I have been looking for a new puppy for a while and as it is my first i want to get it right but have not yet found the one for me. A friend recently told me of a place called dogs-r-us in Manchester it's supposed to be like a pet superstore that also sells puppies. Now i am tempted but everything about it sounds wrong to me, i didn't think you could/should buy puppies from pet stores anymore and i don't know whether the pups can be seen with parents etc. Now they say there is nothing to worry about but they would say that. Has anyone heard of or been to this place, and if so what do you think? Am i judgeing too harshly without going or are my concerns justified. Any feedback would be appriciated. thanks

Your concerns are definitely justified. :( Don't go there.

They buy whole litters and stock from puppy farmers and there is conceren as to what happens to those pups who aren't sold. In my own small numbered breed there are a number of dogs who came from there and have now been through our breed rescue. You will get no help and it is unlikely the dog will be registered with the Kennel Club.

Always go with your gut instincts, they're very rarely wrong!! I would never buy a puppy from a store of any kind. You would just be keeping the puppy farms in business. No decent breeder would sell to one of these stores.

Stay away from it - if you want to get a puppy, research your breed and gets lots of info on different breeders, maybe get to a couple of shows and speak to different breeders - most will only be to happy to answer any questions that you might have, then you'll get a feel for the people, and at the end of the day, you'll have made a wise and informed choice on the people that you want to get a puppy from, after all, you never know when you might need some backup at the end of the phone. However tempting it may be, I'd really advise you against going anywhere like that to purchase a puppy, imo anyway.
Good Luck,
Sharon

:( I actually thought it was illegal to sell puppies like this at all.

A disgrace and crying shame. How on earth do they get away with it?

I have actually been there years ago, and it is very very tempting to buy one (we resisted). The prices are ridiculous, why pay that price when you know nothing about their parentage/medical history when you can pay reasonable prices from an excellent breeder, with majority of times constant back-up, you can see the pups in their home surroundings etc etc..

The only comparison is they both sell pups!! Pick the right one please.....

Sarah

Don't go there! Only buy a puppy from a breeder who can show you the mum & littermates. If you can't make up your mind about breeds, go to a big Championship show, look around & ask all the questions you want.

This place used to be called Mayfield Kennels and had a dreadful reputation for selling sick puppies at top prices. It has different owners now, but still whole litters of puppies are bought and sold. I had a look at the beginning of 2001 and at that time a litter of westies (they are the ones I remember) were being sold for £350 each.

Well thats me educated!
I didn't know there were such places in the Uk that were so openly advertised! I thought Puppy farms were kept hush hush.
Its discusting!

Well i certainly wouldnt go.Example a lady over the road bought a chihuahua from a pet shop in London,paid 550 pound for him.One day she stopped me in the street and said she had seen my chihuahuas in the garden and wondered if i could help her.Anyway i went over,the chihuahua was no more than 6 wks old(which in my opinion is to young for a chihuahua to leave)and it was just laid there not moving in its bed.She said he had been really quiet all morning showed me the food he was on,which the petshop and the alleged vet at the shop told her was best.It was adult food and he was shaking uncontrollably.The woman in the shop and the so called vet didnt say anything about toy breeds ie..chihuahuas and poms in particular getting hypoglycemia.And that was exactly what it was.After some glucose through asyringe for a few days(cause was unable to drink)and lots of tlc and the proper diet he was fine within a few days but just shows you even with a so called vet on site they dont know what they are doing just want the money.

Only just read this. I only live about 20 minutes away and have only been once. Don't buy a dog from there. It used to be called Mayfield Kennels years ago and the quality of dogs since those days has not improved.

You will buy supposedly pedigree dogs, that at times are nothing like the breed should be for more than you wd. pay from a reputable breeder. The dogs will not be KC registered, they will be registered with that other dubious body, Dog Lover's Registration Club.

You were right to have your doubts, but good luck in your serach.

I hope this has put you off!

You've come to the right place for help and advise tho so why don't you put up a new thread asking about the breeds/qualities you are interested in? I've only been a member a few days and already I've learnt a lot!

Hi guys-
Dear tranmerefan, I hope what you've read here has put you off. There is a place not far from me that sounds like a scaled down version of Dogs-r-us. I go there from time to time to check it out, last time there was one particular litter that seemed to me to sum up all thats bad about places like this. It was a group of 8 Rotties (2 litters put together!). A couple with a toddler asked to see one of the pups and when the little girl put her fingers out to touch it, it growled, showed its teeth and then snapped. The kennel assistant assured them that this was ok. They saw me looking and asked my opinion (thank god!). I told them that the pups were too old (14-16 weeks!!), badly socialised and that they should speak to a knowledgable breeder before buying a pup so that they could get a nice temperament, health checks etc.They took this on board and left, hopefully to do some proper research and speak to some breeders. When I spoke to the assistant again, she told me that the reason that they were so old was that they had all been returned!. I was gobsmacked!!. Now as you probably all know Rotties are brilliant with kids if properly socialised from a young age, but all these pups knew about people was that they prodded and pushed them around when all they wanted to do was sleep.
I dread to think what will happen to them when they do get sold. I felt desparately sad for them, but I will not buy into the whole 'dog supermarket' thing. The owners should be ashamed of themselves (but probably are not!).
All the puppies that have come from this place that I have come across have had major medical problems and most would have had behavioural problems if the owners hadn't worked b****y hard at sorting them out-I just wish that they had spent a bit more time researching a dog before getting one in the first place-it would have saved a lot of heartache all round.
Rant over :)
Ali:)

Hello Tranmerefan - I agree with Wishfairy - I kind of found CD by accident, during my research into getting a dane puppy, I researched the breed for almost a year, before we got our gorgeous puppy, but the advice and help I got from here was invaluable :) (Thanks Guys :D )
Why don't you register and let everyone help you and at the end of the day - you'll get the best puppy possible
Good Luck
Sharon
X

Tranmerefan,
what breed are you looking for-maybe someone on the board could help in your search!!
Archer

http://www.blackpoolpetworld.com/puppies.htm

Found this one too.

Just looked at that site it has a pic of the saddest little staffie pups i have ever seen.

OMG - not in it for the money... not much!

If their forum pages were working I'd have left them a message!!!!

Check this out :rolleyes:

http://www.blackpoolpetworld.com/wallabys.htm

Please come back Tranmerefan and let us help you find a puppy - dont buy one at a place like that. :(

Thank you all for the replys, all of you confirmed what i had suspected. I already had an idea of the dog i wanted (English springer) but had just not found the one for me, immediatly after posting i header of a local breeder whose pups had just hit 8 weeks so went to see them. The breeder was very frienly and the dogs were at the house playing with her own children and both parents were in the back and were both fine animals. She answered all my questions, gave more info about her dogs and the pups than i could take in, went through all his papers with me, and told me she would be more than happy to give advice in the future, especially as this is my first dog on my own. I went to collect him today and she insisted she wormed him before he left, which she did in front of me. As of an hour ago i am now the proud owner of a beautiful puppy (Nero) and can not tell you how happy i am i waited and was not tempted. Again thank you all and as a first -time messager was sooo impressed with the responces and know where to come in the future for advice, you were all a great help.

Aww that is good news i hope you and the 'baby' are happy in the future.(Sure you will be) :)

Good luck and great news!!

Congratulations on your pup. You will have loads of fun with a springer ( i Have 4 of them)

Brinny

Oh my god ive just been on the blackpoolpetworld website.Truly they should be shot as well as the so called breeders who sold them to the shop.They look so sad.Look at the pembroke corgi the guy is holding is that the biggest belly you ever saw.No doubt full of something nasty.I would rather keep my puppies than sell them to that shop for a million quid.Disgusting

Congratulations on your pup. So glad it worked out for you - hope you'll have lots of fun with Nero - when is he going to his first match?!
Tracy

pet shop wallabys

:-(

All the gundogs look so sad , the westies look like, well not sure.

Incredibly sad the whole thing eh. What a start to life eh?

I would hang the breeders.

Pam

Wallaby, my goodness it gets worse. :-(

Pam

are wallabys even allowed to be kept without some sort of licence????

I have emailed them to tell them they have got aleast one of there breeds wrong they have a picture of a Bullmastiff pup and have it for sale as a mastiff and i told them i didnt think it was nice to sell pups this way, if more people were to email them they might start to think about it.

pet shop

The problem with places like this is it's sooo hard to leave the poor little beggars behind! It's a terrible way to sell dogs. Surley there is something that can be done to stop this 'farm'? :( :( :(

I mean did you read one of the buyers comments on there.She was on holiday in Blackpool and saw a basset hound a bought it .Honestly all them daytrippers buying on the spur of the minute what happens to the poor dog when they get home and think maybe it wasnt such a good idea.Its just so sad.Like you say surely someone must be able to do something.

It is not illegal to sell cats and dogs in the UK from a pet shop. All you need is a licence which cost around £62!

Tranmerefan - its good to hear that you resisted and that everything turned out so well. Heres to years of happiness with your new pup.

Looking at those sites was awful - those little retriever puppies didn't look much little little bouncy bundles did they? It's so sad that people still persist in lining people like this pockets - It makes me so mad - bet there's no backup or anything god knows what happens to these puppies when the people that bought them think that they shouldn't have bothered
Tranmere Fan - I'm really pleased you decided against it and congratulations on getting your puppy, you made the right decision and great name by the way :)
Sharon
X

sadly there a few of this places petsville,aadvark kennels, dogs r us to name a few how can people treat dogs or any animal like this words fail me:(

Well I know what happens to some of them in our breed. If they are very lucky they make up the majority of referals through rescue. Others are found mates by the kind outlet, and produce more puppies for them to sell, or the owner to try to sell themselves registering with dog Lovers club of course.

Sadly the original stock all came from one source and they are probably breeding very closely related animals now, with no health checks :( :( :(

None of these outlets helps pick up the tab with rescue of course. This is where I wish the law would act. If they are to keep allowing this retail trade the dogs should be permanently identified, and the seller must have to take responsibility if they are in need of rehoming.

Far better for Large Pet stores to work with the local canine charity having open days with shelter dogs on show to possible adopters. The charity can then weed out the impulse adopter, but could get a good few dogs homed. Givbes the shop all the extra business re accesories.

Have just spoken to the RSPCA who have asked me to ask if anyone has been to this shop personally and feel that the pups are sold under-age , bad conditions , puppy farming suspisions etc to call them ASAP on 08705 555 999 as they need the infomation "first hand" to carry out an immediate inspection.
Andrea

I am not a breeder or anything so i may be wrong, but i imagine if you sell your puppies you can at least gauge what type of people are buying them over a period of a few weeks (i called often before we brought ours home).
How can these pet shops know that their pups are going into good hands? I think these shops encourage impulse buying and the owners don't give much thought into the responsibility of owning a pet until it starts having problems then off to the dogs home it goes.

Sarah
(Am i wrong on this one?)

I'm just new to breeding but wanted to know the full make up of my breed first before I presumed to tell others what they are like to keep so my oldest is 7 now, even now you see them doing different things.When I decided I was selling pups I advertised early,vetted the people,turned a few away that I didn't think were suitable(also told them why.)and encouraged them to visit every week to see progress.I also like them to name them early as it is part of the training before they go.I also have contracts with various different things in it as most good breeders do and I also stipulate that I can visit and check on progress at 12 weeks,6 months and a year,good thing is they all are on phone to me so it's worked out well and I see one of mine at the training twice a week,it's great!!!!

Puppy farming suspicions. Only a puppy farmer would sell pups as a job lot to a middle man, which these shops are!!!

Whats even more amazing is that Blackpool pet superstore is looking forward to soon being able to take orders over the internet using credit cards for people that arnt within a reasonable distance to the store!! How do they intend to deliver them and how far are they willing to ship these poor little things - a ride from blackpool to cornwall in a parcelforce van dosent sound very appealing.

Hi all

Have just been to their web page and read through it all. I noticed on the wallaby page that they say the founder of the shop owns a Farm, I wonder if this is where they get the puppies from. hose poor puppies all look so unhappy.

Just done the same thing!

Can't find any laws against them as even the legistlation reguarding puppy farming leaves judgement down to the local authorities

Maybe if we got a 'standard email' that we could all send a copy to a) the shop and b) Their local council it could stir up some publicity... Or an online petition?

We know it's wrong, giving any dog enough food to live on and clean living conditions is not good enough. What about human contact, socialising, basic training... the list goes on :(

The Pet Animals Act 1951
The Pet Animals Act 1951 (as amended in 1983) protects the welfare of animals sold as pets. The Act requires any person keeping a pet shop to be licensed by the local authority. Before granting a licence the local authority must be satisfied that the animals are kept in accommodation that is both suitable and clean; that they are supplied with appropriate food and drink; and are adequately protected from disease and fire. The local authority may attach any conditions to the licence, may inspect the licensed premises at all reasonable times and may refuse a licence if the conditions at the premises are unsatisfactory or if the terms of the licence are not being complied with.

Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the law in this area and anyone who has reason to believe that a pet shop is keeping animals in inadequate conditions should raise the matter with the local authority who will decide what action to take within the range of its powers.

Under s.2 pets cannot be sold in the street, including on barrows and markets, and under s.3, pets are not to be sold to children under 12 years of age.

Found this link in a similar thread from early last summer. It's about these shops and a few other interesting things

http://mysite.freeserve.com/puppy_alert/petshops.htm

I've also emailes WAG who campaign agains puppy farms (I think in Scotland) to see if they have any advise or opinion :rolleyes:

tried doing the link, it said page not displayed. -has anyone managed to veiw it,

I just cut and paste it and it works fine. There's a very interesting, and sad, article on 'rage' in dogs too.

Puppy Alert

:-(

Pam