GILROY
– Two puppies waiting to be purchased from Our Pet Shop tumbled
over each other while wrangling for a red stuffed teddy bear and a
dog treat Monday afternoon.
GILROY – Two puppies waiting to be purchased from Our Pet Shop tumbled over each other while wrangling for a red stuffed teddy bear and a dog treat Monday afternoon.
The 9-week-old pug and cocker spaniel for sale are irking some local animal activists who want pet stores to stop selling dogs that they say come from inhumane puppy mills.
Our Pet Shop Owner Andrea Bertero says that animals are her passion, and the puppies are no exception.
“I enjoy every minute I have with them,” she said. “We pride ourselves on being responsible and educated and able to care for the animals – we care about where they go and who has them.”
Bertero says recent publicity on pet store puppies has sparked some questions from customers, but with the exception of a visit from a vocal dog breeder, most of the feedback she’s received is positive.
“Our regular customers have really been supportive,” Bertero said. “We’ve had a couple of people come in and ask us about it and we’re happy to talk.”
Since a story on puppy mill puppies was published in the April 16 edition of The Dispatch, letters – both pro and con – from the community have run on the opinion pages, continuing a debate over whether the public should purchase dogs from local pet stores.
Local animal activist Sharon Fuqua said she is glad to see that puppy mills – where hundreds or thousands of dogs are bred, often in poor conditions – are on the minds of the public. At the urging of a Gilroy veterinarian late last year, Fuqua wrote a letter to the editor of The Dispatch urging people not to buy dogs from pet stores.
“When I see all the letters that are coming through, (I) know that it’s really in response to some of the butt-kicking I’ve tried to do,” Fuqua said.
Fuqua and fellow animal activists encourage the public to boycott small pet stores that sell puppies because they say the sales support the puppy mill system. The Humane Society of the United States says puppy mills supply most of the puppies sold at pet stores.
Bertero said there are more effective ways to stop puppy mills than to boycott local shops.
“People think you can stop a puppy mill by taking it out on a pet store, but you can’t,” she said.
Instead, Bertero references information from www.canismajor.com that tells concerned citizens to research breeding facilities and contact the appropriate authorities, such as the Humane Society, health departments and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Bertero maintains that buying puppies from Our Pet Shop will not support puppy mills because she gets dogs from people who “consider these dogs to be part of the family.”
That doesn’t mean the dogs will be healthy, says David Smith, who bought two dogs from Bertero’s store.
Smith said he got involved in a dispute with Our Pet Shop after spending a month and hundreds of dollars trying to nurse the dogs to good health.
Before the dispute was resolved, lawyers got involved and both sides threatened legal action. Eventually, Smith returned the dogs without receiving a refund.
“All they (intend to do) is making money,” Smith said. “They’re after the almighty dollar.”
“I took them back, which I didn’t have to do,” Bertero said. “He wanted his money back and didn’t want the dog and basically wanted to rescind his contract.”
Bertero said Smith is an exception to her record of successful puppy sales. Because the dogs had matured and grown, Bertero said she was unable to sell them but adopted them out to a home.
Fuqua is quick to list the reasons why potential dog owners should avoid purchasing from pet stores and references horror stories she has heard about conditions at the Hunte Corporation, a large-scale puppy distributer accused of contracting with puppy mills and pet transportation agencies.
Pet stores rely on emotions to sell dogs, says Barbara Chadim, an off-and-on dog breeder who was looking for a Westhighland and fell in love when she saw one at The Pet Stop, 1280 First St. She soon regretted the purchase when the one-pound puppy from the Hunte Corporation was found to be seriously ill at its first veterinary visit.
“I knew it was a puppy mill puppy, I just knew it,” Chadim said. “People bank on your love and affection.”
The store, per a one-year return clause, took the animal back and refunded Chadim’s money.
“(People) don’t research, they don’t know about the animal, they just want one now,” Chadim said.
Some say respectable breeders, unlike pet stores, will research their animals’ future homes.
Bertero said she makes an effort to help people make wise choices before purchasing an animal and has even talked people out of a purchase. She keeps a dog breed encyclopedia in the store along with American Kennel Club pamphlets on choosing the right dog.
The public will always demand puppies, Bertero said, so she plans to continue selling them.
That demand is part of the reason why local veterinarian Greg Martinez examines many of the puppies sold at both pet stores in town. By examining and treating dogs either before or after they’re sold at a pet store, he says he is ensuring that the public receives healthy animals. Fuqua thinks Martinez is doing little to force the system come to a halt, but she does see his point.
Martinez also has played the role of activist, to a point, to improve the conditions in which some puppies arrive at The Pet Stop. The store purchases animals from Hunte Corporation, maligned by animal rights groups.
After seeing numerous puppies with respiratory or diarrhea problems contracted in transport, Martinez said he began working with Hunte to improve travel conditions. In an interview conducted earlier this month, Martinez estimated he has seen a 75 to 80 percent improvement in the health problems he used to see.
Nevertheless, Fuqua said she and others will continue to protest the sale of pet store puppies and is encouraged that some pet owners are offering their own stories of sickly puppies purchased at at least one of the stores.
“I’m hopeful that enough people will see that, that they’ll walk away,” she said.
