Did you know Pet Shops in Illinois cannot purchase dogs from puppy mills?
A. That's right. Illinois passed groundbreaking legislation called the "Safe Pets Bill". The main focus of the bill is to prevent Pet Shops from buying from any breeder who has a serious violation within the last 2 years. Pocket Puppies sources their dogs from inspected licensed professional breeders many we've been working with for the last 13 years. These breeders take great care and most have no violations ever. These breeders are inspected (unannounced) on the state and federal level.
They must maintain high standards or they risk fines and potential loss
of their license.
Q. Social media says USDA standards are low in regards to breeders?
A. False! 2/3 of USDA inspectors are licensed veterinarians! They certainly understand acceptable conditions for dogs.
Q. Why does social media sites accuse Illinois Pet Shops of selling puppy mill
dogs?
A. Professional breeders (USDA) are not the cause of the horror stories you hear
and see on television. It is the breeders who are not inspected, backyard
breeders and breeders who sell to retail rescues who are the cause of most of
the puppy mill horror stories you've hear about. (See Story) (SEE
ANOTHER STORY)
(Not
convinced? See another story) (We have many
many more examples of the results of an unregulated rescue
industry here is one more) USDA professional breeders are licensed and inspected and the only
regulated source to obtain your new puppy.
Simply put, a pet store is the safest place to obtain
your new puppy.
Not a single USDA professional breeder has ever been involved in
a “puppy mill” raid.
Not one!
Q. What is retail rescue?
A. "Adopting is Shopping! "All rescues are unregulated and this has allowed
rescues to evolve into a "retail rescue industry". Retail rescues can buy their
dogs from any source. So many retail rescues buy from breeders directly or through breeder
auctions and import thousands of dogs, mainly puppies, across state lines and
internationally to resell them as "rescues".
In most cases these retail
rescues repetitively buy from the backyard puppy mills (who are not inspected).
The effect is profound and sad. These large rescue puppymills, who in many cases
keep their dogs in horrible conditions, are thriving due to rescues repetitively buying dogs
from them and reselling these puppy mill dogs as "rescues". Here is another story on retail rescue
(See Story). The Washington Post did a ground breaking investigative journalism
piece on this very subject (See
Story)
Pet Shops, the most regulated source to find your next pet, have been
demonized and scapegoated by keyboard activists as the purchaser of puppy mill
dogs when in fact the unregulated retail rescue industry has been the main cause of the horror stories you hear and see on television and the internet.
Unfortunately "adopting is shopping". If you go into one of these retail rescue
mills ask them if they import their dogs from out of state. If they do please
leave and go to your local city shelter.
Q Are Pet Shops the cause of overpopulation?
A. While recent studies from veterinary science journals indicate a shortage of
good, safe adoptable dogs (See
Story)
Illinois passed groundbreaking legislation called the "Safe Pets Bill". The main
focus of the bill is to prevent Pet Shops from buying from any breeder who has a
serious violation within the last 2 years--which is fantastic. However, another
aspect of the bill, requires all pet shops to microchip their dogs prior to sale
and for all rescues and shelters to contact the pet store to rehome the dog if
the original owner will not take the dog back. Today, we can confidently say, the dogs and the microchips associated with those dogs can be
tracked. What were the results? Dogs sold at pet shops are not found in shelters
and make no impact on shelter populations.
Q. Why are shelters overcrowded?
A. Numerous reasons exist. Primarily Pet Shop bans are leading to an explosion of backyard breeding. Backyard breeders often have little to no experience in breeding (See Story). Often these dogs are of poor breeding quality. They're often bought online by unsuspecting customers. Due to poor breeding practices they often end up in the shelter system. Also, many retail rescues import dogs from overseas and across state lines where these dogs often end up in shelters after being adopted out. In many instances these rescues import diseased animals while healthy adoptable dogs are left in local city shelters (actual rescues not retail rescue). Here is a story on this very subject. Even the Cornell School of Veterinary science warned against retail rescue importation.