Review: Debbie's Pet Land

Debbie's Pet Land is the worst place to buy pets. ALL of their dogs are from puppy mills. When the puppies and bunnies get too old and are no longer small & cute they are often left to die or killed. The crates the dogs are kept in cause many of them to have problems with their feet and legs. Bunnies should NOT be kept in pine shavings as it is very bad for their lungs. Also many of the employees there are not trained at all about how to take care of a rabbit. Or fish for that matter. I bought a beta fish there once when I was younger and it died in a matter of days (which an employee there told me is normal). Wrong. You need to put a powder/liquid in the water to neutralize it if it is tap water. I now have Beta fish who are over 3 years old.
If you want a dog, go to a breeder or rescue shelter.
If you want a rabbit, go through the "House Rabbit Society" or "House Rabbit Connection".
BOYCOTT DEBBIE'S PET LAND!

Fred wrote:

I went down to Debbie's and was petting her pissy and it snapped at me...

Fred, nobody likes this kind of so-called humor. Grow up and go back on the other forum and let us alone. Just another Masshole!

Just had a terrible experience with buying a puppy from Debby's Pet Land Unfortuneately can't get into all the details now but the employees there all the way through corporate are nasty. They conduct themselves very unprofessionally and their only concern is their bottom line $$$. I will post more as time goes on but need to finish with the long reports with BBB and a few others first to try to stop these people. Boycott this place. Don't even buy a .25 cent item it only feeds their survival. our experience took place in the Nashua NH store but I went right through to corporate at several levels and got the same service and excuses for misconduct not to mention they participated in that conduct. Never have we been apologized to for what has happened never mind compensated. But for me compassion and an apology would have gone a long way I could have maybe walked away at that point. The mere fact that this attitude goes right to the top was confirmation that I couldn't be alone in this and that something needed to be done. I start google searching and low and behold surprize there are many of these out there. Should have googled first and I wouldn't be in this.

Mama Bear-NH wrote:

Just had a terrible experience with buying a puppy from Debby's Pet Land Unfortuneately can't get into all the details now but the employees there all the way through corporate are nasty. They conduct themselves very unprofessionally and their only concern is their bottom line $$$. I will post more as time goes on but need to finish with the long reports with BBB and a few others first to try to stop these people. Boycott this place. Don't even buy a .25 cent item it only feeds their survival. our experience took place in the Nashua NH store but I went right through to corporate at several levels and got the same service and excuses for misconduct not to mention they participated in that conduct. Never have we been apologized to for what has happened never mind compensated. But for me compassion and an apology would have gone a long way I could have maybe walked away at that point. The mere fact that this attitude goes right to the top was confirmation that I couldn't be alone in this and that something needed to be done. I start google searching and low and behold surprize there are many of these out there. Should have googled first and I wouldn't be in this.

It is horrible that you had such a bad experience in the Nashua store and I am so sorry for that. I work in the Manchester store in the mall of NH and I can honestly tell you you would have been treated with the utmost respect. All the people that work in my store are amazing and go that extra step to treat the puppies and all the other animals as their own. As for the customers they are treated with all the respect and common courtesy deserved:) Again I am so sorry for the way you were treated.

Vet Tech wrote:

Debbie's Pet Land is the worst place to buy pets. ALL of their dogs are from puppy mills. When the puppies and bunnies get too old and are no longer small & cute they are often left to die or killed. The crates the dogs are kept in cause many of them to have problems with their feet and legs. Bunnies should NOT be kept in pine shavings as it is very bad for their lungs. Also many of the employees there are not trained at all about how to take care of a rabbit. Or fish for that matter. I bought a beta fish there once when I was younger and it died in a matter of days (which an employee there told me is normal). Wrong. You need to put a powder/liquid in the water to neutralize it if it is tap water. I now have Beta fish who are over 3 years old.
If you want a dog, go to a breeder or rescue shelter.
If you want a rabbit, go through the "House Rabbit Society" or "House Rabbit Connection".
BOYCOTT DEBBIE'S PET LAND!

I don't know where you get your info from but I can honestly say that none of the animals are left to die when they get older they are reduced in price and ALWAYS find a home!!!

I purchased a puppy from the Manchester, NH store a few days ago and after taking her to the vets I'm furious with them.

She has a huge scab on her head which the store assured me was simply from her rubbing her head on the cage bars - however the vet said it's a bite and I have to watch it doesn't get infected. The vet also said that she is horribly underweight and in poor condition and that she'd been treated multiple times for diarrhea, something we were conveniently not told about. We were told by the store she has pedigree paperwork from the breeder in MO that would arrive in the mail in 2 weeks but are now finding out she came from a puppy mill and not a reputable breeder at all and the so called pedigree papers aren't recognized by any legitimate organization like the AKC! She has been so poorly socialized that she was terrified of everything from doorways to her own shadow, I've been working with her every day and I'm thankful that she's responding and gaining weight but am disgusted with Debbys Pet Land. My husband says I should contact them to complain but from everything I'm reading there really seems little point. Seriously considering reporting them, what kind of people are they that would sell a puppy in such a sorry state and then lie about injuries & not disclose full information.

I got my wife from Debbie's and she has one problem after another. If it isn't a continuous UTI, it's camel toe jam... I returned her to the store, but they wouldn't even give me store credit. Now I have to sleep with this old smelly grandma who snores!

Yes, I agree their service is terrible. I went and got a bunny there and they out her in a plain cardboard box; no carrier! holding the box, I waited for my dad to finish shopping. My bunny was looking dehydrated, so I asked the cashier for some water. He just sneered and said that I already purchased the bunny and it was no longer their business. Apparently they don't care about poor innocent bunnies.

I've purchased two dogs from Debbies Petland in Marlborough. Although I feel bad that the dogs are
from puppy mills and by purchasing them supports the process. It is sad because someone needs to take the dogs home. Anyway- both of the dogs that I purchased at this location have been healthy and with great dispostion and no health problems at all. I found the staff there to be competent and genuinely care the the animals and hope for thier adoptions to a good home.

I myself must say that I absolutely love debby's petland. I have bought all of my dogs and any other animals from here. I have gotten to know the employees very well and believe they love and take good care of all the animals in this store. They do not get them from puppy mills they are usda registered breeders from all over the country. Some people need to educate themselves more on what exactly a puppy mill is. I know myself that the employees put in long hard hours to get these animals homes even when they aren't getting paid as much as they should. Nothing anyone says will ever convince me other wise. I do not listen to rumors without knowing facts. If you have any serious questions you should give them a call and ask for yourself before being judgmental

I bought my puppy at the Debby's Pet Land in Marlborough and while I do not support pet stores in general because of their affiliation with puppy mills, I was very pleased with them. They recognized the fact that my puppy was getting older and needed to find a home and discounted her a great deal, which I appreciated since I couldn't afford her retail price! Six years later she's a loving, well adjusted lady!

Theodora wrote:

I bought my puppy at the Debby's Pet Land in Marlborough and while I do not support pet stores in general because of their affiliation with puppy mills, I was very pleased with them. They recognized the fact that my puppy was getting older and needed to find a home and discounted her a great deal, which I appreciated since I couldn't afford her retail price! Six years later she's a loving, well adjusted lady!

UMMMM...that makes NO sense, not in general but very specifically you supported puppymills by purchasing something from debby's petland...glad it work out for your pet but her mother lived a horrible miserable existent to get you your pet....anyone who thinks those pets dont come from mills in IA/KY or being very naive

Loves puppies wrote:

<quoted text>I don't know where you get your info from but I can honestly say that none of the animals are left to die when they get older they are reduced in price and ALWAYS find a home!!!

http://www.ripoffreport.com/animal-abuse/new-...

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, I agree their service is terrible. I went and got a bunny there and they out her in a plain cardboard box; no carrier! holding the box, I waited for my dad to finish shopping. My bunny was looking dehydrated, so I asked the cashier for some water. He just sneered and said that I already purchased the bunny and it was no longer their business. Apparently they don't care about poor innocent bunnies.

i work at a debbys petland and we sell carriers for bunnies and other small animals you could of bought one if it was that much of a problem. but if u were just going home a cardboard box is sutibal for the car ride home and all of our bunnies have fresh water and pellets and timothy hay avalibal to them at all times so im sure it was not at all dehidrated or malnutrishind

Vet Tech wrote:

Debbie's Pet Land is the worst place to buy pets. ALL of their dogs are from puppy mills. When the puppies and bunnies get too old and are no longer small & cute they are often left to die or killed. The crates the dogs are kept in cause many of them to have problems with their feet and legs. Bunnies should NOT be kept in pine shavings as it is very bad for their lungs. Also many of the employees there are not trained at all about how to take care of a rabbit. Or fish for that matter. I bought a beta fish there once when I was younger and it died in a matter of days (which an employee there told me is normal). Wrong. You need to put a powder/liquid in the water to neutralize it if it is tap water. I now have Beta fish who are over 3 years old.
If you want a dog, go to a breeder or rescue shelter.
If you want a rabbit, go through the "House Rabbit Society" or "House Rabbit Connection".
BOYCOTT DEBBIE'S PET LAND!

this is not at all ture i work at a debbys petland and have been there for many years i love all the animals and take grate care of them im hurt that you would think we kill our animals. i would never work there if that were the case. we keep all of our animals until we find them a good home no matter how long that may take. we have a vet that comes in on a weekly baseis and checks all of our puppys if a puppy needs any kind of medical treatment we treat them. we want all of our animals to be happy healthy and find a grate home. and pine shaveings are not bad for bunnies ceeder shaveings are what cause lung problems and we are all traind how to care for all the animals we get in the store and are more then capibal of edcateing people how to care for there new pet. the cages we use are for the dogs safety and health any feeses or urian drops throw the grate on to a tray witch is emiditly cleaned.and many things can cause a betta fish to die such as a tempitsure changs cleaning the tank to offten and not useing water condisner also over feeding. when you change a bettas tank you really dont want to change all of the water at once only about 30% of the tank should be cleand at a time.

sara wrote:

<quoted text>
http://www.ripoffreport.com/animal-abuse/new-...

Sara I must say you are as ignorant as the next person for believing anything that little witch posted in here. She was just mad because she got fired and it wasn't because she was telling the truth because I will tell you first hand that Dr. Verbin or should I say so called Dr.???? He is a horrible vet and has lost his vet license in more than 1 state if you look him up on google you will see for yourself. He was the reason that a lot of the puppies were so scared of vets or scared period when they came in it made me sick!!!!! I could not understand why DPL even had him as a vet thank god he wasn't part of our store the vet we had Sally Thurber was great she knew what she was doing and is very well known she actually cares about the animals unlike that useless so called vet Verbin. The girl that posted that was fired for not doing her job which was to care for the puppies the way she was supposed to!

Here's an update on our experiences with Debby's Petland in Manchester, NH.

Approached the store after all the extra expense in fixing up our border collie and the kennel cough she had when we purchased her from this store. I was told "can't help you, here's a number to call, and your vet is lying" Guess what? Yup no luck there either .. so their health guarantee is B"s#it - but my vet is the liar?!

Now we're a year on .. spent a lot of money on getting my baby healthy and put through training to help with her socializing issues and fears from being caged/mistreated for so long. She's never reached the lowest weight of a border collie of 30-50lbs, currently she's 27lbs and we've been told she's not really a full border collie, surprise surprise we NEVER received the so called pedigree paperwork we were promised would arrive.

Recently she was seen by the vet and she was concerned that although we'd done well with building her muscles that had atriphied in the pet store crating, her back legs still seemed odd and she asked to do an x-ray. We were horrified to find out that she has severe hip dysplasia, so bad that both hips need to undergo a femoral head and neck excision, an extremely painful procedure that means she'll never have full mobility which for a border collie is devastating but it's the only way to take away the pain of her condition due to it's severity. Oh and the cost of this procedure,$3000 plus!

So next time you want to defend these puppy mill promoters think twice .. I have never worked for or ever been affiliated with this company, I'm just one of their customers who is very angry, particularly on behalf of my own dog and all the other puppies they are selling that are sick or have genetic issues because they get them from puppy mills that are unregulated and disgusting.

Louissa, When did you buy your puppy? I can tell you that I worked in the Manchester Debs and all the puppies were exercised and very well socialized ESPECIALLY the herding breeds like the border collies and the Australian shepherds and cattle dogs. We always gave them time out to play with other dogs and run around the store with customers so if your dog had socialization problems I can guarantee you it wasn't from us. As for the dog not being full border I can also guarantee you that unless it said it was unregistered then it was full the unregistered ones were even iffy to me but for the border collies we didn't get many unregistered ones and the were perfect looking borders. I will tell you that border collies are 1 of my favorite breeds and always paid special attention to them and got them out as much as possible because they can go stir crazy being cooped up because they are a working breed and need the exercise. I am very sorry for everything you are going through medically with your dog and I hope everything turns out ok for you and the dog. I got both of my dogs from Debs and both are in great health and very happy and I have had contact with both breeders whom were very willing to send me pics of the parents and answered every question I had for them. I will not say that SOME of the dogs don't come from mills because I have questioned it myself but I can say that not all of them do I know my 2 didn't and as a matter of fact my Cavalier King Charles spaniel is champion bread and is perfect show quality and that is from my vet and proffesional breeders that were shocked that I got him from a store. My boxer the same thing the vets are amazed at how perfect she is so I can tell you first hand that they are not all poorly bread. I myself worked there and did not approve of some of what I saw but me personally I was there to help these poor puppies find homes and to love them and keep them happy as much I possibly could. Most of the people there were great with the dogs and most had plenty of experience to do their jobs and keep the dogs happy and healthy. I know the main office didn't keep up with their warranties the way they should have and I can honestly say it pissed me off in the worst way because I would have customers call me and complain about how they were treated and when they would say they were getting a lawyer I would tell them that it was a good idea and that they deserved to be reembersed for what they had to go through. I am not disagreeing with everything you said except for the fact that we all did care and did the best we could for all the puppies. Debs is now closed so as far as ANY of the warranties there are none so good luck trying to get anything from them. Again I am sorry for all you have been through.

"Loves Puppies", I don't mean to be rude but your answer is very contradictory. If the store was so wonderful, why would so many customers be calling to complain about how they were treated and why would you acknowledge they had good reason to get a lawyer if the dogs were so healthly & taken care of so well?
My border collie was supposed to be pedigree, I was told it would take a few months for the papers to arrive in the mail, I was also promised (because I made a point to ask as it was important to me)she did NOT come from a puppy mill but from a reputable breeder, however after some research on the photocopied paperwork recieved from the store I was able to find out she came from one of the most notorious puppy mills down South, yet another lie I was told!
So I'm sorry if you feel I"m picking on the store employees, but if you worked there, you and your collegues were misleading customers, obviously by your own admission selling dogs that were NOT healthy and I can personally tell you my border collie is not healthy, she has constant stomach issues to the point she can't still take the pain meds she desperately needs for her hip dysplasia because we can't seem to get her GI tract issues under control long enough for her to be able to try them.
As for her not being in a cage and getting appropriate exercise, she was transferred from another store, I believe in MA to the Manchester store about 7-10 days before I purchased her and was around 4 months old. She'd been locked in a cage pretty much 24/7 except for cleaning because she had kennel cough and severe diarrhea and wasn't allowed to mix with the other dogs. She was put in a cage so small for so long that she paced back and forth constantly stressed and rubbing the top of her head against the top bars of the cage, this caused her to have a huge scabby wound on the top of her head which took over a month to begin healing and the hair never grew fully back it had been there so long.
Where I come from that's called animal cruelty, and YES this did cause her to have huge socialization issues, she didn't even know how to take food from someone without biting their fingers, that alone took weeks to teach her and I paid a lot of money to go to professional training classes over a 6 month period and she was top of the class many times thanks to all the work we put in but it took a very long time and she still gets very scared with confinement & very stressed if she's left alone.
The warranty was a joke, the store was a joke, and I don't mean to be rude but your response isn't much better. You may have meant well, but it's easy for you to say how wonderful your dogs are, you had access to the store records, you could pick through the "few" decent healthy dogs. The regular customers didn't have that luxury and obviously from your answer there were "many" that got sick animals that should have never been for sale in the first place.
I wouldn't give up my Cassie for anything, she's part of the family, but my heart aches for all the unnecesary pain & suffering she's gone through and all the physical pain she now has to suffer through due to a genetic problem that came straight from puppy mill breeding to that store!
I have moved away from the area recently so didn't know the store was now closed but all I can say is I'm glad. One less puppy mill promoting bunch of liars selling sicks dogs is a good thing. As for you, you seem like a nice person, I hope you get to work with animals in a setting where you can see the difference in care such as a shelter, so you can understand good intentions and proper care are so polar opposite to what you are used to.

Louissa, I think I know what dog you are talking about and she came to our store with that sore on her head and we started treating it right away and I remember seeing her paper work saying that she had kennel cough prior to coming to our store but she did not show any signs of it while she was with us no coughing and no snotting or weezing nothing at all and when she came to us she was supposed to be for someone that was looking for a border but their landlord would not allow it. I was so upset when she came to us the way she did and I called the office and got treated the same way the customers did except I was told to do my JOB and take care of it. I can honestly tell you that I never once lied to anyone about where the puppies came from I always told them that I have never been to the places so I couldn't tell them for sure if it was a mill or not but like I said I do know for sure they didn't all come from mills and as far as my dogs go I took them because they were what I wanted my Cavalier had kennel cough before he came to our store but I took him anyways and I haven't had any issues with him since and he is a year and a half now. You have to remember that kennel cough isn't because it came from a mill it is because it was probably near another dog that had it. My sister got a puppy from a breeder and it got kennel cough so it can happen anywhere. As for how the puppies were treated in my store I can tell you they were very well taken care of by every person that worked there. I don't know who sold you the puppy and what kind of info they gave you on her but I can assure you that they told you everything to the best of their knowledge. I have worked in a shelter and it still saddened me to no end to see them in the situation they were in. The sad part is is at the shelter they are so strict when it comes to adopting the puppies out and won't give them to anyone that lives in an apartment which is why there are so many dogs there still:( A majority of people live in apartments and can still give them a loving and caring home but the shelter isn't trying to hear it. I am also glad the store closed but I can't help but wonder what happened to the puppies and who is going to take care of them now???? When our store closed the puppies from our store went to the Nashua store for the rest of the week and when I went there to get my last check I cried because the Mastiff and the shepherd we had both recognized me right away and got so excited and their cages there were horrible compared to ours so of course I took them both out to love them 1 last time:( I guess you will never know exactly what went on there except for the horror stories you have heard but please know that working there and putting everything I had into taking care of those puppies and now not knowing what is going to happen to them is ripping my heart out and I cry every time I think about it:( Again I am sorry for what you have been through with your puppy but I am glad she went to a home where no matter what you are going to care for her and not just put her down like I have seen people do. Please give her loves for me<3 Thanks