What Kind of Dogs Do Pet Stores Sell?

Types, varieties and breeds sold

• Pet stores do not limit themselves to only selling one or two specific breeds of dogs, and will usually sell any breed, even hybrid breeds, as long as the breed is available at the time and the puppies are of a marketable breed. Although pet stores fail to use discretion when it comes to where they actually purchase their puppies, they are much more particular about the size of dogs or puppies they sell. The vast majority of puppies you will find for sale at typical pet stores are of smaller breeds. Small breed puppies take up much less space so a store can fill their shelves with more valuable "merchandise."

Where do the puppies come from?

• Research shows that 90 to 98 percent of puppies sold in pet stores across the country are obtained directly from puppy mills and that the remaining puppies, which are not bought from puppy mills, are either purchased through corrupt dog brokers, naive backyard breeders, or greedy puppy wholesalers. When all of the facts regarding the association between pet stores and puppy mills are thoroughly studied, it is indisputable that not one dog or puppy available for purchase at any pet store came from a reputable breeder.

What are puppy mills?

• A puppy mill is precisely what its name suggests, a mill or farm that produces live puppies in substantial quantities for profit. These mass-breeders demonstrate heartless, inhumane practices where dogs are kept in extremely close quarters and experience severe neglect. In some of the larger and more callous mills, up to five or six adult small breed dogs are stockpiled into one rabbit pen. Puppy mill owners not only neglect to offer their animals adequate space--they also keep their dogs in filthy conditions, which are normally hidden behind the walls of the large barns and are rarely seen by the public eye. These dogs are rarely offered even the most standard, basic veterinary care. If a mill dog becomes sick, the puppy mill owner will simply exterminate the ailing dog, generally by shooting the dog in an execution style.

  Female dogs, unlucky enough to be born into a puppy mill and kept as breeding stock, are expected to successfully bear a litter every six months, condemning them to either being pregnant or nursing almost year-round. This tragic cycle starts from the time that the dogs are very young and does not end until they are no longer physically able to reproduce. The puppy mill industry is too violent and disgusting to even refer to as a business, however the puppy mill owners and brokers, as well as the pet store owners, do genuinely consider their puppy trade partnership as purely business. These living, breathing dogs and puppies have become standard merchandise to puppy mill and pet storeowners.

Puppy Mill Owners

• People are generally surprised by the fact that many of the puppy mills in the southern United States are actually owned by Amish farmers. We think of the Amish as moral, clean-living kind of people, but the truth is that many Amish farmers see dogs as products to be profited from, just as pet stores do. These Amish puppy millers often believe that there is no difference between breeding hundreds of puppies and selling them to pet stores, and growing a crop of wheat or corn and then generating money off of it. Even so, Amish-owned puppy mills account for only 12 percent of the total puppy mills in the entire country. The overall number of puppy mills across the nation, according to Animal World USA, is estimated to be as many as 5,000 total.

How Can You Help

• After hearing the truth behind pet stores and what kinds of dogs they really sell, most people are angry and want to do something to change these conditions. Thankfully there are various ways to help the cause. The first, and easiest, method is for people to only support pet stores that do not sell live puppies. PetSmart and Petco are two great examples of quality pet store chains that not only discourage the sale of live dogs and puppies, but they also advocate and support dog rescue and adoption. You can not only buy your pet products from them but you can rescue a dog through them as well. The next way to protest against pet stores, who sell puppies, is by refusing to buy puppies from them. This can be much harder to do than it is to say, but it's best for the entire cause for all of us to control our primary emotions and to never buy a puppy from a pet store. Instead go through a rescue group to get a dog or buy a quality, healthy puppy from a reputable breeder who will not only produce well loved and cared for puppies, but also who will not mark their puppies' price up three times their actual worth, like pet stores do.