toy dog

cities ban petshops in USA by Rebecca Dube msnbc.com contributor updated 5/27/2010 8:27:16 AM ET Share Print Font: +-Buying an adorable puppy or kitten at your local pet store may become a thing of the past, if more American cities join a small but growing movement to ban retail pet sales. West Hollywood, Calif., became the latest city to put a leash on pet sales in February, when its city council unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting sales of dogs and cats in retail stores. Albuquerque, N.M., and South Lake Tahoe, Calif., have also banned pet sales. Other cities in Florida, New Mexico, Missouri and elsewhere are considering similar bans on the sale of dogs and cats. Animal advocates say pet store sales fuel the puppy mill industry, where dogs are bred and raised in cramped, unhealthy and inhumane conditions. They have similar concerns about "kitten factories," which are a smaller but growing problem. Efforts to crack down on animal mills have been hindered by limited enforcement resources, so ban proponents are shifting their focus from the supply side to the demand. Far better, they say, to adopt from a local shelter or buy directly from a reputable breeder. "People have got to wake up to the fact that [most] dogs coming from pet stores are coming from puppy mills," said Mary Jo Dazey, a stay-at-home mom from St. Louis, Mo., who has been working to shut down puppy mills in her state for several years. There are no official statistics on how many pet-store dogs come from puppy mills. Between 2 million and 4 million dogs are born in U.S. puppy mills every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States, and many of those dogs do end up in pet stores — in addition to being sold over the internet, through newspaper classifieds and in other venues. "Every time we do a pet store investigation [after a complaint], we find that puppy mills are the suppliers," said Stephanie Shain, senior director of the Humane Society of the United States' puppy mills campaign. Shain said she believes that if animal-lovers became better educated, they wouldn't want to buy from pet stores that may be supplied by puppy mills. Public sentiment does, in fact, seem to be veering away from pet store animals. A recent poll by the Associated Press-Petside.com found that more than half of those surveyed planned to get their next cat or dog from a shelter, seven times the number who said they’d buy from a pet store. And four in 10 said they thought store pets could have hidden physical or psychological problems due to overbreeding or other issues. A ‘guilt-free shopping experience’ Of course, in cities with bans in places, even if people want to buy from a pet store, they can't. The West Hollywood pet sale ban got a lot of attention, but it was more symbolic than anything else since no pet stores there were actually selling animals when it went into effect. South Lake Tahoe's ban passed in 2009, but doesn't take effect until 2011. Craig Fritz / for msnbc.com Amanda McWilliams pets a dog she's considering adopting at Animal Humane New Mexico's new center Albuquerque on May 25, 2010. The rescue organization opened the boutique-style adoption shelter for people who want a pet but don't necessarily want to brave the city shelter.To see what really happens when a city bans pet sales, you have to go to Albuquerque, N.M. The Southwestern city banned sales of "companion animals," including cats and dogs, in 2006, and has seen a marked, positive effect, said Peggy Weigle, executive director of Animal Humane New Mexico. Since the ban started, animal adoptions have increased 23 percent and euthanasia at city shelters has decreased by 35 percent. “By stopping these pet shops,” Weigle said, “what you're really doing is you're reducing the demand for puppy-mill puppies.” At the same time, Weigle said, her private animal shelter has stepped in to fill the place of pet stores for people who want pets but don't necessarily want to brave the city shelter. In February, Animal Humane New Mexico opened a boutique-style adoption center with just a few hand-picked animals — mostly puppies, many of them pure-bred dogs that were abandoned or rescued by the shelter — so that people could "shop" for shelter dogs in a pleasant, retail-like environment. Her goal was to adopt out 45 animals in the first month; instead, they placed 118 animals in new homes. Adoptions have been so plentiful, Weigle said, that her organization is preparing to open a second adoption boutique. Weigle said she recently had a young purebred Yorkshire Terrier available for adoption for just $135, the standard adoption fee. "Many people will say, 'Oh, I just can't go to the shelter, it's just too sad,'" Weigle said. "But if you make a guilt-free shopping experience available, and they don't have to be confronted with 100 homeless pets staring them in the face, the shopping experience is very parallel to a pet store. If you give the public a choice to shop in that kind of an environment, they will." Focus on breeders instead? While Albuquerque animal advocates tout their success as a model for other cities, pet store owners argue that it's not fair to take away their livelihood because of a few bad apples. They say puppy-mill and kitten-factory foes should focus instead on cracking down on breeders who are breaking the law. "The fact of the matter is that puppies sold by pet stores frequently come from highly reputable breeders who provide healthy loving pets to the public," said Michael Maddox, vice president of government affairs and general counsel for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, an industry group based in Washington, D.C. "Notwithstanding isolated anecdotal stories that misrepresent pet store puppies, the vast majority of customers who bring home their canine companion from a pet store are supremely satisfied with the experience." Dana Derraugh, owner of Le Petit Puppy in New York City, says she hates puppy mills as much as any animal lover. She specializes in small breeds suited to city life, and sells about five dogs a week from her upscale shop in Greenwich Village. "When you go to a shelter, you don't know what you're going to get. A lot of them have emotional baggage. You're taking a risk," Derraugh said. Her clean, homey store, decorated with photos of celebrity clients like Sarah Jessica Parker, sells Pomeranians for $699, Chihuahuas for $799, and something she calls a "Chiweenie" — a Chihuahua-Daschund cross — for $950. She gives her cell phone number to clients, so they can call anytime with questions or worries about their new puppies. "I feel like my mission is not just to sell the dog, but to hold your hand," Derraugh said. Craig Fritz / for msnbc.com A dog up for adoption peeks out of his room at the Animal Humane New Mexico on May 25, 2010. She said she buys only from reputable breeders, though she declined to name them or say where they are located. Derraugh said eliminating pet store sales would hurt consumers by reducing competition: "The prices will go way up, there will be less puppies." Laura Ellis, who bred collies on her farm in Vermont for 30 years before moving to New York City, said Derraugh is an example of a dog store owner who gets it right. She bought her Papillion, Penny, from Le Petit Puppy in October after researching every conceivable option. While she understands why some people might want to rescue a dog from a shelter, that wasn't what she was looking for, and she makes no apologies for it. "I don't want other people's problems. I just wanted to start fresh," Ellis said. "The main thing is, [Le Petit’s] puppies are happy. They're high quality, well run, humane. I don't see what there is to complain about," Ellis said. "It's a pretty good life for a puppy." Rebecca Dube blogs about pets at http://paws.ly. © 2010 msnbc.com. Reprints

hmmm they should be adding "do not buy from a breeder that breeds for profit" that should sort the chaff from the hay.

saw that too and i thought it was very good the way he handled silly questions. but carrie asking those questions is reflective of what the public asks, walking my dogs down busy streets i get asked alot of questions about pedigree dogs some of them are pretty silly but i just answer them as best i can. i even had one lady come up and tell me an awful story about her chihuahua putting his head through a hole in the fence and the next door neighbors dogs biting it off!!!!!!!!! i had nightmares after her telling me that, i don't know whether it was legit or not.

i read that so i emailed him and told him a few things why he shouldn't be recommending puppy farmers. then he said some other things i can't remember now that seriously got me thinking that he doesn't know much about training dogs in general. his article was seriously flawed. maybe he got that much mail about his comments he has done an about turn? i gave him a run down about the pounds filling up and puppy farmers breeding these cross breeds that aren't a breed and how he is misleading the public recommending a cross bred dog being bred by a farm possibly. maybe he listened to ppl complaining about his comments.

I agree with you on "which dog did the killing." They obviously acted as a pack. They may not even have been dog aggressive, it may have been pack behaviour. And I do think all three should have been euthanased. Dogs which will jump/crawl through/break a fence to attack other dogs need to have something done about them. Responsible people have fences which contain their dogs. It's sad that the dogs suffer for the acts of humans, but at least one of these dogs has proven he WILL kill another dog. He should not be allowed to do it again. Tough on the dogs but a hell of a lot tougher on the poor little chihuahuas which were minding their own business, on their own property, harming no one, and were killed in the most horrible and terrifying way possible. Something they certainly didn't deserve. Nor did the poor owners, who will probably grieve for years. Dog agression doesn't equate to human agression. On the other hand, dogs which form a pack and attack may well decide to attack a child, or a human. Who knows? It has happened though. thats what i was trying to say who knows what happens with a pack of dogs that are left unchecked by an irresponsible owner. I mean we can debate about certain breeds who would cause the more damage but at the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything if you have an ignorant owner who only cares what happens to his dogs after the horse has bolted. like everyone else i only got part of the story, i haven't really spoken to the the chi owners personally yet but i did over hear when they were telling someone else at the club that the court case has just finished after a year it happened, other owner got fined and he still has his dogs, which is just ridiculous, i dont' know if he has been ordered to keep them contained but most definately those dogs should be taken away from him because they will still be a problem in society and might kill someones beloved pet/s again. and yes the owners are still crying and we are all crying with them poor dears

Dog aggressive dogs are not necessarily also aggressive towards humans. Chances are the same dogs would have licked the baby. Some dogs are inherently dog aggressive, this is nature. If you have a dog aggressive dog, then it needs to be contained properly. Simple as that. maybe if the baby and mum had off been on their own with the owner the dogs would be ok, but im saying what if this baby had off been in amongst the smaller dogs and mum was somewhere else - hardly unlikely that would happen these days just a hypothetical, lots of what ifs, but the dogs on their own and baby out there amongst dogs what the outcome would have been, but like everyone else i do realise dog agressive and human agressive are completely different things.

if you go to a dog show you will see the chihuahuas bark and be very noisy when a bigger dog walks into their area. chihuahuas sort of call the bigger dogs to them and get attention that way. its the breed. chis don't know their size and think they are much bigger so some are very confident even though they will come off second best being so small. so what i think that happened was the little dogs would have been barking in their backyard and the bigger dogs would have been roaming the streets and been drawn in by the barks. and chihuahuas being chihuahuas would have defended themselves to the last straw poor babies. once had a little tiny chihuahua boy that hated big dogs so much if a GSD or any dog would come sniffing him he'd bite their nose and the reaction by most bigger dogs lucky for this little chihuahua was fear. this is about 25 years ago now, today if that happened you'd be in trouble as no dog is supposed to be dog agressive or even agressive towards the judge ofcourse. can be reported and fined. even if the dog is a tiny chihuahua same rules apply. even though most would laugh.

i know the chi people personally and even after a year they are still crying, i believe one of the little chis was only a puppy. i personally believe that the dogs acted as a pack as dogs do and all should be destroyed. what happens if a child was in a backyard somewhere with some small dogs and they attacked the child as well. could well happen when dogs act in a pack like this and go wild and back to basic instincts. thats what it sounds like to me. some people should not own dogs if they can't keep them in their own backyard, apparently the staffy crosses jumped the fence. i heard the court ruling was: did not know which dog did the actual killing so all won't be put down? he still gets to have his dogs and he got charged $5000 in fines. doesn't matter which dog did the killing they all did the killing in my opinion. and that is the difinition of dangerous dogs, what if it had of been a human baby. shudder to think.

just pure ignorance. just had a conversation with a guy at work here that knows it all apparently, well he was talking i was forced to listen, and he said that pitbulls are bred to fight and they are dangerous and no one should own them. my friend was sitting in the background shaking her head. she has aussie bulldogs that are always confused with american pit bulls. she said people just shake their head saying they look like pitbulls to them and probably are. no one knows what pitbulls look like. its just so stupid. i just surfed the net and came up with this link pitbull myths all dogs can be dangerous, hell my chihuahuas can bite and do some damage not as much as a bigger dog but they can still do damage to a person, i tried to get in but he was not listening because he obviously knows it all lol

i am so angry at that, they posed the question in nine msn whether breeds of dog should be banned, most people ofcourse ignorantly said "yes". you can't even comment at the end of the article when are people going to get it through their thick skulls it is not the breed it is the deed!!!!!!!! what do we do, ban all dogs, that dog could have been a poor cross and not socialised or handled properly. so the whole staffie breed gets the blame now. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

looks like there are a few people that are very good at taking photos! beautiful photos guys. im impressed.

Hi, from what i can understand, it sounds like rusty is reacting to maybe the smell of another dog on Jessie. maybe try giving them both a wash to get rid of any strange dog smell. yes that is normal behaviour protecting their own bones mine do it. i just supervise a bit more closely to avoid any territorial issues. just a natural instinct nothing to be worried about. if they aren't full on fighting i wouldn't be worried about it, just normal behaviour really. i have a "pack" and occassionally yes you see a pecking order happening, so it sounds like rusty is the dominant one and jessie is a bit more laid back about the whole thing. when you get two dogs to be accustomed to each other in a home its understandable they need some time to adjust to each other so the fight at the start when you brought in the new dog, is just normal.

and getting back to the issue, i think a couple of posts is getting off topic here, i don't know about anyone else but i find this subject very interesting and as i have said earlier, its a very common problem with dogs and owners. i think that the most important issue is obviously, yes, training and getting your dog to focus on you, we've established that in this thread, but also to socialise your dog with other dogs and putting your dog in a situation where you can work on him/her. putting them in the deep end by going to an obedience class i don't know how that is going to pan out but the main problem is other strange dogs and approaching them so it makes sense to go into that environment. i'd prefer to go into a class environment, i feel this would benefit my dog best. my two cents worth

thanks everyone for all your comments including private messages/

oh the weavy thingy!! i remember that now!! thats good practice that, they have to not react to dogs approaching and i think practice makes perfect. it gets them socialising with other dogs and allows you to practice restraining your dog.

*deleted*

hi, yes, i do get him to wear a "halti" actually thats a headcollar. it does serve as a good tool to get him to heel nicely by my side. but others have said that you aren't training the dog. the minute the halti is taken off he starts pulling again, so i've trained him to "heel" and he will step back and if he goes ahead too much i stop and make him sit and we start again. worked a treat. usually if he has his halti on and he sees another dog, he will still go nuts and try and get out of the thing.

according to the program "its me or the dog" which is one of my alltime favs i have to add she advised someone to do that. mainly to recall the dog back though but it did work. is it working wobbly being a pork chop? :cool: i did that at the last DOL meeting and i felt like a ninny but i must admit it did work somewhat.

yes i also tried scolding the naughty hole that he dug today. i was praying that the neighbors weren't out in their backyard too. i'd feel like a nutter if they heard me yelling at a dirt hole. probably think they should drive me to the local asylum. he ran for his life and has not been back to dig a bigger hole. so yes, it does work it seems

Hi, i noticed this thread, i tried to get the attention of my boy with duck treats, which would be really scrumtious, but he wasn't taking them. what do you use for a high value treat? roast chicken? liver? i am going through doggy treats like its going out of fashion.

*deleted*.

:*deleted*

*deleted*

*deleted*

*deleted *