What is wrong with buying a dog from a pet store?

Question

I've heard this is not the best route to take, but won't they end up putting the animals they don't sell to sleep?

Answer 1

No responsible dog breeder would give their dogs to a pet store to sell. So most of the dogs you see in pet stores are low-grade, low-quality dogs from puppy mills or backyard breeders and are horribly over-priced. Even if you get a "purebred" dog from a pet shop, you're buying a purebred that even breeders themselves don't want...

The idea that pet shops don't know where their stock comes from is preposterous. The law requires them to be able to prove to the Health Department where the animal came from.

It's not common practice for pet shops to kill their stock; they make their money off of sales and would lose everything they've invested in the animals if they killed them.

But if you're concerned about dogs that may be put to sleep, you need to get your dog from a shelter. You'll be saving the dog's life, and you'll most likely be getting a dog that has already been spayed/neutered, wormed, and made current on all of its shots.

To find a dog near you, try these websites:

petfinder.com
pets911.com
1-800-save-a-pet.com
nextdaypets.com

At most of these sites you can search for dogs by your city name or zip code to find a dog close to where you live.

Good luck!

Answer 2

When you go into a pet store, they will tell you they do not deal with puppy mills, they get their dogs from breeders. The translation here is, they consider the owners of the puppy mills to BE breeders! You may receive papers on your pup that have names on them from the people who bred them. They are your puppy mill "breeders."

I personally have no problem in going to a reputable breeder to buy a certain breed. These are people who will interview you before you even buy their pups. You will usually get to see the parents of the pups and see the environment in which they're raised. I bought my shepherds from a breeder. I rescued my dachshund.

You have received so many amazing answers to this question from caring people. Follow their advice. The puppies in the pet stores are very unlikely to be put down. They will be sold for an exorbitant fee to someone else. If they get a little older, they will drop the price, and they'll be sold. The dogs in shelters are on death row. If you're concerned about dogs being put to sleep, these dogs are at death's doorstep.

Answer 3

Dear Posey,
I'm sorry if this makes you upset but, you should not buy from a puppy store. Puppy mills sell puppies around three weeks to the pet stores to make money. After paying lots of money 95% goes to the puppymill owners so they can get rich. Puppy mill owners are just breeding for money not for improving the breed. Before coming to the pet stores, puppies are taken away at three weeks (8 weeks is the correct time to take them away from the mom) and treated very bad. The mom & dad dog are abused & neglected just to make puppies. The mom & dad dog live in terriable conditions. The cages are so small they can't really move. The animals are put in terriable conditions. So, please don't buy from a puppy store.

Answer 4

If the puppy mill thing is true than I would say that's a good reason not to buy from a pet store.
I would personally rather adopt a puppy from the pound or animal shelter. They get put to sleep too and at least this way I feel that I'm helping the puppy instead of buying a product.
I also think that the probability of disease is not soooo high as to deter me from going to the pound and I can get all the immunizations for her/him too if s/he hasn't already had them.

Answer 5

Its not the safest route to go when looking for a dog, because many of them are from puppy mills and are sickly to begin with, and having a sick dog is not good for the dog or you, because of all the vet bills, and yes they will put to sleep any animal the don't sell, thats why you should get a dog from the Humane Society in your city/town, because many shelters are no kill shelters and have many dogs that are looking for a good home, and here you can have a guarentee that the dogs are healthy because they won't put up dogs for adoption that have serious illnesses or diseases.

Answer 6

Well, it is a moral quandry isn't it? The options are either:

Buy from a pet store and put money in the pocket of a puppy miller. They get your money and they don't really care that your motivation for buying the puppy was to "save" it. They take your money and put it right back into torturing more dogs.

OR, don't buy from a pet store and resist the temptation to save those poor dogs. Many of those dogs will wind up getting taken to a shelter or pound, where they may in fact be adopted, not put down. The puppy miller gets none of your money and eventually (if everyone else does the same thing) will go out of business.

It's a noble thing that we're asking those puppy mill puppies to do: to possibly sacrifice themselves in order to save thousands of more puppies from ever being put in the same position.

If everyone feels its okay to "save" those puppies by purchasing them from pet stores, puppy mills will remain profitable and in business.

Answer 7

The people that breed the dogs for pet stores are usuall in it for profits.

They breed lots of them, don't take care of them, and then ship them in giant trucks filled with scared puppies.

When the truck gets there, they are dehydrated and about 1/4 of them is dead. And nobody cares.

Animal rights people get on them, but as you know we are a capitalist society soo....

When you buy from these places, you are giving the bad puppy breeding people your money, which is allowing their business to thrive, and in some peoples mind, its you saying that's ok.

Seriously, get a dog from the pound or the spca.

They are more likely to be genetically healthy (purebreds and pet store dogs always have illnesses/problems. My mom spend $1200 on her pomeranian this month because he has asthma. It has also needed 2 knee operations totalling around $3600) because they're genepool has been spread out. The pound won't give a dog away unless it is healthy and they screen them for illnesses and health problems. Also, they give them all their shots, and spay the dog, and often they'll microchip it for you so you can find your pet if it gets lost.

These puppies are also very happy to have you because they have experienced the shelter!

Go to www.petfinder.com they show you pictures of the type of puppy you would like in your area!!

Answer 8

I've seen news shows that tell how cruel some pet mills are to animals before they get to the pet store. I guess they are under harsh conditions and cramped quarters so they are easily exposed to disease etc. You may not detect that there's a problem until it's too late. A breeder is probably better.

Answer 9

could be from a puppy mill, which could mean down the road bad health problems. Or, like my friend, got a sheltie from a pet store and she still hasn;'t broken him out of going to the bathroom in his pen. It's like he thinks thats where he's supposed to go because that's what he did in the store for months and months before he found a home. your best bet is go to a shelter and save a dogs life.

Answer 10

ITs not that its just that most puppys from pet-stores come from puppy-mills. Its not the stores fault. Most stores dont know thats where they are coming from. I TOTALLY 200000% recommend a breeder.


By the way, a puppy mill is a place where peopl breed dogs as many times as they can. All the puppies are gaurenteed to have a disease of some sort.