“This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.”
10News in San Diego reported:
One pet store owner says the ban is the result of an “extremist” agenda and that his business (strictly selling puppies) is being unfairly targeted. The new law will essentially put his store, San Diego Puppy, out of business, unless he makes some major changes, and fast. He plans to fight the ban at the city level, county, state, and federal if necessary.
“This has got to stop,” he told 10News. “This movement of accusing every single breeder that sells to pet stores as a puppy mill? (It’s) absolutely ridiculous.”
While it’s possible that this puppy retailer is obtaining his dogs from reputable sources, it’s highly unlikely. A big part of what makes someone a reputable breeder, in addition to the care and well-being of their dogs, is knowing where their puppies end up and placing them in loving homes.
Anyone can walk into a pet store and buy a dog. When the puppy walks out the front door, you have no way of knowing what his new life will be, whether he’ll be bred, if he’ll be loved and cared for. Good, reputable breeders that care about their dogs, simply don’t sell to pet stores.
So, kudos to San Diego and the 31 other cities with this ban in place! We’re excited to watch others follow suit until puppy mills are completely eradicated!
What’s your take? Weigh in with a comment below.
los anges city?
Jul 20, 2013 at 12:01 am
are we talking about Los Angeles county? or Los Angeles city? does any body know?
Eilyn
Jul 18, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Beautiful! Kudos to you the San Diego Animal Defense Team & all that worked together to make this happen. I want Miami to do the same. I hope to read more about this in the hopes we can adopt the same ban.
San Diego Animal Defense Team
Jul 16, 2013 at 1:30 am
As one of the animal welfare groups that worked together to bring this to the City Council, we can say that the puppy store San Diego Puppy sells puppy mills dogs and we have proof and documentation. His pups are trucked in from Goodman Missouri by the Hunte Corp. They process 2,000 puppies a week, 90,000 a year for pet stores like this all across the country. We presented a great deal of proven information to the City Council before this ordinance went to a vote. Each puppy store would like to claim that they are one of the few “good apples.” We say good riddance.
Linda Lord
Jul 15, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Thank You San Diego County for joining Santa Cruz County in a step to bring down the number of unwanted animals. This has greatly reduced the number of euthanized dogs in Santa Cruz shelters.
Lisa
Jul 15, 2013 at 2:35 pm
I disagree there are no reputable breeders. There are. And they have high standards on breeding and ownership. What most people don’t realize is you don’t really need a breeder for a family pet. If you want to show a dog or some rare breed that is hard to find then go to a breeder but a pure bred family pet can be easily obtained from a shelter or a breed specific rescue. I purchased one of my 4 dogs from a breeder in Nebraska. The other 3 are rescues. But I wanted a specific breed (Havanese) that is very rare and hard to obtain. I researched my breeder and discovered they had received the Nebraska Breeders Association award a few years before and the only dogs they breed are Havanese. So they ARE reputable being they only have a few litters per year and they aren’t breeding 15 kinds of dogs. But again, this is a very rare occurrence. I know for a fact my breeder would never sell her puppies to a pet store. We also had to go through an extensive vetting process before we were approved to adopt. This pet store owner can say whatever but the facts speak for themselves. The majority of pet store pups DO come from puppy mills and backyard breeders and it needs to stop. I’m all for supporting small business but not at the expense of thousands of euthanasias a day.
Sissy
Jul 15, 2013 at 2:01 pm
There is no such thing as a reputable breeder.
Lindsey
Jul 15, 2013 at 2:30 pm
Sissy –
I am wondering what your take is on this? Have you had a bad experience? How or why can you say there are no reputable breeders? That is a heavy statement to be making, there are tons of reputable breeders, but you need to do your research, know how to find them and what to look for.
Beverly Williams
Jul 15, 2013 at 3:37 pm
I do believe that there can be reputable breeders because (back in the 60’s) I purchased a puppy, on two different occasions, from the same private owner of a registered female beagle who chose to breed her dog with another registered beagle who was actually a champion show dog. The combination of the two produced some of the best natured, most beautiful puppies that I have ever seen. However, of the 7 beagles that I have owned, the rest have been adopted from shelters. We currently have two that we traveled to Virginia to adopt from a shelter. We will now only have rescued animals.
karen
Jul 16, 2013 at 2:10 am
I said it before and I’ll say it again………….”In my world, a ‘responsible breeder’ is the same as a ‘responsible drug-dealer”
Linda Trunell
Jul 15, 2013 at 1:59 pm
This is good news but what about online sales? No reputable breeder would be shipping puppies to people they’ve never met. No responsible person would want to buy a puppy without seeing the puppy, its mother and the living conditions. We need to close the loophole allowing online sales.
Kathryn S.
Jul 15, 2013 at 1:18 pm
No reputable breeder would allow their puppies to be sold in a pet store. The operative word here is REPUTABLE. All puppy mills and “backyard breeders” should be shut down as soon as possible, and good for San Diego in adopting this policy. DON’T SHOP – ADOPT!
Sissy
Jul 15, 2013 at 2:01 pm
I agree 100%.