Boycott Dreamy Puppy
Boycott Petland
Boycott Dreamy Puppy
Pet Store Hall of Shame, part 1
Pet Store Hall of Shame, part 2
USDA Violations by Petland Breeders
USDA Records on Various Breeders
How to find out more
about your puppy's breeder
Do Petland puppies really come from LICENSED breeders?
Hunte Corp.
Puppy Mill Links
14-Day Heartache Guarantee
Protesting for Beginners
Find a group near you
Shelters
Adoption info and links to rescue groups
What You Can Do
Bird mills
Rabbit mills
Other animals sold in pet stores
Poems, etc.
Former pet store employees speak out
Buying puppies online--buyer beware
Pet Stores and Puppy Mills in the News
Animal Sellers in Washington DC area
Pet supply stores that DON'T sell animals--the good guys:)
Puppy mill survivor stories
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Please read the information below the line of asterisks, then read this update. Thank you.
UPDATE MARCH 14, 2009: Dreamy Puppy absolutely, positively was getting at least some of its puppies from LARGE, OUT-OF-STATE, Lancaster County Pennsylvania puppy mills in both 2007 and 2008, according to health certificates obtained from the State of Virginia through the Freedom of Information Act. This despite their written claims that they obtain puppies from "small breeders," that they pick the puppies up "within our local area" and that they have "No puppymills!" prominently featured on their website, www.dreamypuppy.com.
A Freedom of Information request to the State of Virginia, February 24, 2009, yielded this response on March 10, 2009: "This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act request of February 24, 2009 for copies of all certificates of veterinary inspection for animals transported into Virginia for delivery to Dream [sic] Puppy of Chantilly, Virginia within the past three months. No such records exist."
The question is: Where is Dreamy Puppy getting its puppies from now? Have they finally cleaned up their act, after being caught red-handed? Or are they doing something else?
By the way, if you go into a pet store like Dreamy Puppy and they refuse to tell you where the puppy comes from until AFTER YOU PURCHASE him or her, that should tell you to run, not walk, to the nearest exit. That means they are afraid to show you where the puppy was born and hope that once you have the puppy home, you will love your puppy and not want to return him or her no matter what is on the papers.
Let's assume Dreamy Puppy has now started actually obtaining locally bred puppies from small breeders. What punishment have they gotten for their past false advertisement? Apparently, NOTHING. You can see how the government (local, state, and federal) not only does not protect puppies, it does not protect you, the consumer, from false advertising committed by pet stores. It is just not their priority.
What punishment has Dreamy Puppy received for illegally posting signs all over local roads? Again, NOTHING. Again, not a priority.
If anyone reading this purchased a puppy from Dreamy Puppy during the months of December 2008, January 2009, or February 2009, please let us know the breeder's name and address, located somewhere on your puppy's papers. The store is REQUIRED to give you this information, according to Virginia law, if they are selling a purebred puppy capable of being registered. Email us at all4theanimals@yahoo.com. Thank you.
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January 2009: The store Dreamy Puppy in Chantilly, Virginia, has “NO PUPPYMILLS!” in big letters on their website, www.dreamypuppy.com. In small print, they say they get puppies from “SMALL BREEDERS WHO VALUE AND DEMAND ONLY THE BEST HEALTH IN THESE PUPPIES.” Please read their website for further assurances that they are different from the typical puppy mill store. How many dogs would you say a “small breeder” would have? 10? 20? 30? How about over 300? Because that’s how big Dreamy Puppy’s “small breeders” are. In fact, one of their breeders had over 750 dogs in 2008.
They also say “WE PERSONALLY PICK UP THE PUPPIES WITHIN OUR LOCAL AREA…” Yes, that is true—instead of dealing with large brokers, they deal with the Lancaster County puppy millers THEMSELVES.
The store calls itself “upscale.” So what if a store is clean and the owners appear to pamper the puppies? That just makes it more appealing to customers. What about the PARENTS of these puppies suffering, unseen, in cages for their entire lives?
As of January 24, 2009, Dreamy Puppy had three newspaper ads posted on the wall inside the store, advertising that the puppies come from LOCAL BREEDERS. We have obtained health and PA state records showing that in 2008, Dreamy Puppy obtained puppies from these breeders in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the heart of puppy mill country. Dreamy Puppies is located in VIRGINIA. Pennsylvania is NOT LOCAL.
• Amos M. Zimmerman, 1560 Weaverland Road, East Earl, PA 17519 had 751 dogs on premises on 6/17/08.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from Amos M. Zimmerman
Pennsylvania state inspection of Amos M. Zimmerman facility
• Allen B. Zimmerman, 343 Reidenbach Road, New Holland, PA 17557 had 328 dogs on premises on 8/20/08.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from Allen B. Zimmerman
Pennsylvania state inspection of Allen B. Zimmerman facility
• Amos W. Zimmerman, 937 Glenwood Dr., Ephrata, PA 17522 had 372 dogs on premises on 9/25/08.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from Amos W. Zimmerman
Pennsylvania state inspection of Amos W. Zimmerman facility
• Clifford Nolt, Shady Oak 797 Terre Hill Road, East Earl, PA 17519 had 395 dogs on premises on 9/29/08.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from Clifford Nolt
Pennsylvania state inspection of Cliffort Nolt facility
• Lester Martin, L-M Kennels, 181 Martin Road, New Holland, PA 17557 had 416 dogs on premises on 9/29/2008.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from Lester Martin
Pennsylvania state inspection of Lester Martin facility
• Kenneth H. Martin, 1645 Weaverland Road, East Earl, PA 17519 had 386 dogs on premises on 10/16/08.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from Kenneth H. Martin
Pennsylvania state inspection of Kenneth H. Martin facility
• David W. Zimmerman, 1512 Weaverland Road, East Earl, PA 17519 had 322 dogs on premises on 2/14/08.
Dreamy Puppy purchase from David W. Zimmerman
Pennsylvania state inspection of David W. Zimmerman facility
These large breeding facilities—what we would clearly consider puppy mills--are neither SMALL nor LOCAL. We urge everyone to BOYCOTT THIS STORE as well as every other store that sells puppies!
This information was obtained legally from two sources: The State Veterinarian’s office of Virginia and the publicly available website of Pennsylvania state inspection records: http://services.agriculture.state.pa.us/KennelInspections/SearchKennelInspections.aspx
We thank New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse--www.NJCAPSA.org-- for helping us locate this information.
In addition, Dreamy Puppy regularly litters county and state streets with hundreds of signs advertising itself. This is ILLEGAL.
By the way, if you go into a pet store like Dreamy Puppy and they refuse to tell you where the puppy comes from until AFTER YOU PURCHASE him or her, that should tell you to run, not walk, to the nearest exit. That means they are afraid to show you where the puppy was born and hope that once you have the puppy home, you will love your puppy and not want to return him or her no matter what is on the papers--and their ploy usually works.
Also, if you inquire about the origin of the puppies and the store manager becomes defensive and asks you to leave the store, or threatens to call the police to have you kicked out of the store, that's another BIG CLUE that they are hiding something! Of course, we do not recommend buying ANY puppy from ANY pet store. We urge you to adopt from shelters and rescue groups.
If you purchased a puppy at Dreamy Puppy, believing that you were buying a puppy from a small, local breeder but your purchase papers show that your puppy came from Pennsylvania or any state other than Virginia, please complain to both Dreamy Puppy and the Fairfax County Department of Telecommunications and Consumer Services, 703-222-8435, or fill out their online complaint form at
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer/IQext/CSW_acs.asp.
Also complain to the Better Business Bureau at
BBB of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania
WWW: http://dc-easternpa.bbb.org
Email: info@mybbb.org
Phone: (202) 393-8000
Fax: (202) 393-1198
1411 K St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington DC 20005-3404
BOYCOTT DREAMY PUPPY!