Saturday, May 31, 2008

Another Day No New Faces

I was out again today "demonstrating" with the usual suspects; there were no new faces. Unfortunately, it rained and our demo was cut short. We stood in the rain for an hour and when we were throughly soaked, we packed it up. Sorry puppies, we did out best.

I went home dried off and moved on. I decided to continue my research on pet stores in S. Jersey and guess what I found. We have 100's of pet store's in New Jersey and not far from home atatached to a zoo. WOW how strange is that. All of them selling Puppy Mill puppies, lots too many puppies.

We sat in the parking lot of one pet store eating lunch, or trying to; I had a hard time eating while customers walked in and out of this store all happy and totally unaware of the cruelty behind all those cute little puppy eyes. Then we finally went in to look at the puppies. Maybe we should have gone to the zoo.... would that have been less cruel? RIGHT!

The store we were at was full of Pennsylvania Puppy Mill puppies. How I know these dogs come from mills doesn't matter now; I will share that info soon enough. The fact of the matter is that information about PA puppy mills has been all over the news and, even though people know what happens to dogs in these breeding facilities, they still shop, they still support the miller. WHY?

The store will tell you the puppies come from wonderful breeders. In fact, some employees will even say they visited these breeders. Come on, most reputable breeders don't sell their puppies by way of a pet store; it's just not done that way. Most breeders want to know where his or her puppy went and, if in a week, or a month, or even five years you happen to change your mind about that puppy (or dog) that breeder will want that dog back. How can that happen when the sale goes through a pet store?

People aimply don't believe or don't know what's going on. They want to believe that puppies in pet stores come from a "good" place. The only way to change this perception is to educate the consumer and hosting a rally outside of a pet shop that sells companion animals is a good place to start. Public awareness is so important - the dogs forced to produce the cute, yet often sick, pet shop puppies won't make it without us. Please find a way to help. Post here if you're interested or, better yet, email me - just find a way to help.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Puppy Mill Awareness - Where is Everybody?

"WE" can end puppy mills, why haven't we? TOO MANY of us continue to shop in stores that sell puppies, continue to buy puppies, continue to breed dogs and continue to turn our heads instead of doing something. That's what makes this so frustrating because - - we can do something about puppy mills.

Oprah's show on puppy mills ran again this past Thursday and I can only imagine how busy her message boards must be! It would take a life time to get through all the crap that's posted over and over and that's a shame because, between all the tears and heartbreaking stories, you will find some useful information. I think I made it through the first 200 or so pages and WOW, there's simply no denying that people are sooo upset about puppy mills. In fact, thousands of people are so concerned about the puppy mill issue that they felt compelled to post comments on the show's message board; wake up people that won't help a single dog!

Given the number of people who are upset, and rightly so, I feel very few people are actually doing anything to end puppy mills! Where is everybody? When are people going to stop crying about it and actually get out there and do something about it?

I didn't get to watch the first show, or the second, because I work full time but I heard about the show a few days before it first aired and quickly decided I had to find out everything there was to know about puppy mills. I gave myself a quick education, investigated a few local pet stores and quickly realized that I had to do something to help put an end to puppy mills. I could have easily posted my sorrow and outrage on message boards but, instead, I found people already doing something about the problem and I joined them.

Since April I've joined 2 different groups, demonstrated in front of 3 different pet stores, passed out flyers, held signs, informed the public, talked to consumers about shelter dogs, wrote letters and emails to goverment officials in 4 different states, purchased domain names, contacted various animal rights groups, talked to dozens of people who all know more than I and started designing a website..... and I'm Just Getting Started!

Since April and Oprah's first show - - NOT ONE NEW PERSON HAS joined our groups or the demonstrations. Again, where is everybody? The Puppies Need You -the message boards don't.

I just can't understand why more people don't - or won't - give a little bit of their time every week. Why so many people continue to shop in stores selling puppies. That, in the world of Puppy Mill Advocacy, is HARSH.