Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: Charm City Puppies--what would you do?
If you are interested in protesting this pet store and others that sell pets, like Jericho the Phoenix's page on FB. Everyong is "meeting" there and it's where information will be given out. Also, to the person who commented that they approached the store owners and were given attitude, I'm sure the person organizing the protest would love to hear from you. Please contact her via the FB page listed above. Thanks.
I completely understand where you are coming from...I am an animal lover and I 100% believe in adopting or rescuing animals instead of buying them from a pet store. I personally would never buy an animal from a pet store and I honestly do not even go into them because it makes me so sad to see them in cages. However, I know the people who opened Charm City Puppies and they are good, kind people. I understand why you would not want to see another puppy store go up in your community but to insinuate that they are buying these dogs from a puppy mill is absurd. Regardless of what you think or if you plan on taking action against them, these people opened this store because they love animals and wanted to make a living while doing something that they have a passion for. I know for a fact that the animals in their store will be cared for and loved. So if it will make you feel better to liberate these animals from their miserable lives at Charm City Puppies, please keep in mind that in doing so you are ruining the lives of two people who worked very hard to create that business.
Then where are they getting the dogs? Let them post the USDA license numbers and names of the "breeders" where they are getting the dogs. Ask them if the parents are champions, what their names are, and what genetic/physical tests have been done on the parents and grandparents. And then if they can provide and verify all that info and show that there are reputable breeders out there that will sell their dogs at rock-bottom prices to pet stores, I'll apologize for my misperceptions. But they can't and won't provide the information because then people would know that the puppies aren't coming from warm fuzzy homes instead of cages filled with dogs and covered with feces.
Puppy mills ARE breeders - completely irresponsible and abusive breeders who breed dogs for profits and not for the improvement of the breed. Reputable breeder = someone who shows dogs, has champions, breeds those champions, and tries to eliminate the horrible genetic issues that plague dog breeds because backyard breeders and puppymills breed dogs indiscriminately and don't care that their dogs have hip dysplasia or heart problems. A reputable breeder will take back their dogs instead of letting them go to the shelter because they care about the welfare of the dog. Puppy mills will not take back their "products" if you can't take care of them - they don't care that people buy their dogs and then dump them in shelters to be euthanized. They profit from this because those same people will buy another dog AND they don't have to pay to euthanize (or shoot) the puppies that don't sell or are dumped - the taxpayers pay for it via the shelters.
Also, if they love animals and want to make a business out of doing something they love, there are many other ways to do that instead of selling animals that are born in horrible abusive conditions to mothers (and fathers, but mostly females) who breed and breed for their whole lives
in a tiny cage
in their own filth
on wire floors that hurt their feet because when they aren't let outside to poop/pee, the feces and urine have to be able to fall through the floor into the lower cages and then eventually onto the ground
no medical care
no testing for genetic issues.
Pet stores create a huge demand for CHEAP wholesale puppies to sell at a HUGE markup (so the customer pays $$$) - you can't have cheap puppies if you responsibly breed health-tested champions, provide proper medical care and grooming, get the dogs consistently judged on conformation/health/temperament, and only breed females a few times in their lifetime.
There are plenty of people who run great pet supply stores (that don't sell puppies/kittens), run grooming business, petsitting, work with rescues, etc. "It's their passion" is not a justification to buy dogs wholesale from abusive situations. If people saw the mothers from the puppy mill with matted fur, covered in feces, rotted teeth, all kinds of GYN problems from breeding constantly, would people buy their puppies? I'm pretty sure that people would realize that they are getting ripped off and the same puppies will be at the shelter in a few months.
http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/
http://www.happywoofdogtraining.com/2011/12/13/puppy-mills-christmas-puppies-responsible-decisions/
It would make me feel just as good as when sex slaves are liberated from their pimps, who worked very hard to create that business. Or when Michael Vick's abused dogs were liberated from his dogfighting business, that he worked very hard to create.
Nope, the purebred dogs (with all sorts of genetic and health issues) are safely locked in tiny cages to be impregnated by other purebred dogs (with all sorts of genetic and health issues). No chance of being impregnated by other mutts when the dogs are never allowed outside of the cage.
No reputable breeder will sell their puppies through a pet store. Period. That is a fact.
Someone needs to please explain to me why that is so hard to understand. I'm not writing it in a foreign language. It's right there in plain English and it is true.
Even if they are getting the puppies from BYB (who generally mean well, but are still contributing to the overpopulation issue), and even if the owners are the most amazing people in the world, what they are doing is ridiculous and hurting the animal population that they claim to be so passionate about.
If they want to open a pet supply store and help the animal community, they can have adoptable dogs in the shop. They are choosing to sell puppies that don't come from reputable breeders. How do I know they don't come from reputable breeders? Say it with me: Reputable breeders do not sell their dogs through pet stores.
They might be the most well meaning people in the world--but at this point, they are still part of the problem. If you're really friends with them, I would try to explain this to them. It's not to late for them to switch to adoptable dogs instead of BYB dogs.
Snow!
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DAnd there are plenty of purebred dogs that are carefully bred to avoid genetic problems, are champions of their breed (assessed in dog shows), and are bred only a few times if that because the owners/breeders care about the health of their dogs. People can contact their local breed clubs and ask questions about the different breeders showing their dogs.
Also, the Nest terms of service prohibit vendors from posting in support of their business, so if you aren't actually the owner of the store posting, you might want to let them know so they don't "accidentally" create an account here and post.