Pet Projectz

When I visited this store a few months ago I thought some of the puppies didn’t look healthy, and it turns out that might have been the case. Just saw this cry for help from a grandfather who bought a puppy for his 7 yr old grandson only to have it die from Parvo 72 hours later.

Be a part of the solution! Adopt or rescue an animal that needs a loving home and you’ll never regret it. You can also help spread the word by attending one of the Petland protests in your city. The Texans Exposing Petland group will be in front of the Lewisville, TX store Saturday – join them and find out why they are so passionate about this cause.

For more information email petlandgoingdown@sbcglobal.net

Saw an article today about a new program PetSmart and the City of Ft. Worth are trying out where PetSmart will build adoption areas in some of their stores. What a difference from the Petland Stores! Congratulations to PetSmart for doing the right thing!

After my horrible to visit to the Petland store in Lewisville Texas a few weeks ago I was thrilled to see they were being picketed this weekend by a group of well meaning protesters. There were two and four legged ones, and I applaud them for being out in the bitterly cold and damp weather to stand up for what they believed in.

Make a difference and save a life – adopt a shelter or rescue animal and they will be your best friend for life.

Stopped today at the Petland Store in Lewisville, TX to see if anything had changed after my disturbing last visit. Actually things seemed much worse including puppies that were so lethargic they seemed to be sick and also watched a young child step on a puppy as her mother watched. Also disturbing was that there was feces on the floor from the roaming birds. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words – see for yourself what these poor animals are subjected to.

Tucson will always be my home away from home, and one of the reasons I love Tucson so much is the people. They tend to call things like they see them, and they don’t back away from a controversy.

Tucson Weekly is a wonderful publication that talks about all things Tucson, and I was thrilled to hear about a great story that Time Vanderpool wrote recently about Petland and how they buy their puppies from puppy mills and keep them in inhumane conditions.

Be sure to read this very unbiased account of how Petland continues to do business and what Petland and the Hunte Corporation’s ratings are with the Better Business Bureau. One of the readers also directed me to an interesting area on the Consumer Affairs website – over 40 pages of complaints about Petland!

I was out running errand the other day and noticed a Petland store – I had heard about them in the past but hadn’t been in one in a long time, so I decided to stop in and see for myself what they offered.

The slogan that Petland uses is “Pets make Life Better” – maybe they should think about making life better for those pets that they have housed in horrible containers with an open grate floor and the only water source for most was a rodent waterer which you can see in the back of these cages. No blankets – the only place for these babies to be able to lie down is on a plastic grate or a plastic blue container. The holes in most of these grates were larger than the paws of many of these babies and they were continually having their paws slip through the grates.

By the time I left I was shaking and wanted to buy every single one of these babies and take them home. But at least I had the sense in an emotional situation like that to know that any animal I saved would be quickly replaced by two (or more) babies that I had subsidized by my purchase. These stores prey on parents and kind hearted individuals by trying to get you to hold a puppy the moment you start looking at the cages, and they are hoping that you become emotionally attached to that pet and have to have it. This often comes before the buyer has given any thought to where they are going to house this animal and that it’s not only life changing for the pet, it will also be for you. My own daughter fell into this trap and ended up with two energetic dogs that never were house broken and one had a genetic disease where all of her teeth fell out and they have had thousands of dollars of vet bills because they do consider it a purchase for life.

Something that doesn’t seem to be talked about much is the physiological damage spending their early years in a cage behind glass with people banging on their glass to get their attention does. I think trying to get these animals housebroken has got to be an issue because they are taken away from mothers and siblings and put in a cage with no where to go.

There is nothing better than bringing an animal into your life, but it is a commitment of time and finances and should not be entered into without a lot of thought and discussion. Most rescue organizations spend a lot of time helping individuals find the perfect pets for them and their lifestyles. Puppies are adorable, but the whole housebreaking and teething thing had me adopting three adult dogs who are the loves of my life. I can never repay them for what they have brought into my life, and there’s something about the attitude of a rescue animal that is very special. We all feel very grateful that we found each other.

If you need information about where to find a rescue group in your area, please feel free to contact me. You would be amazed to know that there are rescue groups out there for almost every purebred breed as well as “pound puppies”. The wonderful efforts of organizations like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to shut down puppy mills has made it possible to rescue many of the animals that you see in pet shops instead of obtaining one from a shop that will use your money to increase the business for these places.

Put your yourself into the place of what some of these animals are having to go through and I’m sure you will think twice about where you find the new love of your life.

Today I decided to take a stand about something I feel is wrong, and even though it was cold and windy, it felt really good to be there. Over 120 individuals gathered in Plano Texas to protest against Petland and the fact that they support puppy mills.

The rally was well organized by the Humane Society of the United States. Those of us taking part in the rally were much better behaved than the Petland store employees and the vet who does the vet work for the store, and it was very rewarding to have lots of people hinking and showing their support for us – one individual who wasn’t even a part of the group brought her dog back so we could meet the love her life who was a rescue dog.

The media attended as well and gave us very positive coverage. Even the police that were asked to be there thought we were very well behaved. I had a lovely conversation with an officer and was able to educate him on why we were there as a Petland employee that looked like he was the manager gave us a “one finger salute”. Obviously they couldn’t have been very busy because there seemed to be plenty of their staff outside of the store watching us.