Pet Store Puppies

With the holidays nearing, it is important to talk about living breathing gifts and where they may come from... Pet Stores. Although buying any creature as a gift for the holidays is not a good idea, it could be a huge mistake if you are thinking of buying that puppy in the shavings on the other side of the plexiglass window at the local pet store.

One evening you may have caught a story on the news about Pet Stores about where the puppies come from or maybe you watched Oprah or even the gut wrenching story of the Last Chance for Animals undercover investigator who's story of shutting down one of the biggest USDA "Class B" Dealers in US history in the HBO documentary "Dealing Dogs." (which is available through Blockbuster by Mail)

Thankfully these few stories were large enough to hit the media, and hopefully you watched them and paid attention to the details and the faces on the breeding dogs left behind and their sick puppies purchased by unsuspecting families.

Many people think they can step into a pet store and ask the clerk where the puppies come from, and that those employees will be honest for your sake. Not going to happen. The usual line is simply, "We do not buy our dogs from puppymills." They can say this because most petstores do not buy direct, they know better, so they arrange purchases from puppymills through a middle man. Technically they are buying from Joe Shmoe the middle man even though the dogs did in fact come from puppymills.

Check back next month for more on Pet Stores and Puppymills!

RESCUE POEM (II)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy Butcher, Ailea Shelties

I'm a little puppy, so cuddly, sweet and small
I live inside a cage, you see at Pet Store in the mall.
I'm not an only puppy, my sisters are all here.
My brothers, too, except for Ralph who died coz he was scared.

It's lonely here at nighttime when all the lights go dark,
We tremble in our cages and we whimper and we bark.
But no one comes to hold us or pet our fears away
We sit all night in terror till the store opens next day.

We don't remember mama, left so far behind
she did the best she could for us till Man said "It is time."
He crammed us all in cages too small for us you see
We rode for hours; we could not help but lay in poop and pee

And now we sit in Pet Store where kids come taunt and squeeze
They do not hear our whimpers or understand our pleas
We're miserable and it's scary here we all would rather die
But since we don't we do our best to run away and hide

I know you think my story too sad to leave me be
You want to take me home with you, a happy little puppy.
But please, though it is fearful to live here against our will
If you take me that leaves a spot another pup will fill.

You can stop our suffering but not by taking us home
You must be strong and leave us here, unsold and all alone
For if you do not take me, then another pup won't come
And maybe he will not be shipped so far away from home

Though some of us may not survive the cycle 'ere it falls
If we don't sell they will not need more puppies in these halls
And if they need no puppies then the Man will not bring more
Eventually it can all stop! You CAN close the door.

So when you see a puppy face so sad and sweet and small
In a cage at Pet Store at your neighborhood shopping mall
The best thing you can do for him is leave him sitting there
That is the best way you can tell all dogs how much you care.