Following the lead of Toronto and of Richmond BC, Mississauga Ontario has also banned the sale of what they refer to as “privately bred puppies”. This leaves the door open to allow pet stores to offer adoption events, and to feature adoptable puppies from local shelters and rescue groups.
I have written before (ok, several times) about my complete and utter loathing for PJ’s Pet Stores, the notorious Canada wide chain of pet super stores, who for years have been the bane of our existence for Canadians opposed to the sale of puppies (and kittens) in pet stores.
PJ’s Pet Stores were a particularly egregious example of the “upscale” puppy peddling pet store, with shiny display cases full of stupefyingly over priced puppies (I have the bill of sale for a Boxer/Boston cross who was purchased from PJ’s for the stunning sum of $3200, and helped place a French Bulldog who sold through the former PJ’s store in the upscale Yorkdale Shopping Center for $4800).
A common marketing ploy of the people who broker puppies has been to claim that they import puppies because “European bred dogs are healthier”. They’ll usually then toss out some blather about dog wardens and breed inspections and dogs which are somehow magically healthy simply by virtue of the country they were born in.
None of this is true, of course. Dogs become healthier through a combination of things – a breeding program which puts health above everything else, use of up to date screening and DNA tests, an insistence on breeding from or to health tested dogs who don’t have any apparent health issues. None of this is predicated on the country your puppy is born in.
Another thing that helps to ensure your puppy turns out healthy, happy and well adjusted is to be sure he has been raised in a stimulating, safe, clean environment, where he, his siblings and his mother were fed quality food and given top knotch veterinary care.
Now, let me add my standard caveat – there are lots of breeders in Europe who exemplify everything I’ve just mentioned, and they are producing some spectacular dogs. What these stellar breeders are NOT doing is handing their four week old puppies over to any broker willing to pay them $200 per puppy.
For that, you need scumbags like these guys.
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I am OK with the idea that, if you are a breeder, you need to be held to some pretty high standards for care of your dogs, or else all the show win ribbons in the world don’t mean a whole lot.
Sadly, that hasn’t always been the case, as this story from the UK Daily Mail illustrates –
They were highly respected national champions and had even won at Crufts.
Yet, behind the scores of rosettes proudly hung around their terraced home, their beloved pets were living in unimaginable squalor.
After Kathy Bauck’s conviction on animal cruelty, and the suspension of her commercial kennel licence by the USDA, most of us would assume that she would be effectively barred from any further selling or breeding of dogs. This is shockingly incorrect, as detailed by the veterinarian who testified against Bauck during her trial –
“The irony is that if the revocation of Bauck’s USDA license stands, she will still be able to keep her dogs,” said Dr. Linda Wolf a veterinarian who served as one of the key expert witnesses in the most recent animal cruelty case against Bauck.
“The USDA only regulates the sale of dogs to commercial sources, like pet shops, brokers and wholesalers. They have no say as to whether or not Bauck gets to keep her dogs,” Wolf added.
Additionally,
“The termination of Bauck’s USDA license prevents her from selling dogs to her normal sales channels,” added Wolf.
– Source
“Normal channels” is primarily considered to be sales directly to pet shops and to pet shop suppliers like Hunte and other brokers. It does not include direct sales to puppy buyers, through internet sales sites, and that gives Kathy Bauck and other suspended USDA breeders like her a very handy – and lucrative – get out of jail free card.
Email Carol@BullmarketFrogs.com
Located in Ontario, Canada