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Pet Shop Puppies

Buying A Puppy: Making Responsible Choices

By Jill Connor, Phd

The DUMPED Dog

This is a story about an unwise and impulsive puppy purchase
which ended disastrously for both the dog and its owners. It
is intended to educate the potential dog owner about the
pitfalls of buying a pet without properly researching the
breed or the retailer or breeder.

Harry and Martha walked into a local pet shop because the
weather was turning bad, they were bored, and it was a
Saturday. They looked at the birds for a while, then
wandered downstairs to see the puppies.

There were at least twenty puppies in open crates, all
adorable. One, in particular, caught Martha's fancy. He was
JUST a teddy bear! Fuzzy, adorable, lovable beyond
description. Martha's daughter had left for her first year in
college a few months past, and empty nest syndrome was an
issue. Harry liked the pup well enough, but since he was at
work most of the time, it wouldn't really be his problem.
Martha really really wanted the puppy. Neither of them had
thought of purchasing a puppy that day, but there he was,
the perfect teddy bear dog. The man in the shop swore to
them that the puppy had come from a "breeder" (they had
heard about those puppy mills) and had "AKC papers". So,
Martha and Harry decided to take the plunge and buy the
puppy. The cost of the puppy was $900, but then of course
there was the expense of a crate, a bunch of toys, a fluffy
bed, food, and a leash and collar. The total came to more
than $1200, which they put on their Visa card. After all,! !
they could always "pay it off".

They named the teddy bear "Teddy", of course, and his
papers said he was a Chow Chow, 12 weeks old. Teddy had a
problem: he went to the bathroom in the crate, covered his
thick coat in excrement and needed to be bathed three times
daily. Teddy also had a problem with his mouth, he liked to
"chew" on Martha and Harry, anything that presented
itself.....fingers, shirt tails, pant legs. At first, they
thought this was "cute", but when Teddy began to growl while
he chewed, they became concerned. They were totally unable
to get Teddy to use the outdoors for his "toiletry" needs.
Rather, he seemed to prefer their oriental rugs, or the
crate. Within two days of purchase, Teddy developed serious
diarrhea. He became lethargic, would not eat. The
Veterinarian diagnosed him as being infested with whipworm
and a bacterial agent, and prescribed medication. The
Veterinary visit cost them an addition $110.

A few weeks passed. Teddy grew larger. Martha and Harry
could still not get Teddy to eliminate outside on a regular
basis. Also, he had begun "humping" them. Harry tried
swatting Teddy to stop this behavior, only to see the 16
week old pup show him a full set of teeth. Martha became
frightened of Teddy. Harry decided that Teddy needed to
be put in the crate most of the day to "teach him a lesson".

About three months after Teddy's purchase, the dog had
become a nightmare for Martha and Harry. He began to
guard his crate. He growled if they came too close to his
food bowl. He eliminated freely wherever he chose in the
kitchen where he had been confined when not in his crate.
When they let him out of the crate, he was totally wild, a
ballistic missile. Also, Teddy would not accept a collar and
leash. He bit at the leash, threw himself on his back,
growling and snapping. Although his coat was becoming quite
dense, he would not tolerate being brushed without growling
and snapping.

Martha and Harry decided they could not deal with the dog
any longer. They had nowhere to turn for advice, since the
pet store refused to help and would not take the dog back
without Veterinary proof of serious illness. Martha and Harry
took Teddy to their local municipal shelter. It was October.
The shelter was filled with "summer" dogs, acquired to
entertain the kids during the summer vacation, and then
dumped into the shelter when the kids went back to school or,
worse, abandoned on the roads. The shelter also had a large
number of "runners", dogs and bitches that had responded to
their natural tendency to reproduce and, not having been
spayed or neutered, escaped from their owners' yards to
find the "answer" to the urge. The shelter had no room.
Owner turn ins are almost always euthanised (killed) when
there is no room. Teddy, six month old intact male Chow
Chow, met his death on a sunny October morning.

While this is a particularly distressing scenario, this can be
the end result for any dog that is not purchased from a
reputable breeder. Purchase a puppy of any breed because
you like "the look", or because the puppy is "so cute" can end
in disaster. In this case, the Chow Chow a highly
independent, intelligent breed required patient, humane
training from day ONE. Puppy mill dogs DO soil their crates,
simply because they have been born into unclean areas and
their mothers have not been able to teach them how to be
clean. Additionally, these puppies have not been properly
socialized at an early age and are likely to have a harder
time fitting into a household routine.

Teddy was not a toy. He required a firm but kind hand, and
careful education, which both Martha and Harry did not
know. Make certain that you properly educate yourself about
the pros and cons of the breed you select and feel confident
that it will fit into your household's lifestyle.

Brainless,

Good article, but hardly captures the horror that can await with some pet shop puppies.

Stace

But it is very typical of the well meaning but casually bought pet. This is what I have against selling of pups through retail outlest. the owner buys on the spur of the moment, or if they were looking for a dog, and that was the only place they knew to get one, they get no relevant after sales support!!!

With the best intention of breeder and owner sometimes a homing just doesn't work out, but then the breeder should be there to take responsibility. The kind of person who sells whole litters to a dealer to sell on has no interest in those pups after they leave their premises, even if they were actually reared well in clean conditions.

:(

I agree with you Barbara. I am in the process of rearing my first ever litter, of four, and I am as devoted to them as I was/am my children (maybe even more so!). It is all too easy for people to buy pups on a whim, there are plenty of places for them to do it, but no one in any authority seems to care. The trouble is, while it is so easy, poeple will still do it, and of course as one pup leaves another is usually there to take it's place in the pet shop or other such outlet.

Grace

chow chows , like sharpei are born to be clean, at a very young age theyd leave the bedding and go on papers-by they go to there new homes theyve been known to have no accidents whatsoever, so something must of been badly wrong to have such a clean breed turn out unhouse trainable :(

Puppy farm crated pups, having no option but to soil.

My breed is the same, and after about 4 weeks they protest very loud to get out of puppy pen into more space, as they hate to soil close to their sleeping/living area!

A rescue in my breed that I got involved with had been obviously kept too much in her crate, and had become dirty. At 10 months she was rehomed, and a year later still not fully housetrained, very sad!!

I wish my lot were like that! They have a large, very clean puppy pen with a bed in one corner. Will they bother to get out for a pee? Noooooooo
Dachs are notoriously slow on the uptake when it comes to housetraining, but these little beggars are the worst litter for being grubby little oiks that Ive ever met!

Last year I had an enquiry to ship a puppy to a ladies daughter in Canada. she had a Springer Spaniel and wanted another dog to be companion to it.The daughter had bought the springer in Hong Kong from a very high class department store.She explained that her daughter's husband was a diplomat and the daughter had seen the puppy over quite a few week's as she visited it daily, all the rest of the litter was sold and only one puppy was left,the assistant was used to the lady's visit's and told her this was the last day the puppy would be there as it would be returned to the breeder, as a new batch were due, she enquired what the breeder would do with the puppy she was told it would be uthanazed as it had lost it's puppy appeal,but not to worry because a new batch would be available the next day. The lady's daughter bought the pup on her credit card and when they returned to Canada the puppy also did.