[glencorgi]

Originally Posted by MyPemCharlie

I agree with you that it is an uneducated buyer who creates demand for pet store puppies, keeping them in business. If the pet store buyer knew 1) the actual source of the animals, 2) knew that they were financially supporting the puppy mill industry, 3) knew that their pet was much more likely to have health and/or temperament problems and 4) knew that they were paying up to double the price as they could buy a premium quality animal from a reputable breeder, then no one would buy from pet stores.

The message is out there. It is on forums such as this and Dogster and every breed list and every pet list every day of the week. It is on Animal Planet, and the news (national and local) and all other forms of media. The message shows up even in one's mailbox with monetary solicitations from HSUS, ASPCA, NSAL, PETA ... How in this day and age anyone cannot realize that the cute puppy in the pet shop came from a commercial kennel, well, they have to have their head in the sand. We are beaten with that message relentlessly. Furthermore, what do you think breeder referral people do? IF I had been paid a salary for all the hours I've spent on the phone and e-mails giving out the message, well I could go visit Michael in New Zealand.

Mission accomplished.

So why does John Q choose to ignore the advice given here when they get the answers to the questions they've asked?

However, it is an extraordinarily daunting task to reach and educate the entire buying public one person at a time.

That is the only way to do it and there has been great success with this method.

The more realistic way to approach the problem is from the supply side. If the educated public can take actions to keep pet stores out of their communities - effectively cutting off supply, then there is no opportunity for John Q Puppybuyer to make the uninformed decision.

Wrong, John Q Puppybuyer is just as likely to make an uniformed decision and impulse buy from their neighbor who just had a litter of puppies or noticing an ad on the bulletin board in the pet supply store or the local feed store or in my case, the local grocery store and post office.

Shelter/rescue numbers coming from original purchase at breeder, kitchen breeder, pet store, etc sources vary from area to area. You may not see huge pet store originated rescues in N. Carolina where there is one Pet Land in your state.

You forget how long I have been at this. During my tenure, there have been a lot more Pet Lands open in the state, along with Puppies to Guppies and several other chains of pet shops.

I expect in Florida where there are 21 Pet Lands, or in Ohio where there are 29 Pet Lands, the % of shelter/rescue dogs from original pet store purchases is much higher.

Being on the Corgi Rescue list, I can address that with some knowledge. FL, percentage wise on sources of rescue corgis is pretty much in line with what I see. Ohio, pet shop purchases would pale in comparison to those from Amish sources.

I agree with much of what you said. There are only two of your points where I would disagree. One is your idea that there is not a supply side surplus of shelter animals.

Nationwide, there really isn't an overpopulation problem, in spite of what HSUS and others might want you to believe. The numbers have been falling for years. In some areas of the country there are actual shortages of adoptable animals. Yes there are still dogs in shelters in the northeast, mainly bully types and black dogs and those imported from other areas of the country and even from out of the country. The southeast, yes there are pockets of overpopulation, TX is another state where than can be overpopulation pockets, so why are they importing small dogs from Mexico even into TX?

The other is that there is a flaw in my logic.

Patronek and some other studies would disagree. The source of shelter populations lies with owners. By shutting off supply, it isn't going to reduce the demand and another very messy can of worms can be opened there. Shelters, less than 20% of the dogs there are purebred.

Debbie