|
People frequently purchase a pet store puppy on impulse. There is this cute little thing in the pet store window looking winsome and appealing and hard to resist. That, of course, is the reason the puppy is placed in the window in the first place! Pet store puppies are not inexpensive, though. A pure bred, pet store puppy will cost you plenty. And the initial investment may just be the beginning of its costs.
Pet stores get their puppies from several potential sources including reputable breeders, commercial kennels, brokers, and puppy mills. In many cases these puppies have not been adequately socialized, received insufficient veterinary care, and were not checked for genetic defects. So, they have a higher than average chance of becoming ill and costing you hundreds or even thousands of dollars to provide medical care.
Commercial kennels often produce many breeds of dogs. Although they are required by law to be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and must provide facilities and a plan for veterinary care that meet the guidelines of the federal Animal Welfare Act, the inspection process is extremely flawed.
Brokers often purchase their puppy offerings from puppy mills that have a notorious reputation for poor care and squalid living conditions for both their breeding dogs and their puppies. Chances are slim that puppies or their parents have been tested for the genetic diseases common to their breeds because those tests are expensive and puppy mills cut costs wherever they can in order to increase their profits.
Another cost to you is the increased difficulty you may experience integrating the puppy into your home. Puppies from pet stores are less likely to have been well socialized, meaning they are not used to being handled by people. They have never heard a vacuum cleaner or garbage disposal.
They may have spent the majority of their lives in cages, never having seen grass, dirt, or carpet. Everything they encounter in your home will be completely new and probably scary. The concept of "not soiling your nest" that makes using a crate a good training option, does not apply to puppies who had no choice but to live with their own feces and urine.
Don't be sucked in by the pet store puppy’s pedigree. A puppy may be registered through the American Kennel Club (AKC) by completing a form that shows the pup's parents are AKC registered purebred dogs. Just because a puppy is AKC registered, does not mean that you know about the health of the puppy, its parents or grandparents or even how well the puppy matches the standards for its breed.
So, if you purchase a pet store puppy, you save a bit of money upfront and you have the immediate satisfaction of walking out of the store with your purchase. However, you also get a lot of potential problems and heartbreak. Furthermore, you support the puppy mill and broker industry, encouraging them to keep on doing what they are doing. Is that really worth the difference it costs you to purchase a puppy from a reputable breeder?
|