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My experience with a puppy mill front!
In April of 2008 I began my search for a puppy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I have had cats for many years, so a good friend suggested I get a puppy (as opposed to an adult dog) so that I could train and socialize the young pup to my cats. None of the local shelters had any Cavaliers. If I had known about breed rescues and that they sometimes have puppies, I would have looked there also. But I was not aware of this option. Now, I am. (In fact, through my experience, I have learned many things about dogs and obtaining puppies that I may have never known otherwise.) I want to share my story and inform as many people as possible about what I have learned.
So after going to the local shelters I started doing research online because I wanted a ruby (all brown) Cavalier. These seemed somewhat difficult to find from some of the breeders I called. However, I saw an ad for a ruby on a website that was a so-called celebrity puppy boutique. They had lots of positive/great references and even "Sharon Osbourne" and her family had bought from this company and requested a Cavalier from them. The company advertised that their dogs come from "private breeders" and are "very well cared for." They have a knack for choosing very cute, marketable puppies and some buyers are attracted to them because they advertise “teacup†breeds that are supposed to grow to be exceptionally small.
Before I bought my puppy, I called and inquired a few times as to where my puppy came from. They seemed annoyed to have to answer this and they told me she came from a private breeder that they have dealt with repeatedly. They told me I would receive her papers within 120 days after the transaction was complete. I purchased my puppy in April, 2008. She was 3 months old at the time.
As soon as I brought my puppy home I noticed she had a cracked canine tooth and runny, watery eyes. The vet told me that it looked like she had been chewing on metal as some of her teeth had remnants of wire cage residue on them. Also, she suddenly got sick! First, she was diagnosed with the intestinal parasites coccidia and giardia. As if that was not bad enough, she was soon diagnosed with pneumonia! I was heart broken to see my dog sick like this and to have to deal with vet bills and going in and out of the pet hospital because she did become critically ill at one point. The only positive side of this is that the owner of the company reimbursed me for the parasite and pneumonia treatment bills and honored our contract.
But what about my puppy's origins? The company said they only deal with private, reputable breeders. When I received her registration papers it said her dam and sire were AKC registered so I was able to register her with the AKC as well. However, this is where all the truth began to come out. The “breeder†of my puppy was listed as Kathy Wayt. The “litter owner†was Robert Lourance. What I came to find out is that Wayt sold my puppy's mom at an auction and Lourance (the broker) bought her there. In fact, the broker probably did not know that when he bought the mother, she was pregnant with my puppy! Read on...
Petshoppuppies.com did research on my puppy's background. This is what they told me:
Wayt sold 8 dogs at a huge dog auction right before Christmas last year. The mother of your puppy was one of those sold. What's odd is that it said nothing about her being bred (believe me...if there is even the slightest chance that she was bred, they would have listed it because it more than doubles the price of the dog). Here is the auction listing for her:
138 FE Kathy's Sierra Molly TR25421805 4/30/04 #39 Wayt Comments: AKC. Reg. Color: Ruby.
Robert Lourance’s "line of business" is "Animal Specialties Farm." This is what I found out about him:
Oklahoma dog brokers Robert and Darlene Lourance have received the distinction of being number 4 in the TOP 10 WORST DOG BROKERS in Oklahoma, racking up 14 USDA violations between 2003 and 2006. Four of the violations were under the category of “cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping and pest control," affecting SIX HUNDRED and NINETY dogs." Source: http://savepuppymilldogs.com
Is it any wonder my dog arrived with parasites and then developed an upper respiratory infection that lead to pneumonia? As one can imagine, this experience had caused serious regret in me and the eye opening awareness about the choice I made to purchase my puppy from a website. I had absolutely NO idea that my baby girl might have come from a puppy mill.
When I had a discussion with the owner of the company about my puppy, he admitted to me he did not know about her origins and that he had simply seen her photo from a referral and thought she was cute enough to sell! The reality is they had purchased her from the puppy mill broker and either they never did a background check or they knew about Lourance and his disgusting ways and bought her anyway.
One of my friends adds this point: when pet stores (the worst place to buy anything other than parakeets and goldfish) say they "guarantee" the health of your pet, what most people think they mean is that they will pay for necessary health care resulting from health defects. Not so. What they mean is that if the dog or cat has an expensive illness, they will pay to have the pet killed, and give you a new one! Many families have been shocked, sickened and traumatized by this "we'll replace it with a new toaster" philosophy.
Please learn from my mistakes and do YOUR research! I am so sorry I had to learn about puppy mills this way – the painful and sad way. Do not support any pet stores, online or locally, even if they come across as sophisticated and have many good references. Even if celebrities bought their dogs from them. Celebrities are just people, too. They make the same mistakes as the rest of us!
*Please feel free to distribute this letter as much as possible*
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