NEW! KATIE'S STORY: My daughter and I purchased our yorkie-bichon dog, 'Katie', from a local pet store on April 29th, 2005.  She had been in the store a week, and was the last of her litter left in the empty glass-windowed cage.  Apparently she lost her final sibling the day before and staff told us that she had been 'crying' all day.  

We were allowed to play with her, and lost our hearts to this little fluff ball, who could barely put one foot in front of the other . . . read more

BOGEY'S STORY: is of a woman who had fallen in love with a picture she saw of a Cairn Terrier puppy which was on a local pet store's web site here in Victoria B.C. Canada.

Within weeks this 6 month old Cairn Terrier pup was discovered to have a devasting bone disease called Legg-Calve-Perthes which resulted in thousands of dollars worth of surgery needed to fix his hip. more

HUNTER'S STORY: Hunter is a Golden Retreiver who was bought from the same local pet store in Victoria B.C. Canada. The first year of his life involved the pain and discomfort associated with a horrible condition involving his knees; he had ripped ligaments and the maniscus is shattered on both rear knees (TPL). Now, at the age of 2, he is recovering from this $10,000 surgery involving his knees and is now faced with two more upcoming surgeries to fix his hips as he was just diagnosed with hip displasia. Each hip costs $7000!!

Thankfully his family has the means to provide the necessary surgeries that will allow Hunter to run and play with his family.

SALA'S STORY: a few years ago a client of the local dog groomer had acquired a one year old Shih Tzu pup from the same local pet store. This pup had already been through two other homes due to poor socialization and behavior problems. Within a couple of months this client realized that they couldn't manage this excitable and very high energy dog and asked the dog groomer if she knew of anybody who would adopt her.

Knowing that Sala would be on to her 4th home at such an early age (14 months) broke the groomer's heart. So she brought Sala home with her.

Sala needed a family that would never give up on her and the groomer did not want her fate to become that of so many dogs . . . euthanized because no one would take the time to give her the love and attention she needed.

A responsible, quality breeder would have had a signed and binding contract to have the pup returned to them and that same experienced breeder would have the knowledge to look for the right family that could have managed the care that Sala needed instead of her going through the stress of jumping every 3-4 months to a different inexperienced home.

ALLIE'S STORY: Allie is a 10 month Toy Poodle mix who was purchased from a local pet store in Victoria B.C. As Allie was being groomed she suddenly collapsed on the table because her knee had come out of it's socket and she could no longer stand on her own!!

The owner knew exactly what to do, she quickly picked up her crying puppy and worked the knee back into the socket. The owner explained to the groomer that Allie needed extensive surgery to fix this very serious condition but she had to be older for the Vet to successfully operate on her. In the mean time this poor puppy would need to deal with this very painful problem of her knee coming out of it's own socket, which usually occurs about 5 times a day!!

Six months later Allie underwent the painful and very expensive surgery of having her knees reset and have pins put in to hold them in place. Today she is fully recovered and very much loved by her owners who hopes in sharing this story will raise awareness of what may happen when you buy a "Pet Store Puppy."

A QUALITY BREEDER SPEAKS: "My name is Carolyn Dixon and I am a breeder that believes whole-heartedly in disclosing all information with regards to selling puppies. Every person who has bought one of my pups has been informed about where they have come from and how they were bred. Information regarding first and second generation puppies were also given . . ." read more

CHERISHED PETS OR GREEDY PROFIT? A friend of a professional dog groomer in Victoria B.C. Canada bought a toy poodle from a local pet store in Victoria B.C. Canada.  She spontaneously saw this pup in the store and brought him home. Later that same day she realized even this hypoallergenic pup created very strong reactions with her allergies, so she was forced to phone the pet store (that same day) and asked if they could take the pup back. She didn't even even want a refund as she wanted to take responsibility for her actions. 

The pet store refused to take back the puppy!!! This very distraught friend called the local groomer not knowing what to do. The groomer picked up the pup that night. Luckily, because of her connections as a dog groomer she was able to find the pup his forever loving home the very next day.

After reading the above stories you can see why we can not ignore this issue any longer. The puppy mill business has absolutely no regard for the health and welfare of it's animals and we ask you to please show your support in this very important cause by BOYCOTTING ALL pet stores that sell puppies.