Former pet store employees
speak out
speak out
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
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
Shop
Almost all of the former pet store employees who have contacted us have been people who took the job because they love animals, only to discover the ugly truth: sickness, abuse, and death reign behind the scenes in pet stores. If you are a former employee of ANY pet store with a story to tell, please contact us at all4theanimals@yahoo.com.
You do NOT have to tell us your name, but in that case the pet store will not be named, either. We will give the general location of the store if you provide it. We will NOT include your name on the site unless you specifically give us permission to do so.
Starting August 2007, we will name a SPECIFIC pet store only if you are willing to have your FIRST AND LAST NAME appear on the website. We also require your address and phone number for our files (but these will not appear on the site). This is similar to what a newspaper would ask for if they were to interview you about your experiences.
Naming names of cruel pet stores is important, but your safety is also important, so we totally understand that you may choose to remain anonymous. It is better to speak up anonymously than not speak up at all. If you have seen animals suffering and dying in the back of a pet store, please let people know at every opportunity, in person and online!
Disclaimer: To the best of our knowledge, all the information below is true; however, petstorecruelty.org is not responsible for any unintentional errors that may occur when we receive information from outside sources. We can neither support nor refute statements made by people other than ourselves. If you care about animals and come across one of the stores mentioned, we urge you to visit the store and decide for yourself.
Here is what some former employees had to say:
CREATURES 'N' CRITTERS-VIRGINIA--ALEXANDRIA (no longer at this location)
2007: Back in 1996, I used to work for a pet store called Creatures 'n' Critters; before they closed this location, they were located in the Landmark Plaza shops near Landmark Mall. They also had a store in the Burke Village Center, and still have two stores in the Woodbridge and Dale City areas.
They sold puppies, kittens, rabbits, rodents, reptiles, ferrets and fish. I remember they had one baby rabbit that was sick. They were going to leave it in the store one evening and said that it was going to die. They said it was not worth taking it to the vet. I asked them if I could take it home and they said, "sure." The rabbit was not eating and I don't think they knew why. This was long before I knew about rabbits. I kept the rabbit in a box with bedding. But the next morning it was dead. It was a baby bunny, kind of orange-cream colored.
They also had two large Rex bunnies. These bunnies were there for a long time. Then one day an employee told me they were sold to feed someone's pet snake. They would also feed any sick mice to their own snakes.
I was aware of puppy mills and I didn't like that about pet shops. I looked at the location/breeder where some of these puppies came from and it was from some place out west, like Kansas. So, I've worked in a pet shop before, and I can verify what I've seen and heard. It is horrible beyond words.
DEBBY'S PET LAND--MASSACHUSETTS
2006: I know for a fact Debby's Pet Land also has stores under different names. I worked for two. They keep getting shut down and they reopen under different names. 2 that I know of: the "Pet Club" in West Roxbury/Dedham, Mass. on Rt. 1 and also "New England Pet Center" in Canton, Mass. on Rt. 138. I worked for both.
The staff and conditions were unreal. Rodent cages rarely got cleaned. Huge puppies were in glass bins that guinea pigs or rabbits should be in. Minimum supply of water. The "sick" animals got put in this small closet called the "infirmary" that was infested with flies. Every time I went into work I would find at least 1 dead animal...and puppies getting injured from jumping out of the glass bins.
I complained constantly but was told I don't know what I'm talking about and the animals are "fine."
No wonder they got shut down but they were both owned by Debby's Pet Land management. Who knows...they probably have other stores we don't know about.
**************************************
Pennsylvania pet store
2007: At least 10 baby hamsters and their mother disappeared from the infirmary last year. It was recommended by the general manager that they be used for snake food. They were never found.
The general manager used to tell his friend when we had mice up for adoption in the infirmary, so he could adopt them to feed to his snake.
Last December, the spigot in the sump of the saltwater tanks was rigged so that the water kept running, and no one noticed it was rigged until later in the day, and by that time all the water had run to fresh, killing over $900 worth of saltwater fish.
A few months ago, there were 2 water dragons in the infirmary for nose rub. They weren't better yet, but the gm said that they were in the infirmary for a month, and that's long enough.
Also a few months ago, there were rats that were up for adoption in the infirmary, and the GM [general manager] thought that there needed to be more room in the infirmary, so he put the rats out for sale.
At one point there were 19 ferrets in the ferret hex. A customer called the local SPCA and an officer came to the store. When the GM was told about this, his reply was "So? What are they going to do about it?" 19 ferrets in that small hex is way too many. No animal should have to live in such cramped conditions, surrounded by their own waste.
There are always finches loose in the bird room, and any time a customer asks about them, everyone says that they squeeze through the bars in the cage. This isn't true; it's just that everyone is too lazy to try to catch them.
Fish that are sick, or that supposedly are going to die soon, are often taken out of water and black bagged while they are still living.
Most recently, there was a baby sun conure [type of bird] named Poppy. He was being treated for a respiratory infection. He did not seem to be improving at all; in fact, he seemed to be getting worse. One Saturday night, he was so bad that he was unable to eat because he could not breathe. The MOD [manager on duty] at the time was unable to get a hold of the GM, so she got in contact with the RCAC [regional companion animal coordinator] and he gave her permission to take him to an emergency vet. None of the emergency clinics would take birds, so a note was left for the GM that it was imperative that this bird goes to the vet on Sunday morning. The GM completely blew off the note, said the bird was eating fine, although no one saw him feed it. The bird was still wheezing and no one else was able to get him to eat. Another day passed and he finally went to the vet, who said he is very thin, and very sick. He prescribed medicine to be given to him through a nebulizer. The next day the bird was dead. No one seemed to care about anything except maybe getting a replacement bird because there had been an issue with the vendor and sick birds. All anyone cared about was whether or not the bird should be written off or should they wait for a replacement. This bird should not have died, and he suffered terribly.
PET COMPANY--Georgia--Kennesaw
2006: I'm not going to lie. I used to work at a pet shop. I was the assistant manager there for almost 4 months. When I started working there I was told that none of the dogs had come from puppy mills. I believed them. Why would they lie to me? I had purchased 2 dogs from the store and ran across a site that could give you information about where your puppy came from and what the USDA report looked like. My 2 pups came from some ladies that had over 200 hundred dogs on their site and the USDA report was gross. I decided that I couldn't work for the company anymore.
During my time working there I had 8 dogs die in the store. The vet didn't really look at them. He would come in and take a glance and say "it looks good" and leave. Nowadays I will walk by the pet store and look inside. I can smell the kennels from outside, they are not sterilizing them right. Dogs are being pulled out sick with green snot down their face. The dogs are sick and you can tell just by looking at them. The one dog I had bought from the store is always sick. He has a cough I can never get rid of. He has cost me over 1000 dollars' worth in vet bills. Hell, he came in sick. I know this site talks mostly about Petland. But the other store that needs to be stopped is The Pet Company. Everyone in that main office sees the puppies as inventory and not as a real animal. They could care less if one dies. It breaks my heart to know I worked there and sold puppies to customers that could possibly be sicker than what they thought.
[In March 2006, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that six Pet Company stores in metropolitan Atlanta were quarantined after a highly infectious parasite known as giardia, which travels between pets and humans, was found in 138 out of 151 puppies. The Pet Company stores where puppies tested positive for giardia were at Gwinnett Place in Duluth, Arbor Place in Douglasville, Southlake Mall in Morrow, Stonecrest Mall in Lithonia, Town Center Mall in Kennesaw, and Cumberland Mall in Atlanta. For more info see http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0603e&L=safety&D=1&P=5386
--petstorecruelty.org]
I remember when the giardia outbreak happened. That was a horrible time. I had just been working there for about a week when the Department of Agriculture said we were not allowed to sell the puppies anymore and they must sit in their kennels. I had just started out as the animal care tech. I would come in the mornings at least 3 hours earlier just so I could let the pups out and let them run around a little. We couldn't sell pups for, like, 4 or 5 weeks because of giardia. It was horrible. I remember asking home office if any of my pups tested positive for giardia if they would reimburse me for my vet cost and they laughed at me. I didn't understand why they wouldn't.
I worked in the kennel daily. Only God knows what I have stepped in, and I have contact with other animals regularly. The manager I was working for at the time had the same issue with home office. To be totally honest even though the whole giardia episode is over the store still has people calling and asking for their guarantees because their dogs are still testing positive for giardia. Home office could care less. They aren't going to doing anything. Even though the Department of Agriculture said that dogs were testing negative I think it is bullshit. Excuse my language. Some Cumberland store pups, even the new ones, are going home with giardia, and I think the other stores still have giardia, too. When I was still working there dogs looked like they had it. The only difference in March '06 and now is in March we had the preventative medications to get rid of it. I don't think the new manager, Paige, ever orders medications or vaccinations for the pups. I don't think she gives a rat's butt what happens to anything in that store. As long as she is making her money.
Another thing that I saw at the Pet Company was this. A lady bought a shih-tzu from the store, and the medical records said the dog had an umbilical hernia repair. Well, she took the pup to her vet, and the vet told her that there was no surgery ever done on that dog and that the hernia was the size of a tennis ball and needed to be removed. This poor lady comes in asking for her 14-day warranty, and the district manager told her she signed the paperwork and it apparently stated that just because something is written on the dog's medical records from the breeders doesn't always mean it is true and that the company will do nothing to help her with the cost, like she was told by the sales associate. The company has so many loopholes to the warranties. It is sad to see these customers come in and spend $1,200 on a dog and then turn around and pay another $2,000 for vet cost and the company do nothing about it.
--Jessie Howe
PET COMPANY--New Jersey--Voorhees
2007: I used to work for The Pet Company at the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, NJ - a real hell hole for animals. I too, got the job there as an animal-loving teenager, only to find out the truth.
While I worked there, tons of puppies sat in the back sick, and untreated for simple things like worms. They had bloody diarrhea, and the store couldn't be bothered to take them to a vet.
They ordered their pets from a horrible supplier called Animals Etc. I personally confronted the company over the phone and with letters about the sick animals they sold.
We had DOZENS of bunnies, hamsters, ferrets, chinchillas and birds die - or come in DEAD. They were packaged in crates with NO water and food, only ROTTEN POTATOES. Sometimes it looked like the dead animals had been in the crates with the live ones for days.
The rabbits and ferrets always had parasites and all the animals had respiratory infections. It was horrible.
The "vet" who worked with them never actually gave the dogs shots or worming medication like he claimed. He would sign off on clearly unhealthy animals. It couldn't have been more sad.
After I quit, I found out two miniature pinchers had bled to death from intestinal parasites and bloody diarrhea, and that the manager had thrown them in the garbage dumpster. It was a hell hole, and NO ONE should buy animals there.
I'm now a police officer, and I plan on spending my career focusing on charging those who deserve it, with animal cruelty. People need to be locked up for the horrible things they do!
*********************************
PETLAND
2007: I am a former Petland employee and I'm writing in regards to the countless numbers of wild caught reptiles and amphibians I have witnessed DIE due to inadequate facilities for keeping these reptiles and also due to parasites (internal and external) and general lack of correct husbandry and/or inadequate knowledge about reptiles and amphibians.
I was brought in to "help" with the "reptile situation" but I quickly gathered that it was a situation that was out of control. These people wouldn't listen to me when I told them that the whole problem was them ordering wholesale WILD CAUGHT reptiles that were already sick and nobody listened. It took a huge mite infestation for them to come to some kind of a realization that they were having serious problems.
They also house a Mountain Horned Dragon (which is a protected species in Thailand) and continue to get reptiles and amphibians harvested from the wild on a weekly basis.
The Petland I worked for and a nearby Petland both ordered birds, small animals, reptiles and amphibians from these wholesalers:
http://www.golizards.com/
http://www.reptile-express.com/priceList.html
The other employees in that store knew NOTHING about reptiles and amphibians and nothing about tropical fish.
These two Petlands would get the reptiles and small animals in at the same time. The last shipment of reptiles they got in was very distressing as they came in with only ONE warm pack and the reptiles were in tiny deli cups and almost FROZEN as they had put them in the back of the shipment truck. I was inquiring about this and upset that the only heat source was ONE TINY heat pack that wasn't even warm when we got the shipment and the inventory guy for the store where I worked had selected out our reptiles and sent the driver on with the remaining reptiles to go to the other nearby Petland.
I witnessed FIVE baby bearded dragon deaths and one black throat monitor death while I was with Petland. Also I was told by the fish dept. manager that UVB bulbs (full spectrum fluorescent) bulbs were not put on ANY of the reptiles until one happened to burn out and he checked to see if they were full spectrum and he said they were not. Also he told me that "nobody took care of the reptiles and everything was dying." He also went on to say that everything they tried putting in a specific type of terrarium they had for sale "always died."
The assistant manager of the Petland store where I worked showed me on the computer that (I assume from the year 2006-2007) they had over 600+ "missing" or unaccounted-for reptiles. Meaning they had all died.
The tarantulas we had on hand were also wild-caught and we are not permitted in the USA to be even selling these spiders. I am still gathering information on which species are and are not permitted to be permitted for resale in the USA but here is a detailed list of what was "on hand" that IS a wild-caught species on the Petland where I worked:
Mexican Red Knee Tarantuala
Rose Hair Tarantula
Clark's Spiny Tail Lizard
Mountain Horned Dragon
Green and Brown Anoles
Blue Diamond Iguanas
Central American Banded Geckos
Tokay Gecko
Cuban & White's Tree Frogs
Adult Emperor Scorpions
Senegal Chameleon (also have previously had Jackson's and Veiled which had all died)
When I was brought into this particular Petland location they were putting new snakes in with old snakes' feces and urine and their enclosures were FILTHY and the habitats were completely WRONG and inadequate for each species. Also the way they had the habitats and enclosures set up the ambient air temperature for most, if not all, of these reptile species was lower than adequate and there was no way of providing adequate basking spots with temperatures of 90-95 degrees that was required for most if not all of the reptiles as there was not enough space above each SMALL enclosure to attach an incandescent bulb and also no way to attach an underneath heating pad at all.
I do wish I had taken pictures of the conditions before and after I left and the habitat itself to show everyone the horror I experienced but I was even questioned when one "senior pet counselor" saw me taking notes of particular species as to WHY I was writing things down and also the store had cameras so I didn't want them to suspect me of doing my own "investigation" into their problem and wrongdoings.
I informed Petland that the reason I was quitting is because I would not play any part in cleaning up their MESS they had caused by the resale of wild-caught reptiles and amphibians and also I wasn't going to FIGHT to educate their teenage employees.
I know all about the HUNTE corporation in Missouri and how the dogs are kept. They try to fool the employees but it's funny that most all of the new dogs have chronic diarrhea for WEEKS on end when they first come in!
I was also disgusted that everyone was forced to work on SALES (if we didn't sell THREE PUPPIES in a certain time length we could be written up for that!) and every single thing they sold in that store was sold under someone's name and they kept tabs on how much sales you did and you were held to a certain sales margin according to how many hours you worked. Like, for example, I worked on the average of 28 hours per week and I was expected to have a goal of $6,000 in sales for one month.
This store hires teenagers to start at $6.00/hour and literally pushes them to sell puppies (number one thing they train you to do). I was started at $7.00/hour because I've had over 20 years experience in the retail pet store trade (only under locally owned pet stores, never under pet store chains like this one, how horrific this experience was!) and I have captive bred snakes and lizards for hobby for over 20 years. So I was supposed to be brought up to my requested $10-$10.50/hour pay after my 30 days trial period was up but I just couldn't go against my beliefs in animal conservation and cruelty and put up with it for any longer so I was only with the company for a little under one month.
PETLAND--Canada--Calgary [There are currently 9 Petlands in Calgary]
2007: I would just like to say first and foremost. I LOVE animals. I am an active participant with animal rights groups around my community. I am planning a protest on KFC. I applied at Petland because I love animals. I love working around and being with animals.
I was trained as night/weekend technician for a very small Petland. There are several kennels of dogs, two kennels of cats, many aquariums, several tanks of reptiles, and a canary/finch unit of several cages. There were also open pens of many different animals including chinchillas, bunnies, guinea pigs, budgies/parakeets were housed together, and we usually had a cat cage out front and a parrot.
I was trained by several different people. I was never told the policies of late, absences or what to do if you were sick. I was told to "figure out what works for yourself" and I did it. I loved my job.
On the weekends I was responsible for opening the store. I would feed all the puppies and then strip the front cages. Then every puppy was taken out of its cage, put into dog carriers and the kennels completely sanitized. I completely cleaned every single one of the kennels and then would mop between kennels. So no "cross contamination" would occur. There was two buckets (one for "normal" and one for "sick" puppies.) I would change the buckets as needed. At this point in time the puppies would be in their carriers for about 2 hours when I'd finish up and get everyone put back in...then time to do another tray run before the store opened. Then I would weigh every puppy, give meds as needed, clean the litter boxes, put everyone's food out (cats and other animals), laundry, new blankets/toys for the puppies and when time allowed the finch/canary unit. From day one (even though it was NOT my job, I was expected to do this).
My night shifts were twice a week, on vetting days. This was when we'd get our new puppies in, or find out if puppies were on meds etc. I was responsible for washing the blankets that were filled with poop, washing any puppies that were covered in poop from the drive and the carriers. I would also administer meds, give them food, do dishes, and once again do finch/canary unit waters/foods.
I would like to continue on in point form.
~ Staff were constantly mixing up the buckets in the back. Many times I would see the manager doing a tray run without disinfecting the sink or sponge in between kennels. Also many people didn't use the right bucket, and often would grab a sponge from the sick animals instead of the healthy bucket.
~ The disinfectant used on the trays and grates was not supposed to be breathed in by anyone. This was used to spray the staff between puppies. The spray was not rinsed off before the trays were put back into the kennels so the puppies had to breathe it in. The girl who first tested the disinfectant at another location had chronic nose bleeds for several weeks when she first started using the spray.
~ The owner/manager of one of the Calgary Petlands is a spokesperson for Petland and very prominent within the Petland company. He has had a radio show and a TV show. I used to watch the show when I was young and wanted to work with Petland because it seemed like such a good company. Little did I know about him or the company...
~ I have so many things to say it's making me mad just trying to think of everything.
~ The tech that had trained me went on vacation and we got a new girl. She was a lot like me, very passionate about her job and wouldn't let anyone F*&# around in the back. However, she began to put all her workload on me and was later fired. The owner gave her the reason that "she didn't love her job." She did love her job, but she was putting her workload on the part-timer and so I was doing the work of the day tech at night.
~ We had a small hamster someone dropped out in the front come into the back. Whenever there was a problem with an animal everyone brought it right to me and I'd make the call on what to do with it. This hamster was going to die and I knew it was. I was distracted by some rowdy ferrets so I asked one of the managers to hold it while it died. He told me to put it in the freezer. I told him again to hold it and I'd be there in two seconds. He died in my hands about a minute later. I put him in some paper towel and a fish bag and put him in the freezer so he could be taken to vetting the next week to be properly disposed of.
~ Any small animals that died (hamsters, small birds, etc.) were put in the freezer and were supposed to be taken to vetting. I went to vetting once and took the animals from the freezer with me. There were about 3 hamsters and a canary (that had died for no apparent reason). The following 4 months saw 6 hamsters and 2 birds sitting in the freezer. Our hamsters weren't big sellers so they'd start to eat each other at sexual maturity. There was a hamster with most of its face eaten off in the freezer... that isn't pleasant to see every day. The animals were never taken to a vet.
~ I was told numerous times to put hamsters in a fish bag and smash it onto the counter to kill it, or to put them in the freezer while the animal was still alive.
~ We later found out that the kennel tech who was fired wasn't cleaning the kennels out properly in the mornings, she was letting the puppies run around together out on the floor, and not disinfecting at all between kennels. We had an outbreak of Parvo, Giardia, and Coccidia. It is sad that I know the differences between all 3 of these illnesses. The store was too small to have isolated cages. So the sickest of the sick puppies were still in view of the public.
~ We had several puppies who had been exposed to Parvo transferred in to the store. These puppies were only allowed to be handled by people that had been warned that they could potentially be carrying the virus and that it could be transferred to puppies or dogs at home. So one day my manager tells one of the PCs (Pet Counselors) to come and get the puppies and put them out in the front play pen. This is actually an old glass rabbit/guinea pig cage that was emptied out and put at the front of the store. Then everyone walking by could come and pet the puppies. I told the PC no, they can't go out. Then my manager came into the back. I explained the entire situation to him and said that they weren't allowed to come out final answer. I went out to the front of the store to check on our parrot. When I came back he was removing the puppies to take them out to the front. Who knows if anyone's dogs at home got infected that day... but it makes me want to scream when I think of that man.
~ The markups were ridiculous! We would buy a puppy for 100-300 dollars and sell it for 1,200. We even had a small breed puppy stolen from the store. The only thing the manager was concerned about was lost profit, he didn't care that a small dog had been stolen and who knew what kind of a home or treatment it would get.
~ He told me very shortly after I started that I had final say when it came to the animals, and that he'd "never put an animal's health at risk just for a sale." I can honestly say he never kept to this standard.
~ We had a Bernese Mountain dog puppy that was sold being kenneled until Christmas underneath the Post Parvo pups. Guess what?! The Bernese caught Parvo about a week later. The owner did nothing to help the woman with her vet bills because she couldn't "prove" that the puppy caught it from Petland. Even though symptoms of parvo will start 7 to 10 days after infection. The woman worked near Petland and would come to visit her puppy on her break. She came in one day that a tech was subbing and said that she was disgusted by the amount of poop and filth in the puppy's cage. She went on to say that if she'd come in looking for a puppy that day she never would have bought him.
~ I was the only employee in the store who had owned a rabbit. I was therefore final say on anything related to bunnies. I know probably everything about rabbits, when they are sick, to when they are pregnant. We had a bunny come in and he had bumps all over his ears and back. He'd obviously been in a fight and was healing from the wounds. This was a transfer in from another store. The day tech obviously hadn't checked the bunnies for anything. She is supposed to check the bunnies for anything wrong with them. So I put the bunny in Iso because he also had a very runny nose and really runny cecotropes (poop they eat the first time) that were stuck to his bottom. He was a sick rabbit and being out in the front would've been too stressful for him. I was told that I was overreacting and he was put back out in the front. I said no and put him in the back until vetting Thursday. I came in to see how he was doing Wed. night and he was already doing a million times better but I still said no he still has a cold. He was taken to vetting, the vet said oh no, there's nothing wrong with him, and then put right back out into the store. Immediately the bunny had a runny nose again and was very scared and stressed. But I couldn't do anything.
~ We had kittens come in underweight, with dirty nose and ears. But because we needed kittens the day tech took them. One of the kittens died because of an unknown cause, the other two weren't allowed to go home because they were trying to get fattened up. Petland has strict policies about what kittens we can and cannot bring in. Due to the stress and shock of being in the Petland environment one died and the other two were very ill for a very long time. We also had another kitten die of unknown causes shortly thereafter.
~ We had Interceptor (de-wormer) stolen for MONTHS, boxes and boxes would disappear.
~ We had two of our beardies die because of inadequate sheltering and feeding. The place the Petland was located was unable to have crickets. Because of this our beardies weren't fed properly, we ran out of crickets and worms to feed them and none were bought to feed the beardies. They were maybe fed 3-4 times a week instead of 2x a day. An old employee bought a Bearded Dragon from the same batch and in 3 weeks was 3 times the size of our guys.
~ We ran out of feeder mice and our snakes went without food for over a month. I asked the tech to pick some up at the next vetting. And 2 more weeks went by and nothing was done about it. I went and picked them up and yelled at her for not getting them when she said she would. I was the only one who cared for and fed those mice to the snakes.
~ The finch/canary unit was not my responsibility yet every day that I worked I was the one supposed to be cleaning it out. I decided to see if the other two techs were even CHECKING the unit like they were supposed to do multiple times during the day. Those birds went without new food/water for almost a week. I watched the waters to make sure there was still water in them, but like I said. I was the only one caring for those animals.
~ Parrot cages were maybe cleaned once a month...IF that. I only cleaned one ONCE, when it was disgustingly dirty.
~ We had a ferret transferred in from another Petland location. This ferret was vicious. I don't mean like bites when playing. I mean this little guy would charge at people fangs bared at the person. Our day tech at the time was hurt really badly by him because he bit her hand and would not let go. The other Petland got into trouble because of the condition of the ferret. NO ferret in captivity should be acting like that. I don't know what happened to him but I hope he got rehabilitated. I doubt it.
~ When I was taken out of the back, I would check the grates on my days off and when I was just starting my shift. Every single time there was poop stuck to the grates and nothing had been cleaned for hours. The new night tech was on shift and didn't clean the kennels for hours. I'm sorry, I don't care HOW new you are, you need to be cleaning the kennels out. There was bright green bloody crap on the mat for almost an hour and a half. I told her that one of the puppies (I even pointed to it) had Coccidia... I was right and the puppy was put on meds...but still kept with all the others.
~ We had a Labradoodle develop a giant (probably the size of a tennis ball) cyst on her leg. It was HUGE. The vet said it was from lying on a hard surface. We put blankets down in the cage because it was too small for two Labradoodles and a bed.
~ The food for large dogs was Nutrience. The vet told us that the bigger dogs should be on a different type of (expensive) vet brand dog food. ALL of our large dogs that came in had horrible diarrhea, bad dehydration, and were lethargic. The owner wouldn't buy the food because it cost too much money.
~ As a tech I was told that if the disinfectant/water/bleach/apple cleanser/vinegar water bottles weren't full all the time we would be written up. But no one was ever written up for not checking the finch/canary unit waters OR not cleaning trays.
~ The kennels didn't have a ventilation system. There were holes with vents in them, but it was all for public perception. There was no fan attached to the system and it was NEVER cleaned, not even after we had a couple of kennels come down with Parvo.
~ A lady called me one day and told me that her puppy was at the vet because it was very, very sick. She was crying and very upset about the situation. I told my manager about what was going on and that one of the puppies in the cage had had Giardia and this is what the vet said it was. Once again I have no idea what happened but I'm 95% positive no compensation was given.
~ We had a cat come in that was TERRIFIED and I do mean scared out of her mind with fear of people. So what did the lovely day tech do? Put her in the cat cage with a towel over one side of the cage...to make room for outrageously priced kittens.
~ Domestic short hair kittens were sold for 268
~ Siamese kittens were between 488 and 688
~ Ragdolls were between 1088 and 1188
~ The puppies were sold for 300% markups, sometimes more. The employees were promised bonuses if they sold more then a certain amount of $ value. They never received raises or bonuses they were promised. They were told to add a TON of other things to sales. I felt like a used car salesman. The toys were obscene amounts of money. I'm sorry but I'll go to Walmart and buy a bag of tennis balls for the price that one "super" ball was. I only sold people what they needed, I was told to increase my sales. I would spend 20 minutes talking to a woman about her dog's sensitive stomach and really form a bond with people. They trusted my judgement and opinion and that meant more to me then selling five toys with one small puppy.
~ A tiny little puppy was taken to the vet when it was shaking (ALL small dogs who are scared shake). She was shaved in 3 different places. Her paws and her neck to take blood samples. When I went to pick her up she was healthy, and nothing was wrong with her. She had gone through that ordeal without any need. But when I was begging management to let me take our Beardies or other puppies to the vet I was denied. The bearded dragons died, and the puppies ended up having to be taken to the emergency room.
~ I had a horrible experience with Petland. Unfortunately the conditions for the animals have only decreased since I was taken out of the back and since I have left.
PETLAND--Florida--Orlando--E. Colonial Drive
(there are 4 Petlands in Orlando) A person who worked at this store several years ago reports being instructed to put LIVE hamsters in the freezer to die when they were too old to sell. Another former employee said this owner seemed to care about puppies. If so, we hope this owner has severed ties with Petland.
*******************************************
PETLAND--Florida--Orlando--Lake Fredrica Shopping Center
DIFFERENT employee who worked at this store in 2000 writes: "Eric and Trevor Davies [the owners], husband and wife, were very into profit. They wouldn't allow blankets/toys in the cage--they followed the Petland Code to the T. What scared me about that store is they had 3 tiers of cages and the jumpy pups would jump and often fall 8 feet if the kennel technician didn't catch them in time. It was very scary. What was very said is a dog that had a respiratory infection was kept in isolation for 3 months. He wasn't allowed to leave his cage and the owners told us to have limited contact with him. Basically nobody would touch him, only to clean his cage and feed him. He was very depressed; he'd cry and whine all day long. It was very difficult working there. The owners wouldn't let us pair up the puppies if there was an empty cage. They wanted all the windows full even if it meant the puppy would be all alone. A lot of rodents would die. It was awful. They had two aquariums full of feeder mice. If you look in there, the mice had very little room to move around, there were so many. The odor alone, even cleaned every day, was so bad. They had problems with hamsters dying. Later they found out it was their diet. The hamsters were raised on lab pellets and the owners were trying to feed them hard seeds and the hamsters would die within days."
PETLAND-Florida--2006
[Obviously petstorecruelty.org does not encourage people to purchase Petland franchises, but we appreciate this former employee's willingness to give a behind-the-scenes look into the store where he/she worked.]
Former employee: Let me first start out by saying: I am not against Petland, in fact, I plan on purchasing a Petland franchise when I can save up enough money. I am an avid animal lover, and I applied for a job at Petland so that I could be with puppies. No matter how bad of a mood you are in or how rotten of a day you have had, all puppies have a way of making it better; with their smiling faces and wagging tails, who could ever be upset?
I'll start with this Petland's practices, etc.; then I will get to the really bad stuff which led me to leave.
Back to the store. As a trainee I was taught all of the opening and closing duties for each kennel shift; I knew nothing about the floor staff duties and they knew nothing about ours. Each time I went into work, I was paired with a new kennel tech who showed me different ways of doing these duties; they always said, "Just figure out the best and easiest way to do it so you can close on time."
Opening duties were pretty easy but stressful. There were two kennel techs on every morning shift to take out the blankets, take out all of the bowls, mats, and toys and bleach everything. Then we had three rotations of dogs: little dogs, big dogs, and sick dogs. We would take out all of the little dogs and then one person would spray the metal grates and trays while the other disinfected the cages. Then we repeated the process with the other sets of dogs. When I first started working, I was told that we should mop (with bleach water) the entire kennel floor between each rotation so that the puppies would not share germs--good plan, right?
The problem was that all rules and standards were gone during opening. The goal: clean all of the poop out of the cages before customers come in and can see it. So all the dogs swapped germs constantly. Throughout the day, the puppies were allowed down on the kennel floor to play. We kept a door open so customers could see all the puppies.
At one point the store had 76 puppies, with 14 kennels. Well, 14 that customers could see and 5 metal ones for ISO (isolated) dogs, and then a horrible break room which had one light, peeling wallpaper, poop stains on all the walls, and a TV that was always turned on, but no cable so it was constant static through any shows.
** Here come the upsetting things. I'll continue in bullet form for the sake of length:
* We would have up to 7 puppies in one kennel. The papers on the back of some kennels would say "jumpers" to alert kennel techs and floor staff that the dogs may try to jump out. Many dogs fell from these 2nd tier kennels. It was inevitable because a person who tried to get any dogs out had to reach up and try to get one dog while holding up to 6 other puppies trying desperately to get out of the cages to come play.
* One little ChiChi who came in was so tiny he could sit in the palm of your hand. One of the kennel techs, tried to get a dog out and the chichi fell out. A ONE-POUND DOG FELL FROM A 2ND TIER KENNEL and passed out. The dog was completely limp. Instead of rushing immediately to the vet (literally next door) the tech tried to revive it somehow and it woke up. It wouldn't eat puppy food for a few days and no one ever took him to the vet to be looked at because of the fall.
* On many accounts the hamster and bird cages would not be cleaned--even though they were scheduled to be cleaned every single day.
* The cat room in the store allowed people to go in and play with kittens, as far as I could tell it was kept nicely; however there were four kennels in the back with 4 and 5 kittens in it each (2x2 kennels) who had eye infections, skin diseases, ear mites, and constant diarrhea. These cats were so neglected it was heartbreaking. I only worked a few days a week because of another job but every single time I worked I made sure they had food and water. Techs would literally forget about them and leave for the night without leaving food or water for them. They would have never done that to the dogs...the ones on display at least.
* All of the animals who were on medication (there were A LOT) would constantly not get their meds and sometimes get the wrong ones. When an animal was sick, they wouldn't go to the vet (next door, let me remind you); it was up to the kennel tech (many of which never went to school past high school) to decide what meds to give the animal and which dosage.
* Another chichi was accidentally put into a "cold cage" and when removed, the tech put her back into a healthy cage with other healthy dogs and put it on antibiotics as a "preventative." Prescription medicine should not be used as a preventative! And if they were so worried the dog was sick, they shouldn't have put it in with the healthy dogs.
* Whenever a puppy exhibited the least bit of a runny nose or anything, they were immediately put into a cold cage with other cold dogs and put on antibiotics...no vet visit.
* Almost all of the dogs had coccidia (bloody stool) and they were on meds, and it was an emergency to change the pans if there was blood on it...so as not to upset the customers...but piled up poop on the puppies themselves was fine--"because bath day is only once a week."
* We had constant complaints and animal services even came to visit. Of course, we got the kennel cleaned beautifully before they got there, so there was no problem.
* The sick dogs in ISO would be there literally for months--because the owners didn't want to pay for them to be sent to the vet for a follow-up checkup.
* There was a few times when hamsters would get wettail (I was told it is when a hamster gets his tail wet and then it engorges to the size of the hamster--like a tumor) and they would be put into a plastic bag and into the freezer. The freezer was constantly filled with dead mice and hamsters.
* On more than one occasion, a hamster that was still alive was put into the freezer "because it's going to die anyway." One puppy had puppy Parvo and was sent to the vet...he died 2 days later. Puppy Parvo is highly contagious and deadly, but NONE of the other puppies were checked for it...not any the puppy played with or kenneled with. It was too expensive.
Here is the saddest story ever: Three golden labs were brought in. They were taken care of for a while. But all of the kennel techs hated them because they were so playful and mischievous. Shockingly enough, all three labs got colds. Two were sold after the colds were gone, but one still had his cold...so he was put in ISO all by himself. The techs just thought he had a cold, so they gave him the cold antibiotics and figured he'd get better. He was in the ISO kennel for days, until one morning he was let out to play with the other sick pups and he wouldn't play (a normal lab ALWAYS wants to play!) He lay down and was heavy and coughing up mucus. The manager was told and she finally decided to take it to the vet. While she made the appointment the kennel tech bathed the lab because it was covered in poop and the manager didn't want the vet to think that it lived in poop (it did). He was literally skin and bones; a 3-month old lab at 15 lbs or less.
The vet said he had really bad pneumonia. Basically he had been getting sicker and sicker and everyone had ignored it thinking it was "just a cold." So he was put into a crate in the break room. There were two crates--one for the lab and one for 2 bulldogs who had been sick for months--one of them had been returned because it got so sick (no refund, of course!) and then the door was shut, and the puppies were checked on in the morning and at feeding times. It was terrible.
Finally one of the kennel techs took the lab home even though it as still coughing and heaving. The store still charged above cost for this terribly sick puppy (I don't know how much it was). I was subsequently told that when the dog was taken to the vet, he was diagnosed with kennel cough and put on 5 different medicines to be taken twice a day. Although this is a terrible story about neglect, it at least ended up with a good ending. After two weeks, the puppy gained weight and is about 30 lbs now...he is still a little bony.
THE MANAGER AND ASSISTANT MANAGER WERE AWARE OF EVERY ONE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED INSTANCES!!!!!
They would try to put policies into effect that would help keep germs and disease down, but neither of them bothered to enforce them. The entire time I worked at this Petland, the owners never came into the store.
NOT ALL PETLANDS ARE LIKE THIS. In my research for a Petland franchise, I went to a few other stores in Florida. The Petlands on Alafaya and in Lake Fredrica plaza seemed nice....at least cleaner and friendly (not pushy). But what utterly amazed me was the Petland on Kirkman Rd in Metro West. I went in there and talked with the night manager, Carlo, for over an hour. He was the most knowledgeable staff member I had met at any of the stores--even more than the managers at my store. He knew everything about the breeders, the franchise, inventory--he answered every one of my questions about the franchise. He even let me go into the back kennel to see how it all worked. It was so organized! There were two puppies per cage--every cage was spotless, and all of the puppies were beautifully clean. The back was organized, and there were only a few dogs with colds who were nicely accommodated in kennels where they could not interact with the other puppies.
I also spoke to the franchise owner, who was equally as informative about the reptile and aquatic sections of the store. This store is precisely how I would like my store to be run: organized, efficient, healthy, loving (all the puppies were cuddled and hugged throughout the day), and above all intelligent. The staff could answer any question.
**************************************
PETLAND--Florida--2006:
A former general manager of a Petland store in Florida says that he was hired primarily to deal with numerous customer complaints about sick puppies. He was instructed to tell these people that he would call the store owner. The store owner did not ever want to talk to customers and never called them back.
The manager was also expected to sell animals. He found the conditions for fish and birds very good, and the birds came from a local breeder that he liked. To sell puppies, he was instructed to tell customers that they were "the best quality you can get" or "the best dog in the world," while qualifying these remarks by saying that the puppies were "not show quality." However, in a short time he found that he could not in good conscience say these things, because he realized that "every freaking dog was sick."
Although it is illegal to put sick puppies on display for sale in Florida, this Petland did. When Animal Control found a puppy with an upper respiratory infection on display in the store window, they instructed the employees to remove the puppy immediately. This was done, but the owner was unconcerned and continued to put similar puppies on display. He did not consider it a "good day" unless a puppy was sold.
The manager estimates that 80% of the puppies were sent home with the store's "addendum," which it is required to do if the puppy has a health problem. Usually the pre-existing condition was an upper respiratory infection, which store employees would describe to customers as a "little cold" that would probably clear up in a couple of days, not informing them that it could also become life-threatening pneumonia which can cost several thousand dollars to "clear up." Luxating patella (wobbly kneecaps) was also a common problem mentioned on the addendum.
An employee of the Hunte Corporation, which transported the puppies to the store, mentioned that puppies arrive at the Hunte building in Missouri in boxes on a conveyor belt. When the Hunte truck arrived In Florida, as soon as the puppies were taken off the truck (stacked 3 cages high on each side), all of them were put on antibiotics for 10 days in an effort to clear up upper respiratory infections.
A regional manager visiting this store mentioned that at another Petland he had visited, there were 4 dead puppies in the freezer.
The veterinary hospital associated with the Florida store was VCA, which is a chain that has branches in other states. The former general manager did not like the quality of care that VCA provided and would not take his own animals there, even for reduced prices. He also found it curious that during VCA's inspection of the puppies while at the store, they usually gave the puppies a clean bill of health, but when a customer would take a newly purchased puppy to VCA, the vet would often find many more health problems. However, the manager was told by his boss, "You have to agree with VCA."
The manager was also concerned about the large amount of time that the puppies were kept in Petland's small cages. Some of the large-breed puppies developed difficulty walking after confinement in these cages.
The former manager has two dogs of his own that originally came from pet stores (adopted from people who couldn't handle the dogs' health and behavioral problems). He says both are nice dogs but that one has "a quarter of a brain," and the other has bad knees and other physical problems. He's also found that sickliness and fearfulness in pet store puppies can make training them take longer than usual.
PETLAND (two different stores) in Illinois: This employee was told by Petland Corporation representatives that the puppies are taken from their mothers at 5 weeks old and go through so much stress and handling at the broker's and during transport that they recommended leaving the puppy alone for 48 hours after he or she arrives at the pet store. Our local Petland does not follow this advice. They put the puppies on display immediately, and they are available for sale 24 hours later.
* This employee also said the Hunte Corporation truck that delivers the puppies to Petland "reeks of poop" and that the trucks do not stop to exercise the animals when the driver takes a break. The puppies, stacked 4 cages high in the truck, arrived with lots of upper respiratory infections and diarrhea due to stress. The second store this employee worked at severed ties with Hunte due to the large number of puppies who arrived sick, choosing a different puppy broker (Conrad's Cuddly Canines) instead. One of the common problems in the Hunte puppies was luxating patellas, or loose kneecaps. Petland's policy was to accept grade 1 and 2 but the store was getting too many of the more serious cases, grades 3 and 4. Ringworm and parvovirus were also problems. This employee confirmed that puppies are regularly sent back on the truck when Petland does not want them anymore.
PETLAND--ILLINOIS--CHICAGO RIDGE
2007: This one is about the Petland in Chicago Ridge, Illinois. This happed nearly 11 years ago, in August of 1997, and is more about the company practices than the animals, but unless the owners and/or store policies have changed, the information should really be out there.
I was hired with the understanding that employees were expected to attempt to achieve a certain level of sales every month. One was paid minimum wage with the expectation that if one met one's sales goal, one would be paid a bonus. I was also told that if one was consistently selling poorly, one would be terminated, but that I would have a month to settle in and get a handle on things before my sales figures would count. Right.
I had said I wanted to work with the birds to learn more about them as I'd never kept birds before and the ones we had were primarily hand-raised sweethearts. From day one, I was told by the manager/supervisor that I was to be a kennel tech only, even though I was not told this when I was hired. I kept asking and was given one single day of training with the birds so I knew what to tell customers just in case nobody else was available. This was the extent of my "training" and education. It quickly became clear that I was to be nothing more than an overworked and underpaid grunt.
Another issue was that people would know that sales were credited to the person who'd helped them and consequently, people would frequently come in saying, "well, so-and-so helped me initially so even though he/she isn't here, I'd like the sale to go to him/her." I was given all of these when I was on-duty and told to take care of the customers, even though it frequently involved putting together a large sale which I'd spend a significant amount of time organizing and for which I'd get no credit.
The store policy was that there should be neither urine nor feces in any of the dog cages when the store opened and that every cage had to be cleaned and sanitized every single morning. Needless to say, I did this most mornings. Store policy was also that whoever was the kennel tech for the day had to make sure that when any urine or feces appeared in the cage, that cage got a fresh cleaning immediately. It wasn't a terribly tedious job when there were 10 puppies on display, but when the entire complement of some 30-odd cages had a puppy in it, trying to get it done in under 2 hours was insane. Then after breakfast came the next round of cleaning up the new urine and feces, and again after lunch, or after dinner, depending on what shift I was working that day. I came home utterly exhausted and completely drained most days, having spent very little time on the sales floor and most of my time chasing after puppy poop, which would be pointed out to me regularly by the supervisor/manager.
Of course, the cages were all the standard wire floor cages which allow no puppies to sit, stand, or lie down in any comfort, and to which poop sticks quite readily. They had plexiglass fronts which meant that if a puppy got rambunctious, I frequently not only had to clean the plexiglass, but also the puppy. The puppies were never given plain water, but always water with a quantity of Gatorade powder mixed in because of the stress of isolation. Two puppies were never housed together, not even in the larger cages, and the only exercise they got was when they occasionally got free of me when I was transferring them from their display cage to one of the holding/sick cages for cleaning. They were never allowed to run free in the back room, let alone anywhere outdoors, and they were never taken out of their cages other than for cleaning or to meet a prospective buyer. There was always at least one, and sometimes up to four, sick puppies who couldn't be put on display on account of their pathetic coughing and/or mucous discharge.
I got used to having my hands in soapy poopy water and having to sanitize them regularly. Consequently my sales suffered and I only made about $1100 for the month, when the goal was $5000. But I was learning and doing better and becoming quite efficient at cleaning so I could spend more time out on the floor. And besides, wasn't I promised a month of amnesty to learn the ropes? Hah!
I was terminated one day by the owners' toady, shortly after the sales numbers for the month came in and just after they'd hired a new girl, who I knew wasn't working kennel, but would now probably be put there since I was no longer around to be abused. Money and appearance were all with this particular Petland and promises meant nothing.
I later learned that employees were regularly hired for less than minimum wage and told that they were working on commission, instead of working towards a bonus. That explains why when I was hired, I was given strict instructions to discuss my wages with no other employee with an implied penalty of termination. Apparently I was considered too bright to think that being paid less than minimum wage and working on commission for such a job was fair so I was given the "other story." I have since heard that I was not alone and that the turn-over rate for that particular store was quite high at that time, owing to the necessity of having an abused grunt in order to get sales figures up to their most profitable levels for the other employees.
PETLAND--IOWA--2006
E-mail from a former Petland employee to a current one.
[Katie Field, a former employee of a Petland store in Iowa, started an animal welfare group called SPEAK. Their website will be up soon. Katie invited a woman still working at Petland to join the group, which led to an e-mail exchange. Since the other person, "Debbie," did not intend for her comments to be made public, we are sharing here only the views expressed by Katie.]
Debbie, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to explain to me how you feel. I would have said the same thing in your position and that is what I did exactly say when I was in your position 2.5 years ago. I guess you probably did not notice that I actually worked at Petland, too. I was young, naive, and ready to believe anything I heard. Not until doing my own research for a year and a half, going to puppy mills, visiting different pet stores, and working with shelter and rescue animals did I realize how deceitful the pet industry really was, especially Petland.
I am well aware of Petland's mission statement. "Our Pet Counselors are dedicated to matching the right pet with the right customer and meeting the needs of both. To our customers who already own pets, we are dedicated to enhancing their knowledge and enjoyment of the human-animal bond." So are the other 2 former Petland employees in my group. I know what you are thinking--we are bitter ex-employees, but that is not the case--not at all. We care about animals. There is a difference between people who like/love being around animals, and people who genuinely care about the well-being of animals. There are so many people out there like us, people who really do care about animals, and it is so hard when I see people like you working at Petland wasting their talent when they can do so much good for the well-being of animals. I know that you think every time you sell a puppy that you did good because you found a puppy a home. Or maybe I have you pegged wrong and you're just in it for the commission. If you are, then you should probably stop reading this.
The main purpose of Petland's "educational campaign" is to sell animals. This also results in deterring the people who really love animals away from the organizations that can do a lot of good for the well-being of animals. They get people like you and me to believe in what they are doing, to "educate" the rest of the community and steer them in the wrong direction. Petland accepts volunteers when the volunteers should be down the road at the Iowa City Animal Shelter or should be on their payroll instead of "volunteering." Please take an unbiased look into Petland and the pet industry and more importantly ASK QUESTIONS before you back up that industry with statements you only hear from management. For example, what steps does [the store owner] take to ensure that the mother of those unwanted litter of kittens [sold at Petland] will not have kittens again? Or what's the difference between adopting an animal and purchasing an animal? Or what's the difference between volunteering at a pet store that makes well over millions of dollars a year and volunteering at a store that offers shelter/rescue animals and is qualified as a non-profit organization or volunteering at an actual animal shelter? (I know that Petland offers "a unique opportunity for kids with disabilities." My little brother and his class of "autistic" and "disabled" friends go to Petland to volunteer--I know all about that.) Or the difference between loving/liking to be around animals and genuinely caring about them?
Here is what Petland doesn't tell you. They don't tell you that Petland Inc. is conducting a media campaign to make consumers think "Petland Cares" and Petland's mission is "to help you and your pet." They don't tell you that a reputable breeder would never consider selling an animal to a pet store. Petland does tell you that their puppies are checked by at least two veterinarians before being offered to customers. What Petland doesn't disclose is that the many congenital problems are not apparent before the dog is 2 years old, so there may be nothing for the veterinarian to find.
You said that Petland helps shelters, and wants the dogs to have good homes. If so.why don't they ask people about their present living situations? How is it that I overhear people all the time saying that all they need to get one of "those dogs" is $500, even if they live in the dorm? Just because the dog costs $ and that might "deter" some people does not mean that it is ensuring that a dog will get a good home. In fact, many people are willing to pay the price in order to avoid being asked questions about their ability to provide for the animal (like at a shelter or real reputable breeder).
Why don't they tell customers about animal shelters or www.petfinder.com as other options in obtaining a dog? If they love animals, and want to help shelter animals, why in the world would they be contributing to the animal overpopulation problem by purchasing and selling animals while thousands die every day in shelters?
Petland putting $ into the animals does not show that they care about them. All businesses put $ into their product. Petland is making a large profit on these animals--if they weren't, they'd stop selling them. Saying the dog has ___ and ___ done to it is part of selling the product. Allowing people to play with puppies seems like a weird thing to point out as a reason why it's a good place. Of course a pet store would want people to view and interact with the animals they want to sell...
Turning down 3/4 people who want to sell puppies to them doesn't mean anything, either. The 3/4 might be asking too much money, or be asking that Petland employees allow them to meet potential buyers... who knows. It could be a number of reasons, and reflect negatively rather than positively on Petland.
When's the last time Petland got an award from the ASPCA or the Humane Society of America instead of awards that come straight from Petland Inc. itself? The bottom line--Petland is a money-making venture (not an effort in animal protection or welfare). The store of the year award was given to Petland by Petland Inc., and the other awards were from a business standpoint.
After all is said and done, I don't see how I can agree with Petland, or any other pet store that sells animals for profit, as long as dogs and cats are killed daily by the thousands in our shelters for lack of homes. It's not just about puppy mills; it's so much more than that. I don't like Brenneman's. Like Petland, they too get their animals from puppy mills. However, I am more worried about Petland. Petland sells far more animals than Brenneman's does, and many naïve people, thanks to Petland, think it's ok to buy animals from pet stores. Petland has done a good job with building and maintaining a positive atmosphere.
Debbie, you sound like a good person and that you have the animals' best intentions in mind. You are exactly the type of person our organization needs. We have ex-pet-store employees, and since we are an educating group, we would love to have all sides of the story. I knew you worked at Petland and that's why I invited you. You could continue to help animals more if you lobbied with us for better regulations on pet stores, for example. You would have a much better impact that way! You are helping the animals you come into contact with, but once you send that animal home, you are just creating an empty cage for another animal to come in. What you are doing is moving the inventory. I know that you are helping in the short-term, but in the long term many, many, many animals are suffering. What we need to do is educate consumers.
You addressed the question, why do people buy puppies from pet stores? You say that the warranty is nice and people want to know what kind of dog they have. 20-30% of pets are shelters are purebred, and the warranties are in place to make Petland appear positive--and in your case it worked. Examining the warranties more carefully and you will see many discrepancies (if you do and don't see anything--try looking from the outside in). I don't have time to go into this but I could!
You also seem to foster misconceptions about shelters and the animals in their care. Although there are many animals with behavior and health problems, many more animals end up at shelters for numerous other reasons such as unwanted litters, owners not being aware of the responsibilities involved in caring for a pet, life changes like moving to another city or loss of a job, and animal cruelty. While problem behavior is one of the most common reasons pets are given up, many people don't realize that a high proportion of behavior problems can be solved with training and patience. It's well known puppies from pet stores have many more problems. People just assume it is ok--they are just pups--which covers up the problem. Well, they get older, and some still have a problem, and those are the dogs that end up at the humane society! It's a vicious circle, and taking pet stores out of the equation would eliminate many dogs in shelters. Not only are purebreds in general less healthy, puppies in pet stores are often partial inbreeds, and the breeders who would sell their puppies to a pet store would be the same breeder who might not care about sound breeding.
A member of our group recently obtained a Pomeranian from Petland that a college girl had to get rid of because she wasn't even allowed to have a dog where she lived in the first place. How'd that one slip through the cracks? It probably was when you weren't working.
I worked at Petland for one year and 7 months. When I first started working there, "Mary" and "Ursula" were managing it. They weren't as money hungry as "Sam" was and they cared more about the animals than making money. Then Mary died and Ursula couldn't manage the store alone. She sold it to a couple from out of town, and things changed. It's not like I couldn't keep up with the sales because for a while I was, I was at the top for a few weeks straight. I started to feel bad about myself after I went home for the night. I didn't like to have to sell an animal because if I really had to sell one, the people really didn't want one in the first place. I started to see all the BS they were feeding us but I was just tired of it. The only reason I hung on as long as I did was because it was fun. I'm sure you're not going to deny that. I also liked to interact with the animals (I loved the birds) and many customers knew who I was and came in to buy things from me because they saw how sincere I was. Some of the same people that bought from me moved over to the store I work at now when they found out I was there.
Anyway.I couldn't lie to people anymore. I mean, you know that everything is scripted. Do you realize what it means to be USDA approved? It's the same as the hamburger in my fridge. The USDA doesn't mean anything; being registerable doesn't mean anything. I really can't explain this all to you in one e-mail because it took me years to realize.
Debbie, I regret to inform you that a basset hound pup has been brought to Pet Central Station. It is my understanding that this puppy was sold by you. He was brought to Mix-N-Match rescue because a woman received him as a gift from her daughter and son-in-law and did not want him. Petland was contacted but would only take him back under special circumstances. This is how animals fall through the cracks, and unfortunately, there are many situations like this one. The only reason I'm informing you about this is because I want you to be able to see all sides of the situation we are involved in. This dog is in poor health, and we have been taking him to the vet. Our volunteer fosters are taking great care of him and training him well. Again, our group cannot help but be sensitive to others when they talk about how shelter animals have "bad habits." All too often, the animals in shelters ARE the ones from pet stores, as seen in this situation. P.S.--animals as gifts are NOT a good idea.
************************************
PETLAND--TEXAS
How Petland Really Views its Customers, Employees and Pets
I applied and was hired at Petland, and after only one day on the job, I wouldn't go back for a million dollars. Okay folks, lemme fill ya in on my first day of training and how Petland trains its employees and how to treat the customer.
You either make minimum wage or commission, whichever is higher. Most of the dogs there sell for 2,500 or higher so you can make an easy 500 bucks in one day of sales. Well, when it came to the guy and owner who were supposed to train me, let's just say they were too busy selling dogs then to train me. Every time they'd start to tell me a policy they would rush over to someone looking at pups. They would rather not miss a commission than do their jobs training a new employee. First off the owner tells me that my main goal is to sell a puppy and to make money, this is a commission job. It's not like "Hey, guys, let's find these puppies homes;" nope, it's like "Move them out at any cost."
Wanna know how Petland see you, its customers? Take this in for consideration. I was about 3 hours into my first day and in walks a couple asking if they can "play" with a puppy. The owner takes me off to the side and says, "Ewww, they are trashy people, they aren't here to buy, only to waste our time while they entertain themselves." Then she goes off in detail about "how poor these people look and that they have to be unemployed because of their clothes." Personally they looked fine to me, I mean they weren't dressed like a movie star but they were wearing everyday average clothes that even I'd wear...ya know, jeans and tee-shirt. Then the owner proceeds to tell me Petland refers to these people or people who just come into look as F.O.S. I was confused and asked, "What's that mean?" She said "full of shit"! I was SHOCKED!!! I was sooo offended because I had come into the store before I was hired just looking around at whatever and now I know they considered me F.O.S. because I was only looking.
Okay it gets worse. My boss told me their policy is that "the customer isn't always right, and that Petsmart had spoiled them into thinking they are." She said, "If a customer comes in I have the right to treat them any way I want to and I can say anything I want to." Well, then we get a sweetheart lady in asking if we sold a particular type of cat food, and the owner says, "Do you see it on our shelves? You are stupid for asking such a dumb question." I was appalled; she could have just said, "No, I'm sorry, we don't." The lady was attacked unprovoked. She wasn't rude or anything, the owner just jumped on her.
Then get this, it's my first day and a little boy about 8 asked to see a hamster, and his mom was standing behind us holding a 2-year-old in her arms. The owner came up and asked "Umm, what's this about? If we let every kid hold our hamsters they get wet tail and die." The little boy looked all upset at his mom and she covered her daughter's ears (the 2-year-old) and said, "Can we have less of the (spelling the word out to the owner) D-E-A-D?" The owner barks back, yelling, "Umm, it's about time your kids know about death, I think they are old enough." HOW DARE THE OWNER JUDGE WHAT A PARENT TELLS THEIR KID AND WHEN!!! I've never seen a pet store where it is their policy to treat the customer like crap. And yes...it still gets worse!!!
In the front of the store they have animals in open cages called "petters." These are ferrets, guinea pigs, hamster, bunnies, and birds. Petters mean you can pet them, but on the cages it says "We may bite." Well, all day long kids come in and pinch and prod these poor animals. The ferrets have taken up biting as play. So many people dangle their arms into the cages that the ferret thinks it's a game to bite. STORE POLICY ON BITES: pet counselors are not to hand the animal to someone who wants to hold it; if they want to hold it they get it out for themselves or their kids. If they get bit, they should have read the sign that they bite and it's their own fault. Well, I was trying to straighten a water bottle up in a petter ferret's cage and the thing bit and drew blood on my hand. A few minutes later a guy came in and I felt it was my duty to warn him that the ferret bites and not to handle it. Then my boss started yelling at me for telling him this. Another gentleman decided to try and hold it because he has ferrets. The ferret bit on to him so hard blood poured down his hand and dripped on the floor...the owner once again said, "Pffff, it's his own damn fault." So I spent most of my day terrified for some poor unsuspecting kid or adult to put their arm into a cage that says "petter," not "biter," and get bit. Now I don't know about you, but I've got too much of a conscience to stand there and let some innocent person get hurt. My boss had the nerve to tell me, "Ya know, if you spend most of your day up here at the small animal section you'll never make any money. Um, hello, money or trying to keep someone from getting hurt, you be the judge. Apparently they can ignore it, but I couldn't.
Next comes the fellow employees. I know you aren't at a job to make friends but to do your job, but there has to be some sense of camaraderie and loyalty. The minute two of the other girl pet counselors left, the other girl began telling the boss, "So and so stole my sale and so and so did this." She got the two other girls written up after they left when they weren't even there to defend themselves. It seems at Petland that if someone is too much competition to you and they are making more sales and getting more commission, you do what you have to to get them fired so you can have more sales. I never heard one employee say one nice thing about another, it was all about getting someone written up.
Now about kittens. It seems that people off the street come in with litters of kittens and surrender them to Petland. Petland makes a copy of their current driver's license and then keeps the plain off the street Joe anybody's kittens and sells them for up to 150 bucks a pop. I have cats and my cats all came from friends or shelters. I couldn't in good faith sell someone a plain ol' cat for 150 bucks when I know they can go to a shelter and give one a home or get one for free just about anywhere. These are not breeds of cats, these are off-the-street kittens being sold for that price.
Damage Resulting = My first day was 10 1/2 hours long with no lunch or breaks. I came home that night in shock and disgust at my "new job." My boyfriend said I ranted for about three hours. I've never quit a job after one day. I worked my first day and had two days off. I didn't spend those two days off relaxing, I spent those two days racking my brainn wondering what I got myself into. I couldn't even sleep at night because everything I had witnessed was running through my brain. I don't have it in me to be that mean to work there. I can't be mean to customers or to fellow employees, but that seems to be normal policy. I can't treat people who come in just looking as what my boss said "F.O.S.," because that pertains to me as well because I came in before just looking. And how can a person stand there and watch his fellow man get bit by an animal that they know WILL, not may, bite??? One day working there was far too much for me. Petland does not care about you, the customer... they consider you F.O.S. unless you buy a 4,000 dollar dog which may be a mixed breed. They don't care if their petters bite you, they call you stupid for getting bit. They call you stupid for asking questions. They don't care about the welfare of the puppy, only about how much that puppy brings them in commission. They don't care about their employees because if you leave or they get you fired it's more money for them. Work for Petsmart or a pet supplier, but not Petland. I thought it would be a great job, but boy, was I wrong.
When I actually did quit, after one day they were even ruder to me. They asked me why I was quitting, and I told them that I had too much of a conscience to work there. I told them I couldn't stand there and watch person after person stick their hands into cages where I knew they would be hurt and bitten. The owner just said, well, "If the customer gets bit, they are stupid." Can you believe that??? It's not like their animals might bite, their petter WILL bite. The owner told me "Well, we figured you wouldn't have lasted." I've never been more happy about quitting a job. I'd have felt like a sell-out and a horrible person to have kept working there. I actually like people; there's no way I could work at a place that has no concern for its customers.
Petland doesn't care about its pets, customers or employees. One last thing I thought about the night before I quit was about their puppies' health. Now I've had tons of puppies in my lifetime but something they said about their dogs struck me as odd. When you buy a puppy, they give you Hypoglycemia med for the puppy and tell the new puppy parent to limit play for the first four days. The owner told me that after the puppies are taken home, their new owners might play too much with them, making the puppy go hypoglycemic from losing too much blood sugar and then crash and go into shock and maybe death. Now all of the puppies I've owned over my lifetime have never crashed and been killed after playing too much. A normal healthy puppy will simply stop playing and go to sleep when it's played too much, not go into shock. Maybe their puppies aren't as healthy as they say.
I've got a friend who has a chipmunk from the store and it was a biter when he got it, and it still is. Their small critters are treated so badly that they will never make good pets and it's not even their fault. These poor animals are allowed to be stressed, poked,,and prodded by teens and jerks because Petland doesn't care enough to protect them. I've had guinea pigs for nearly 25 years and I've never seen pig pigs as aggressive as Petland's. I couldn't even get my hand in the cage long enough to give water to or pet the guinea pigs.
Also, in the hill county, deep in the heart of Texas, we are known for our native brown scorpions which are in no way good pets. The pet store had one for sale! It had a sign on it that said "Employees are not to handle this animal, it will only be handled by the purchaser after it is bought." How is the animal being fed or watered? Because I doubt anyone at that store would be brave enough to put their hand in the cage because they are aggressive. Now why in the heck would you sell an animal like that? It's a animal anyone around here can pick up a rock and find, they are everywhere, well-hidden, but they are around. At first I thought it was an Emperor scorpion because I see them for sale all the time, but nope, it's one of our native scorpions. I've been zinged in the wrist by one of these hiding in my bed. While they aren't quite considered pests here, it's for sure we check our shoes before putting them on.
I just want people to know that Petland isn't worth your time because they don't consider you worth theirs. Do you want to visit a store that considers you "F.O.S--FULL OF SHIT"?
*********************************
PETLAND--Virginia--Fairfax City : "It's all about time and money." This employee saw a lot of deaths among the small animals at the store, particularly birds and hamsters, and saw that many of the puppies arrived with respiratory problems. The puppies also had sores from lying on the hard mesh cage floors.
************************************
PETLAND--Virginia--Fairfax City --different employee: This employee tried to nurture the puppies and was told something along the lines of (not a direct quote) "They don't need petting; they're just money. If you want to do that, go to the shelter."
**************************************
PETLAND--Virginia--Fairfax City
Note: this person posted anonymously to Craig's List, so we cannot contact them; however, the information was confirmed by another employee.
"I quit because I couldn't stand it anymore...The freezer in the back is almost always full of dead animals. The hamsters eat each other on a regular basis (they are cannibalistic and are kept extremely cramped up.) Bunnies are usually brought into the store at five weeks; I got that information from the guy that delivered them who said he was the breeder. They came in a cardboard box. The parrots are shipped over air and arrive before they are even feathered...PLEASE, if you visit Petland and have small (or even large) children, do not let them bang on the cages of any of the animals, especially the birds. It can cause irrational fears to develop that can be really stressful to them. With the birds they may learn to bite or to scream excessively...Even when it comes to fish, don't get them at Petland! If you are really interested in getting into fish, learn about it and do it right. DO NOT GET A "GOLDFISH BOWL" AND PUT A GOLDFISH IN IT!! IT WILL DIE!! Please, everyone, do right by your pet. It is a lifelong commitment. Don't get 'starter pets' like hamsters or fish for your kids to prove they can handle something bigger like a puppy. That isn't fair to the first pet or the second. Anyway, enough from me...don't shop at Petland!"
******************************************
PETLAND--Virginia--Fairfax City
As the employee above mentioned, the store ordered large numbers of hamsters and kept them in confined conditions, which led to cannibalism. Dead hamsters would be found in the morning. The reason for this overcrowding: to be able to sell more hamsters. As at other Petlands, this store has put live, sick hamsters, fish, and other animals in the freezer to die. A Siberian hamster placed in the freezer had no trouble with the cold and lived several weeks before starving to death.
Petland also confines large numbers of parakeets in the same area. Under these conditions, they can gang up on one bird and peck her head off. Dead birds would be found in the morning. Although weaning baby birds is a complex process, Petland employees received little training in this procedure.
The lizards were confined to very small spaces and the reptile areas cleaned only once a week instead of daily. A tarantula confined to a tiny aquarium was given no water. No one noticed he was dead and dried up until cleaning day, when he crumbled to the touch.
Petland claims not to sell more rabbits at Easter time, but they do. Rabbits are delivered to the store in cardboard boxes.
"It's all about money." Puppies purchased by Petland for maybe $400 would be sold for about $1,500-1,800. Petland employees work on commission lower than that of most salespeople. They are expected to do a lot of cleaning in addition to selling. Employees are discouraged from mentioning the existence of shelters and rescue groups.
Employees are told very little about the breeders. This employee did not believe the manager has ever visited his breeders, except when he initially signed up for the Petland franchise, was flown out to Missouri, and was given a guided tour by the Hunte Corp. Petland puts in an order for number and type of dogs and relies on Hunte to get them from licensed breeders.
Some puppies arrived identified as one breed but didn't actually look like that breed. CKC and APRI, which some Petland puppies are registered with, allow breeders to identify a dog as a purebred when he may be only partly that breed. (petstorecruelty.org note: CKC can stand for either Continental Kennel Club or Canadian Kennel Club. We understand that Continental is the sloppier one. APRI stands for American Pet Registry.) Some puppies' papers showed that fathers were bred with daughters, and brothers with sisters, also called "line breeding." This inbreeding increases the likelihood that genetic defects will be passed to the puppies.
Puppies are removed from their mother and littermates at about 5 weeks, too early to develop bite inhibition and other important behaviors. They probably spend a week on the truck being transported from breeders to the Hunte Corp., as it must go around the Midwestern states and stop at many breeders. They spend a week at Hunte, then another week on a truck while it stops at many different pet stores, all before they are 8 weeks old.
The Hunte truck did not smell bad when this employee was on it, as others have said, but the puppies were crammed into very small areas. A cage of approximately 18x16 inches sometimes contained 3 puppies.
The main criterion for accepting or rejecting puppies was whether they were cute. They were rejected for having thin hair, if they were ugly, or if they were "oozing stuff" from some part of their body.
When sick puppies are returned to the broker, they are not sent "back to the breeder for more care," as a current employee told a visitor to the store. Hunte either kills them or sells them at a cheaper price.
At the store, puppies were fed twice a day. Puppies of small breeds need to be fed more frequently than that to ensure stable blood sugar. The infrequent feeding "keeps them calmer but also makes them sicker." The bigger puppies were not fed enough.
The less popular puppies can spend about 23 out of 24 hours a day in the cage. They are taken out occasionally for the unpleasant experience of having their nails trimmed and getting a bath. The more popular puppies are sometimes played with by customers so often that they get sick. Very young children are allowed to play with the puppies and sometimes handle them too roughly. This employee compared it to "a newborn baby being passed around like a party favor."
Some puppies have sat in Petland cages for several months. Hunte Corp. doesn't want old puppies back, so Petland lowers the price until the puppies sell.
Even after warnings from Animal Control, Petland continued to take resting platforms out of the cages at night because it was a pain to clean them.
***************************************
PETLAND
2006: Former Petland employee:
Why buying a Petland puppy is a bad deal.
Petland store
Dog just by itself approximately: $2,100
Avid Microchip so if dog gets lost you can track it down: $20.00
Brush, shampoo, flea tick, puppy pad (since it's a puppy), conditioner, leash, food, dog bed, collar, id tag, puppy drops, Kong, toys (up to six so that way the dog wont get bored of the same toys), kennel, short bed inside the kennel, and stress relief so the dog will have a good appetite, puppy aid, biscuits, dog bowls, dog house outside, carry-on bag for dog to be in while being transported to another state, pooper scooper, dog bags to clean up after, bitter lime (not to chew on things).
The cost just for those things adds up to:
$750
That's not including the shots and the vet bills that they won't cover for you. That doesn't include the bags of dog food, plus don't forget if they decide to chew on the leash that's another one you will have to buy, not to mention if there is any problem in any way with the dog it's YOUR fault not theirs, and you're going to get stuck with that bill so high it's going to make your stomach hurt and your head spin.
Your total bill when you leave Petland store will be:
$2,870
Now compare to a dog that you adopt at rescue group or a shelter:
Dog alone costs at most $300
Now go to a department store and get good prices on the same supplies listed above: approximately $634.
Total cost for the rescue dog plus supplies: $934
You saved $1,936.
So there is a huge difference is buying a dog at Petland vs. saving a dog that really, really needs a home and is on the way to die.
Quotes from the Petland website, followed by comments by former employee:
1) "We at Petland make the health and well-being of our pets our #1 priority. Every Petland store has local consulting veterinarian(s). And our puppies and kittens are the finest available -- happy and healthy family pets."
Wrong. The pets are not healthy, and no, they don't get taken care of that much at all. If they did they wouldn't have that many problems with customers, and their pets do come from puppy mills. If they didn't, then why in the world would a huge truck come to Petland in the early morning delivering bunches of puppies from all over the Midwest?
Sometimes I even wonder if they are interested in business. They sell animals that are really sick and don't take care of them and let them be sick and then make the entire store sick, too. Customers are probably going to be suing the store soon because they basically get a dog from Petland and the next day they have problems with their throat or need shots or one of their legs needs to be taken care of since they can't walk much. I mean it's basically all lies at Petland stores where "pets make life better," more like it should be "where pet stores make life a living hell" or "where pet stores make life miserable."
2) " Petland puppies and kittens are checked by at least two and in most cases three veterinarians before being offered to our customers."
Once they're at the store, Dr. [vet's name] would be the only one to check them up, since basically that's the only vet that they can afford, plus it's the only one that we are allowed to recommend. They have never recommended the other vets in our area. Even Dr. [vet's name] is kind of worried about the animals that are coming into his office and spreading diseases to the other animals. One of them had to be put down because of a "cold" that was spreading to the other dogs in the kennels.
3) "Trained Petland kennel technicians check the health of our puppies and kittens every day." "Weight, temperature and eating habits are monitored and records are kept. Any inconsistencies are noted and reported to local consulting veterinarians who provide follow-up care."
Wrong. They sometimes do check, but if the puppies are sick, sometimes the bosses don't want them to go into the Nebulizer because it costs so much, and they just give them some crappy meds that don't work and lie to the customers that it's just something that happens all the time and it's normal, when it's really not.
Wrong also about the vet who provides checkup. Sometimes they won't even come for about 3 days. It all depends if the bosses really want the vet to come or they just want the animal to stay in the back room in a cage and not in a Nebulizer. Plus the managers are really cheap about when they can bring in the vet since basically they have to pay for them to come and check them out.
Plus, when the cats are sick, they don't do much. All they do is put them in the back room where the dogs are, so not only are they sick and not really getting taken care of, but if their sickness is contagious, it's spreading to the dogs that are near the cats in the cages above them and below them. Sometimes they put the cats back out when they are still sick and spread it to the other cats and sell them, and then the customers come back and complain about why their cats are so sick and need to get these shots when the store says "their shots are up to date."
4) "Petland's custom-designed kennels are larger in all dimensions than recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture."
Wrong, because when they have a bigger cage, they can fit more dogs into one cage at a time. For instance, they now have two dogs to a cage, but they have gone up to three dogs to a cage instead of one or two dogs to a cage.
5) "Our kennels are designed to be easily disassembled and are cleaned continuously each day."
Yeah, when they are done eating food and smoking outside of the Petland store and come back in and then clean. They do keep it nice sometimes, but sometimes they just go and do something else instead of cleaning the cages.
6) All Petland puppies and kittens go home with current vaccinations and a health warranty covering infectious diseases and hereditary or congenital disorders. Within the first few days of adoption, new pet owners are advised to take their puppy or kitten to a veterinarian for an additional health check."
Additional health check that they have to pay for, not to mention all of the other vet bills that are NOT covered that they will have to pay for out of their own pocket, which means they really aren't getting that great of a deal. They are just getting a crappy deal from an employee who's paid minimum wage pay and is commission.
In the warranty there is a section stating that if it has any problems like hereditary or congenital problems that they are covered, yet if there are any problems, they won't pay for it and it's up to you to pay the bills. When they sell you the puppy, they say it's up to date and give you all these good deals, but you are basically paying a lot for the pet, plus you have more headaches when the animal is sick and you are calling the store saying that you want them to pay the bill but you already wrote your name on the warranty, so they won't have to pay a penny for the vet bills and costs of the animal, too. They basically want one thing: to keep your money, even if it if makes your life a living hell. That's what it all boils down to.
2007 "Closing Time"
I'm sure that you've heard of the song, meaning finish your whiskey or beer. Nope, we are not talking about a bar, but a pet store where people are greedy about money and employees stand out by selling the most animals. After the managers fill their goals sheet in the back room in the main office and go over their sales for the month, then you are supposed to get extra money. That is bull!
They sure do have an odd ways of showing how they care for the employees, especially when they want it to be like a family store. Haven't you ever heard of the term "work is work" and "keep personal life out of this"? When I started working for this company they really liked everything about me--personality, dedication, being on time--but after a while that all changed very fast. At first they took us bowling, parties at people's houses, pizza for lunch on them, and they just seemed like people who cared.
Then the managers would want us to stay longer than we normally would. They would ask us if we could stay sometimes from 8 A.M. - 10 P.M. at night and only three breaks, which wasn't that much of a break because as soon as people walked in, they would ask us to come out there and help them out. A 14-hour day. It was just a nightmare.
One time when they wanted us to compete against each other to see who could sell the most things in one day, and that person would earn $20.00. Who cares? It would sometimes get bad to where the employees would fight over a sale and then put it under no one's name. Sometimes they would put it under their name and get the credit for that too. The managers did threaten us about the commission and basically tell us that if we didn't make our goal that we would get fired. It got to the point where the employees would quit right and left. Sometimes they couldn't hire any more people or would have to let people go because of the money situation. It got to the point where you would be ringing up customers, and then someone would run up to the counter, like three employees, and tell you that they helped them out and they should get the extra commission.
Customers where getting upset because they couldn't even put their shoe through the door without getting smothered in employees. The prices there are very expensive and so is the dog and food itself. Sometimes when you had a dog sale, the employee gives you a card with your name on it, to see if you are going to come back and purchase the dog or not. Well, the employees would run up in the office and start to pout (even though some employees were in their 30s) and say that someone took their dog sale or say, "I worked with them and it's my customer and that's my commission." It never ended. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if customers, when they got their Petland card, would just walk out of the store and throw their card in the trash can, and I don't blame them one bit.
Basically it all boils down to this. I think that Petland is a fraud to where you would have to lie to the customers about the animals--yes, puppies came from breeders all over the area, from puppy mills. Sometimes when the dogs were sick, they would bring them out and expose germs to the public. Especially the kittens. If they had a respiratory problem, they did not--I repeat not--let the vet tech see the kittens. They just threw them in a dog cage in the back of the room. Not only were they sick, but the dogs, when they barked, hurt the cats' ears too.
So there is a chain reaction to all of this. For example, say there are four cages next to each other and one of the dogs in the cages has a cold and infection and is very sick to the point where he is throwing up. Now, if that dog is sick and yet the managers won't do anything to help the dog get better (which would not surprise me), then the other 3 dogs are going to be exposed to the germs and get sick. So now you have all four dogs exposed to the same germs, and all of them need medical attention. If you add on yet another row of cages, it just keeps on getting more exposed to the point where all the dogs are sick and you can't take them out. That's the chain reaction.
And don't forget that people can get some diseases from being in contact with sick dogs, cats, or other animals--e.g., rabies, toxoplasmosis, salmonella, leptospirosis, tapeworm. ringworm. See
//ezinearticles.com/?Can-My-Pet-Make-Me-Sick?&id=493406.
They have also asked employees to take home animals and get them better, when they are sick (that way the bosses won't have to talk to or ask the vet doc to come and get them better because they want to save their money, and that is against the laws, the last time I checked that out). Even though the employees aren't specialized vet techs and haven't gone to school for any of that.
Ask yourself this then. How many customers have lots of problems with their dogs or keep coming back with complaints? I worked there for almost a year and yet I never heard one good compliment about the company. All I saw were customers coming back because their dog had died with a problem, or the hamster died because it ate the wrong foods, or because the dog had something wrapped around its stomach and it died too. It's sad to see these animals and critters die. It takes a big toll not only on the animal that is suffering, but the people who bought the animal in the store. So next time you think about going into a Petland store, ask them about the truck that comes early in the morning delivering puppies, and see what they have to say about that.
**************************************
WAGGS TO RICHES--FLORIDA--DELRAY BEACH 2007:
"I worked at a store called Waggs to Riches in Delray Beach that is getting their puppies from Hunte, and I know that she is telling the people that the puppies are not coming from puppy mills."
A pet store still operating in Reading, Pennsylvania:
"I was a kennel tech at a pet store in Reading, PA, several years ago. When I first started working there, I really believed the owner when she told me that these puppies were bought from local breeders. During my short time working there I learned that all of these pups were from the midwest. I tried to do some detective work, but of course the papers that came with the pups were most likely falsified.
One event that I remember real well was when I came into the store to take care of the pups, that one in particular was very ill. I phoned the owner and she asked me to take it to the vet. It turned out that this sweet Shetland Sheepdog had parvo [a highly contagious disease]. I don't know what ever happened to him. I was told not to tell the other co-workers as this could cause an "unnecessary scare to the public." I know when I went home that I did not touch my dogs until after I was completly rid of the clothing and shoes I wore that day and I was showered. I now help with fostering for the sheltie breed, and most of the ones we get are either from mills or pet stores. One of the Shelties that I fostered not too long ago came from there. This "sheltie" looked like a cross between a border collie and sheltie. He stands 20 inches at the shoulder!"
**********************************
2006: Former employee at a store that obtains puppies from the Hunte Corp.
I have been on the Hunte trucks, and they are quite smelly. A lot of the puppies are dirty after their journey to the store and have poopies on them. Often they had colds. I know they are on the truck for at least 2 days. I don't like the way the people on the truck handle the puppies--by grabbing them by the neck fur. Some puppies that were spayed or neutered would be shipped to our store the next day after surgery.
Steve Rook is the president of Hunte Corp. I heard him speak. He probably is trying to do "what's right" (Hunte's motto) but you can't do something correctly until you face reality, and you can't do something right if you don't have the tools to do so. Puppies poop and pee a lot, and we don't want them walking around in it. At times we would have, like, 72 puppies in the store at a time. How is one person in the kennel going to clean all that up?? And have all cages spotlessly clean--impossible!!!!! He says it's not--he's an ass--he wouldn't let us hire more people in the kennel. It was hard. The prices he wants us to charge are crazy!!!! They pay about 750 for an English bulldog and they charge $3,000!!!!! People pay it like it's nothing!! And Yorkies they pay about 400 for, and they charge 1,800. Mixed breeds are the big thing now, and people love them--hell, I love them. Anyway they only pay 100-250 for those, and they sell them for 750. And he's just an asshole hypocrite. He has all these stories about how he turned stores around for the better and made them so much money.
When I was first interviewed it was drilled into my head these are not puppy mill puppies--yeah, whatever.
The puppies at our store that were sick would go into isolation and be medicated (not by any person certified or properly taught how to do so). They did their best. They were not there to hurt the puppies, but they knew they were not trained to do this. But they helped a lot of babies get better and sold them right away to get them out of the store. I myself and another manager would run those doggies like crazy would be there till, like, 1 A.M. just letting them run around the back of the mall. And of course we would push those dogs to be sold first and drop their price to 200 for a Bordeaux which the store usually charges, like, $2,900 for. I know for sure at my store the people who work there are doing the best with what is given to them, you know? I'm not mad at the people who work at the stores. The people who apply for jobs there for the most part are animal lovers, so they care for them with what is given to them.
When I was on staff not one puppy died. I know that right before started there, a Chihuahua died of parvo, and he was in the freezer, and when our vet came he took the baby and did whatever vets do when an animal passes. If animals at our store were near death--only happened two times while I was there--I rushed the puppies to the vet and they passed there. Cause of death--one had parvo and the other something was wrong with its heart.
As far as the warranty on the puppies at purchase--that's a big joke. No one ever gets back anything they expect, and sometimes none at all.
These stores are going to exist, but I could not do it to myself anymore. I can't even go in there anymore. It's very upsetting, not to mention the customers who would think we were there to hurt the dogs and come in and yell at me--or the mother who'd come in with the horrid children and let them stick their hands in the bird container and scare the birds, and I would raise my voice saying, No, sweetie, don't do that," and then to be attacked by some unfit parent saying, "Don't talk to my kid like that."
I think all pet stores should be shut down till all the animal shelters are empty because of all the people adopting :)
Then again that's a problem in itself. You know how many people that would come to the pet store after being turned away from a shelter??? And then they're like, "Fuck it, I'll pay 1,000 for a puppy. I just want one." So I think things need fixing in that area also.