About Pet Shops

Pet shop puppies are from puppy farms. No reputable breeder sells their puppies to pet stores. Ever!

greenfield-puppiesThe careless way puppy farms breed dogs actually increases the chances of your puppy having an inherited/genetic disorder.

What is a Puppy Farm?

A business that raises dogs as livestock, auctions and all Pet shops sell these often sick and/or temperamentally unsound puppies, putting your family at risk of a whole lot of heartbreak.

Does this mean that every puppy that comes out of a pet store is a sick, under-socialized mess?
No, of course not. But do you want to take such a big risk? And do you want to give your money to people who raise puppies like livestock– or worse? Didn’t think so.

What to look for in a Pet Shop:

the…

Pet Shop Exit

Remember…

USDA licensed “breeders” means the puppy was born on a puppy farm.The careless way puppy farms breed dogs increases the chances of your puppy having an inherited/genetic disorder.

What are you paying for?

Don’t invest big bucks in puppy farms and a potentially sick pup. Support professionals who are doing it right: shelters and rescues or reputable breeders.

Survey Says…

87% of people who bought puppies thought they knew about puppy mills, yet 15.5% still bought from a pet store. PupQuest hopes to lower this percentage by clearly connecting the dots.

What If?

  • ..The pet shop says the puppies are from breeders>

    Pet shop employees will most likely tell you the puppies are from “breeders”. But remember, anybody whose dog becomes pregnant can call themselves a “breeder”. If they aren’t knowingly lying to you, they may not know their pups are from farms, either.

  • Puppy at Pet Shop

  • …They have photos?

    Don’t be fooled by cute photos. It’s all too easy (and common) for puppy farms to provide pet shops with misleading pictures for customers. Clean a puppy up, plop her on the front lawn next to the kids, and snap a shot. Just like a fancy website, anyone can do it.

  • …The pet shop gets its puppies from USDA-licensed “breeders”?

    USDA certification means that the “breeder” is a puppy farm.

  • …The pet shop socializes their puppies?

    Regardless of the quality of the “socialization” for the week or so the pup is at the store, as former puppy farm dogs, they’ve missed critical socialization for the first 8 weeks of their lives.

  • …I don’t buy the puppy? Wouldn’t I be saving it?

    The reason behind a pet shop purchase doesn’t matter. The truth is the only thing your financial support is saving is this cruel industry.

Find out more from The Humane Society (HSUS)