I have read a few posts about puppy mills and I wanted to share my story about Fantasia, my three year old (in Feb.) Maltese.
My husband and I looked everywhere we knew to look for a Maltese. I always knew that I wanted a Maltese so picking the breed wasn't the hard part. The hard part was getting one. None of the shelters around me would give us a Maltese because we live in an apartment and didn't have a fenced in yard. Stupid if you ask me but it's their rules so no dog for us. So we started checking pet stores and online. OH NO did you say pet store! Why yes, yes I did. See we didn't know any better. We finally found a beautiful puppy Maltese about an hour away from us. We went to get her and were denied financing (don't know why) so we had to leave her there. Then a few months later we were in NY and we stopped at the Binghamton mall to check out their pet store. They had one beautiful baby Maltese but there was a sign saying on reserve until 6PM. It was about 3PM so we started to leave the store. My husband asked if he wanted me to ask about the dog anyway and I said yes. We asked and were told that the dog had been on hold for a week and the person who wanted it didn't have the money yet. We told them we couldn't wait till 6PM to see if she came but we could pay them with credit card on the spot. They said that they thought we would make better owners and decided to give her to us instead!
I was so excited!
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We got to pick out free leash, collar, dishes and a few toys for free. I picked out the items and we filled out the paperwork while I held our little Fantasia. While we were filling out the paperwork we were told that this other woman wanted Fantasia so she could breed her! Shame on them for wanting to breed a pet store puppy. A reputable breeder would never buy a dog from a pet store and then breed it! Anyway I was happy that we got her because she would never have to go through being a backyard breeder's dog or a puppy mill mother.
After finding MO and being booted I then found AMR/PMR and found out about puppy mills. Someone gave me some information to look and see if Fantasia's "breeder" was a puppy mill and sure enough she was! You would be horrified at the conditions of her place at every inspection. She had hundreds of dogs every single time!
When Fantasia was almost 2 years old she tried to jump onto the couch and missed hitting the side of the couch. She fell and yelped. We took her to the vet for x-rays and found that she was gassy, but also that she had a deformed back. Her vertebrae got squished closer and closer together the farther down the back it went. The vet said that she had the bones of a 5 year old dog! My poor Fantasia! She was also diagnosed with two luxating patellas and I was told that she would need surgery sooner rather than later. One knee is worse than the other. It doesn't seem to bother her right now so we are holding off on that surgery.
Anyway I just wanted to share my story for those of you who are thinking about getting a puppy. Please don't buy from a pet store! All these health issues were found when Fantasia was just 1 year old, imagine how bad she will be when she is 5!
I can provide documentation on Fantasia and show you how I first suspected that she was a puppy mill dog. I can also provide the email that I got from the person who looked into the reports from Fantasia's “breeder”.
My husband and I looked everywhere we knew to look for a Maltese. I always knew that I wanted a Maltese so picking the breed wasn't the hard part. The hard part was getting one. None of the shelters around me would give us a Maltese because we live in an apartment and didn't have a fenced in yard. Stupid if you ask me but it's their rules so no dog for us. So we started checking pet stores and online. OH NO did you say pet store! Why yes, yes I did. See we didn't know any better. We finally found a beautiful puppy Maltese about an hour away from us. We went to get her and were denied financing (don't know why) so we had to leave her there. Then a few months later we were in NY and we stopped at the Binghamton mall to check out their pet store. They had one beautiful baby Maltese but there was a sign saying on reserve until 6PM. It was about 3PM so we started to leave the store. My husband asked if he wanted me to ask about the dog anyway and I said yes. We asked and were told that the dog had been on hold for a week and the person who wanted it didn't have the money yet. We told them we couldn't wait till 6PM to see if she came but we could pay them with credit card on the spot. They said that they thought we would make better owners and decided to give her to us instead!
I was so excited!
After finding MO and being booted I then found AMR/PMR and found out about puppy mills. Someone gave me some information to look and see if Fantasia's "breeder" was a puppy mill and sure enough she was! You would be horrified at the conditions of her place at every inspection. She had hundreds of dogs every single time!
When Fantasia was almost 2 years old she tried to jump onto the couch and missed hitting the side of the couch. She fell and yelped. We took her to the vet for x-rays and found that she was gassy, but also that she had a deformed back. Her vertebrae got squished closer and closer together the farther down the back it went. The vet said that she had the bones of a 5 year old dog! My poor Fantasia! She was also diagnosed with two luxating patellas and I was told that she would need surgery sooner rather than later. One knee is worse than the other. It doesn't seem to bother her right now so we are holding off on that surgery.
Anyway I just wanted to share my story for those of you who are thinking about getting a puppy. Please don't buy from a pet store! All these health issues were found when Fantasia was just 1 year old, imagine how bad she will be when she is 5!
I can provide documentation on Fantasia and show you how I first suspected that she was a puppy mill dog. I can also provide the email that I got from the person who looked into the reports from Fantasia's “breeder”.
