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“The Mavericks”
Since: Jul 08
Oak Park
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Please wait...
OhPuhleezee wrote: What is the difference between a "designer dog" and a mutt? About $800.:)
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alg
Chicago, IL
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a pet store's owner going to a breeder and hand picking the puppies to sell does nothing to help the problems of over breeding. buying a dog from a store indirectly tells the breeders and puppy mills that there is more demand.
pet snobs bug the hell out of me. why not save a life and get a pet from a shelter?
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Terry
Biddeford, ME
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OhPuhleezee wrote: What is the difference between a "designer dog" and a mutt? A "designer dog" is the intentional crossing of two purebreds in order to produce a new breed. You could stretch a point and say that a "designer dog" is a mutt but to me A mutt is a mutt - I've had a few of them and they were fine dogs and Spike still rules
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american idiot
Chicago, IL
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why pay for a "hybrid" (read: mutt) when you can get one at the pound for a minimal adoption fee? you'll save a life, and not be supporting (directly or indirectly) puppy mill operations. The reason puppy mills exist is because of demand for "name" dogs.
When I was a kid, we had a mutt that lived to be 15, even after a cancer diagnosis at age 10. The vet told us she wouldn't last more than 6 months, but she lived another 5 quality years. Years later we adopted a purebred pet store beagle from family members who couldn't care for it properly--she died at age 9 because her bone marrow would no longer produce red blood cells.
Lesson: adopt a mutt from a shelter, you'll be glad you did.
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annie
Gibsonia, PA
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I bought a darling cock-a-poo 18 years ago and she was the
most loyal, adorable dog our family has had! She had no health
problems, didn't shed and loved everyone who walked through
our door!
We now have a 3 year old puggle who, as a puppy, had high energy but is the most lovable sweetie pie on earth! He has
no health problems and gets along well with our other dog....
a chihuahua!
I think there are people breading these dogs who know what
they're doing and others who don't. I guess we've just been
lucky. People DON'T buy from puppy mills. We bought both
of our dogs that were mixed breeds from families who had both
the mother and father.
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Turbo
Chicago, IL
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Wow, another hard-hitting piece of journalism from the useless RedEye. That thing is little more than a gossip rag with bar crawl ads for Chad and Trixie. It's GARBAGE. Aside from stories that come from the AP or other newswire services, it's written on the level of a high school newspaper. I love picking it up just to read whatever asinine, consumerist stupidity is printed in it on any given day. WHO CARES????
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Jacqueass
Waukesha, WI
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Margie wrote: OK! how weird! The breed of our dog was censored out of my previous post! Our little dog is a mix of a cockerspaniel and a poodle: he is a c0ck-a pooh. A total sweetie, a little lamb! Same thing happened to me a while ago with the same word. The forum programming doesn't like certain words and as it is software, it cannot discern the context.
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Learned my lesson
Franklin Park, IL
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Tough Love wrote: As the rescuer of a puppy mill dog that was left in the pet store till 6 months, I'll tell you you can turn that animal's life around with proper nutrition (raw feeding), limited vaccines and lots of attention and love. Really? Some years ago I bought a Lhasa Apso at a pet store. She lived for almost 12 years and her medical expenses ran into the thousands of dollars. She had abnormal arteries in her brain which I doubt could be fixed by a raw diet and lots of love. She became totally deaf and blind, and had a permanent head tilt due to seizures. I now have a 10 yr old Westie also bought in a pet store, who was born or developed kidney disease shortly after birth. His medication runs almost $250 per month. No amount of a raw diet and love will fix him either. At one time I had another Lhasa bought at a pet store. He was crippled, could never walk right, had to be carried up and down stairs and died of diabetes before his 6th birthday. I learned my lesson well. I would never buy from a pet store, EVER! In addition to the Westie, I now own two other purebreds, bought from reputable breeders, who after 5 and 6 yrs still have an interest in the pups they sold me. Both had guarantees against genetic defects and both breeders are willing at anytime during these dogs lives, to take them back, if I am ever unable to care for them. This is so they do not end up in shelters. Both are healthy, with wonderful temperaments. BUY FROM REPUTABLE BREEDERS ONLY, NOT FROM PET STORES.
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Say no to puppy mills
Franklin Park, IL
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The public needs to be educated about the supply and demand of puppies.
If the public refused to buy puppies from pet stores, the puppy mills would shut down, as there would be no demand.
If you want to stop the suffering of these poor animals, NEVER buy a puppy from a pet store!
If you insist on buying a puppy from a pet store, then live with the guilt of the suffering of dogs who are abused, neglected and bred until they die! And, never say you are an animal lover!
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Rex the Dog
Chicago, IL
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I am a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and I am the best dog in the world!
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Say no to puppy mills
Franklin Park, IL
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annie wrote: I think there are people breading these dogs who know what
they're doing and others who don't. I guess we've just been
lucky. People DON'T buy from puppy mills. We bought both
of our dogs that were mixed breeds from families who had both
the mother and father. Buying from a pet store is the same as buying directly from a puppy mill! And, I really hope you aren't breading your dog, unless you are getting ready to eat him!
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Tracy Mattes
Lombard, IL
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Cheryl, I agree with you 100%. That's why I felt so strongly about participating in this article. My cockapoo Jake is a sweetheart and I will do anything for him. Happiness is Pets in Downers Grove really needs to thoroughly check where they get their puppies from. I was able to track Jake to Gadient Kennels in Iowa. They have no business breeding dogs with medical problems. Jake had a juvenile cataract at only age 2! He had the cataract surgery and a lens implant and it was very expensive. Plus he had 2 other surgeries all before age 3! All I can say to people is do your research before you buy a puppy from a pet store. Have the puppy examined by a trusted veterinarian and research the kennel. Cheryl wrote: I also got my dog from Happiness is Pets in Downers Grove, after looking at shelters, etc. She had a cataract problem from birth which I noticed right away but the pet store never returned my numerous calls. They count on you falling in love with the dog which of course I did. I wouldn't trade her in for anything but I would have liked some monetary compensation from them considering she wasn't cheap. I guess the moral of the story is don't buy your dog from a puppy store. Although I heard that the Dog Patch in Downers Grove is pretty good; they take the puppies outside every day and actually will take a puppy back if it doesn't work out.
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Jacqueass
Waukesha, WI
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american idiot wrote: why pay for a "hybrid" (read: mutt) when you can get one at the pound for a minimal adoption fee? you'll save a life, and not be supporting (directly or indirectly) puppy mill operations. The reason puppy mills exist is because of demand for "name" dogs. When I was a kid. my parents adopted a mutt cat from a shelter. He died at age 4 of some unspecified, unknown illness. I also have a mutt I adopted off the street. After seven years, he still doesn't like humans and has had multiple health problems. Mutts are not necessarily more healthy or friendly than pedigreed animals. With pedigreed animals (including, for the sake of this discussion, the "designer" mixes), you should not buy from pet stores because you need to meet the breeder, see the parents and living conditions, and learn about the genetic issues each breed has. A respectable breeder will do all this, including being honest about potential future risks. With a mutt of unknown parentage, you will not know about a genetic problem until it shows itself, sometimes with fatal consequences. Just because a dog or cat is a mutt doesn't make the genetic risks disappear.
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Say no to puppy mills
Franklin Park, IL
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Margie wrote: We needed a small pet and were willing to pay for a small pet. We looked at every pound and shelter for miles around and found nothing but pit bulls.
If irresponsible pit bull owners would stop breeding dogs that no one wants, there would be plenty of room for the kind of family pets people actually want to find when they go to the pound.
All pit bulls should be castrated at birth. Only gangsta psychos want them. So you got a healthy dog at a pet store. Did you ever think about the puppy's mother or father living a life of abuse and being bred to death, so you could have a puppy? The only pit bulls you ever read about are the ones owned by irresponsible owners and the gangs who use them for fighting, a small fraction of the bully breeds out there. I attended obedience classes with all of my dogs and had the opportunity to meet owners of pits, and the dogs were among the nicest, totally unlike the ones you read about. Maybe some people should be castrated at birth for their ignorance!
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Jacqueass
Waukesha, WI
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Judged:
1
Say no to puppy mills wrote: <quoted text>
Buying from a pet store is the same as buying directly from a puppy mill!
And, I really hope you aren't breading your dog, unless you are getting ready to eat him! Define "puppy mill." You probably can't, or have a misconception about what one is. People need to stop spouting the animal rights extremist claims like "every animal in a pet shop comes from a puppy mill." If you see sentences like this, you know they are an overstatement. Besides, the animal rights extremist groups like PeTA and the Humane Society of the U.S.(which operates NO humane societies or shelters for dogs and cats, but spends millions on lobbying against vital animal research and keeping animals in zoos, among other things) are the ones responsible for these types of phrases. They do this because they believe that anyone breeding animals for human use is evil and is operating a "puppy/kitten mill." The animal rights agenda is to eventually ban all animal use by humans - all pets, all farms, all research, all food. They are scary, and many of you have been sucked in without realizing it.
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Say no to puppy mills
Franklin Park, IL
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mystic riveree wrote: it amazes me how people fall for the "designer dog" lies!
Lie #1: they are NOT breeds! there's no such thing as a purebred labradoodle, no such thing as a purebred puggle. these designer dogs are all MUTTS! the same kind of mutts people used to give away in parking lots, the same type of mutts that can be found at any shelter and rescue across the country
Lie #2: hybrid vigor is VASTLY overrated! a couple of years ago, the term "hybrid" meant the offspring of two animals of different species, such as mules, donkeys, ligers, etc. puggles, peek-a-poos, shipoos, etc aren't really hybrids since all breeds of dogs are in the same species. I've noticed over the years the definition has been skewed in some places to now included these designer mutts.
hybrid vigor is a tricky thing to understand and many people get it wrong. simply breeding a beagle to a pug isn't going to eliminate generations of inbred genetic traits. a puggle is no healthier than its parents: you breed a pug w/ bad hips to a beagle w/ bad hips, guess what? that puggle is likely going to have bad hips! you see some hybrid vigor in true mongrels, dogs w/ extremely mixed ancestry, not in these designer dogs
Lie #3: not all poodle mixes are hypoallergenic! yes, mixing a poodle w/ another HA breed like a shih tzu will produce a HA dog, but it's far less likely mixing a notorious shedder like a lab w/ a poodle. look up the history of the labradoodle and learn how the original Australian breeder more or less gave up trying to produce HA labradoodles b/c results were extremely skewed.
Lie #4: nearly 100% of purposely bred designer dogs are produced by puppy mills and BYBs. no question about it. good breeders don't breed mutts just because they look cute! any puppy being sold in any pet store in this country came from a puppy mill or a BYB and only exist to make the breeders more money, no matter what the cost to animal welfare
if you want a puggle, pomapoo, goldendoodle, whatever, check the local rescue, they've been there all along, only not labled w/ the cutesy fake names AMEN
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Jacqueass
Waukesha, WI
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OK people, I don't see anyone defining what a "puppy mill" is, and I don't think everyone has the same idea of what it means.
I am oversimplifying a lot, but a true "puppy mill" actually requires two general conditions:
1. A high volume of breeding animals and offspring (we're talking dozens through the hundreds),
AND
2. Chronic (meaning the usual state of things), substandard conditions regarding cleanliness of the facilities and health and care of the animals.
This second one is the important one. Some high-volume breeders maintain immaculately clean conditions and provide tons of love and care to all their animals until they go to new homes. They see only the odd few illnesses, and properly isolate ill animals from the general population. They are not mills unless the conditions go substandard in a chronic way.(BTW, I do not fit either of these categories and have no personal stake in this discussion).
To advance their radical agenda of ending all animal ownership, animal rights extremist organizations like PeTA and the Humane Society of the U.S.(which is not affiliated with your local shelter but sometimes pretends to be) would like people to believe that all breeders are "puppy mills". The problem is that "puppy mill" is a made-up term (just like "partial birth abortion") that is supposed to sound horrible to inflame prejudice against it. In fact, the animal rights organizations are fooling people into spouting the lines we are seeing in this thread. People, be careful whose views you are supporting by repeating them.
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pure bread
Columbus, OH
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anytime you buy a dog it should be directly from a reliable breader. these people buying these "designer" dogs should do a little research on who they're buying from. my 5 year old chocolate labradoodle has only a haircut, flea medication and a yearly check-up. people need to take responsibility for the pets they purchase. you get out what you put in.
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drw312
Evanston, IL
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And do not buy any products from pet stores that sell dogs!
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Since: Apr 08
Location hidden
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Please wait...
This will forever make me ill.
Even if I had all the money in the word, I'd still be adopting pets from shelters, not BUYING them from breeders or stores.
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