are far better! (Tiffany you know which one Im talking about over there!!uke


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

Scarlett_O' said:


> As you know Tif, this is my same experience with petsmart and petco...although the petcos where different stores they both stunk and I quit within a week after learning stuff about them!
> Ive got to say, I loved working at both of my petsmarts though...the first one I worked at didnt have an amazing management team in regards of them knowing what they are doing, but they allowed us to take care of the animals how we needed to! And well the 2nd one was just great in that regards as well!:thumb:
> 
> 
> I dont agree with pet stores selling animals, no....but compared to the large local pet stores that Ive gone into....most petsmarts are far better! (Tiffany you know which one Im talking about over there!!uke


I sure do, people complain to me about that store everyday. . . and the other one is getting worse too. I love my LFS (Local Fish Store) and mostly buy from her, the only live animals I will purchase from pet stores are fish and reptiles and they have to have a high standard of care and a really good amount of knowledge. If a store sells dogs or cats I will not buy fish or herps from them, ever. The herp trade is different than cats and dogs and most come from species specific breeders, if there were more herp fairs around here I probably would just purchase from there. 
After working at PetCo, I will never give them my money again. In the two and a half years since I worked there I haven't given them a dime and have only entered the store on a occasion, when drug in by friends.


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## bernadettelevis (Feb 2, 2011)

Huginn said:


> Pay before you enter? Is he running a puppy zoo?
> .


If you consider that they have up to 20 breeds of puppies in cages, yeah it comes pretty close to a puppy zoo:'(

The thing i don't understand with all your puppy mill and store puppies, is the price.

Here if people, buy from places like the one i've mentioned it is a price thing. A puppy from a breeder costs between 800-1500€ a puppy from those "puppy zoos" costs about 250€. 

There are so many people who find this place horrible but still buy a puppy because they feel sorry. Even animal rescues buy some puppys from them because they are sorry.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

here, the puppies are almost always way higher than a breeder. And a large percentage of them aren't even purebred dogs. Boggles the mind, that's for sure.

they know people feel sorry - it's what keeps them in business.

But I guarantee if they walk through any animal shelter in this country they will feel alot sorrier.


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

bernadettelevis said:


> If you consider that they have up to 20 breeds of puppies in cages, yeah it comes pretty close to a puppy zoo:'(
> 
> The thing i don't understand with all your puppy mill and store puppies, is the price.
> 
> ...


I completely avoid walking in to those places, I know that I will feel bad and want to buy one just to get it out of there, but if you even give them a dime you are just encouraging them and funding their ability to buy more pups. That's the hardest part of it.


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## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

I have never been to a pet store that sells puppies, i don't think there are any in Wales. I'm sure there's a few in England though, it's awful and I agree that it should be banned worldwide


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

I've worked at Petsmart and Petco. 

I have to say that Petco is a joke. They are disgusting in the way they keep their animals. I don't shop there anymore.

Petsmart was a lot better. We treated the animals with a lot of respect. I was the main opener 6-2 mon-fri, in the pet care department. Animals always got treatment immediately and were monitored closely. I remember one beautiful guinea pig that had the worst upper respiratory infection. We did everything we could for him. Changed his bedding to different things trying to find one that worked, he got daily breathing treatments at the in store vet, antibiotics, a healthy diet. Sadly they made the decision to euthanize him because he did not improve. One little Beardie came in with his hand bitten off. He was rushed to the vet, treated and I ended up adopting him. He grew to a 2 foot monster and waved that little stump happily. 

All in all, petsmart is Better but neither is ideal. 

I have a petsmart rat and she is not psycho. She is happy, silly, friendly and smart. I had a few other petsmart rats that were perfectly great little rats.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I guess it depends on the stores, I know a lot of people despise banfield and petsmart groomers, but it really depends on the groomer and the vet staff thats employed at the clinic.


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## biancaDB (Nov 3, 2011)

I'm happy to say I've only worked at Pet Valu and it's probably the only pet store I will shop at now. The only animals we sell are rescued cats and we only have one at a time. Many other Pet Valu's do the same thing as well and if they don't, it is strictly a pet supply store. When cats were in the store, they were very well cared for. Our staff receives training and it is often required you have some sort of background surrounding animal care to be hired (at least the stores in my region). I'm not even saying all of this just because I worked there, it really is a great pet supply store!


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## Huginn (Nov 21, 2011)

Sprocket said:


> I've worked at Petsmart and Petco.
> 
> I have to say that Petco is a joke. They are disgusting in the way they keep their animals. I don't shop there anymore.
> 
> ...


PetCo doesn't even keep track of the animals in their "wellness room," they have no log of who is sick, why they are sick and if they are improving. There are just hand written notes everywhere. The final straw for me (well final three) happened in the same week. 
1. They decided it was their policy to euthanize the tadpoles that sometimes end up coming in with the goldfish shipment. We could not adopt them out or even take them home ourselves. I told the manager that I refused to do it, the tads couldnt harbor any diseases different than what their goldies had and were not sick, in pain or dying. I flat out refused, I said the opener could do it and I wouldn't argue, but I refused to do it myself. The next day, there were two little tads waiting for me in the wellness room, with a note from the manager (same one that I spoke to the day before) saying "Tiffany, you have to euthanize these." I snuck them out with the trash and took them home and raised them into frogs.
2. There was a sick iguana, that was starting to star gaze and was falling over. I begged the manager to let me isolate him and have the vet look at him when he came in on his next round as I believed he had a very serious (and highly contagious) bacterial infection that causes this symptom. He let me isolate him, but I had to pull a tank and a screen top off of the shelf. I went to bring him the UPCs so that he could write off the product as store use (this is what I was taught to do at PM when I worked there). He actually yelled at me for removing the labels because he was going to put it back on the shelf after the animal died/got better. Really? You know that what he have could be contagious, but you are going to resell the product anyway? Great idea. 
3. The final day, I had a customer bring me a Home Depot bucket with two very large fish in it. He had called early and asked if we could take them for our adoption program, he misrepresented the fish as two little tetras to the manager he spoke with. This was a breeding pair of south american cichlids. Some sort of hyper red jag or something like that. I told him they were too big and we didnt have the space, he put the bucket down and said "they are your problem now, I paid $100 for the pair, consider it a donation" and he left. I texted a pic to my old PM manager who is a fish junkie and asked what they were. I got a response that said "expensive, bring them to me." The manager at PetCo told me I had to put them in the freezer, then she hung up on me. I called her back and asked her if I could find another pet store that could take them if I could bring them home with me (apparently it is against policy for employees to take home animals that customers do not want), she finally agreed. All of the pet stores were closed due to it being Sunday so the next day I drove them to Spokane to my old boss. Four hour drive for the life of some fish, I am a softie. 
After that I refused to work, I did a no call no show, then went in to get my paycheck on my day off and told them I respected animals too much to work at this store. That is the only time I have EVER walked out on a job. 

Two years later I am back in Spokane and working at PetsMart again and I couldn't be happier. Healthy animals, friendly people, caring management team and coworkers that actually find me knowledgeable. 



Unosmom said:


> I guess it depends on the stores, I know a lot of people despise banfield and petsmart groomers, but it really depends on the groomer and the vet staff thats employed at the clinic.


This is very true, I will be going to Banfield with my puppy, but I will only see one vet and it is because I like her personally. If she leaves I will no longer use that clinic. One bad experience really turns people off to a lot of things.


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