Don't buy pets on impulse this holiday season

That's a very timely article. Puppies & kittens are pets that should not be purchased on impulse, either. Unless & until you are willing & able to care for the animal properly for its entire life, leave the store. Don't buy a pet for someone else. They may they like dogs, but they might not like that Maltese you overpaid for. Most of the puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills, which are responsible for overbreeding sick & genetically handicapped animals. The prices are outlandish & guarantees are minimal, if existant. If you want to get a pet for someone, have that person choose the animal.

Andie J wrote:

That's a very timely article. Puppies & kittens are pets that should not be purchased on impulse, either. Unless & until you are willing & able to care for the animal properly for its entire life, leave the store. Don't buy a pet for someone else. They may they like dogs, but they might not like that Maltese you overpaid for. Most of the puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills, which are responsible for overbreeding sick & genetically handicapped animals. The prices are outlandish & guarantees are minimal, if existant. If you want to get a pet for someone, have that person choose the animal.

Help! I want to find Linda Graber from Bloomfield Indiana. I'm from PA and acquired a puppy bred by her.Puppy has sores and is sick. Pet shop refuses to talk to me anymore. I think this is a puppy mill and all I have is a PO Box. I can not find her and have been looking for a month. Maybe somwone out there can find her! From PA, I can't find any info.

Barb-Abby wrote:

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Help! I want to find Linda Graber from Bloomfield Indiana. I'm from PA and acquired a puppy bred by her.Puppy has sores and is sick. Pet shop refuses to talk to me anymore. I think this is a puppy mill and all I have is a PO Box. I can not find her and have been looking for a month. Maybe somwone out there can find her! From PA, I can't find any info.

You may need to enlist legal help in finding her. She is the human behind the breeding, but I'll bet that she has a business name as well. Let me see what research I can do.

Barb-Abby, I tried finding something on Indiana puppy mills, but there is nothing online. I would start with calling the IN Dept of Agriculture. They may be able to help.

hey, i just got a puppy today that is bred from "barbara graber" who has a P.O. box in bloomfield, In. seems as if they use this name alot and just switch the first names.. what kind of dog did you get

Hello Barb-Abby and Rog. I have also recently bought a malt-a-poo puppy from a local pet shop. The breeder information on the papers I received with him also says "Linda Graber, P.O. Box 44, Bloomfield, IN." Me and my girlfriend are new to dogs/puppies but we have noticed that the dog's tail is rather short, almost as if it was cut off. Originally we thought that the tail was the normal size for our dog, but we have found out that malt-a-poo's are supposed to have regular sized tails, not little cotton balls. Apparently this "Graber" character is an owner of a puppy mill if all of us are getting these faulty puppies. Has anyone had any luck with getting in touch wit this "Graber" person? Feel free to email me whatever information you can, I am also trying to dig up some information myself. Dieseljaylove@AOL.com. Thanks!

I recently purchased a Shih-Pom from Uncle Bills pet store in Indianapolis, his papers say the breeder was Linda Graber. I did some snooping around online and found that a John Graber was running a puppy mill somewhere in IN and that Uncle Bills got there puppies from there. I was mislead into thinking my little baby was bred by a local breeder and not from a puppy mill. I cannot change it now because I love him so much, but I will not be fooled again. He is healthy but had Gardia and some other parasite we had to treat him for. My vet said its hard to tell if he got it from Uncle Bills. The employees there seem to love every little puppy in there, how can they stand by and promote puppy mills.

I got a boston terrier pup from Uncle Bill's (Noblesville, IN) back in September. She was about 5 mos old when I bought her. She has been pretty happy & healthy for the most part; however she seems to have issues with being in a crate. She pees & poops in her crate & will pace back & forth constantly, causing her face to become red & irritated from rubbing against the bars (once it even bled a little bit). So obviously I cannot crate her. She is totally housebroken & will not have accidents in the house, no matter how long I wait to take her outside. When I am gone, I keep her in a hallway blocked off by gates, which is fine for her ' crate anxiety.'. But when I'm not home, the max time she will hold it is about 4-5 hours. She pees & poops all on the floor & in her bed. No matter what I do, she will not hold it while I am gone. She is a good dog but I do believe she has some degree of neuroticism or some kind of nervous/separation disorder. Ironically, the breeder's name is Barbara Ann Graber. Does anyone else have these issues or know of anyone who had help with this??

Jay_L wrote:

Hello Barb-Abby and Rog. I have also recently bought a malt-a-poo puppy from a local pet shop. The breeder information on the papers I received with him also says "Linda Graber, P.O. Box 44, Bloomfield, IN." Me and my girlfriend are new to dogs/puppies but we have noticed that the dog's tail is rather short, almost as if it was cut off. Originally we thought that the tail was the normal size for our dog, but we have found out that malt-a-poo's are supposed to have regular sized tails, not little cotton balls. Apparently this "Graber" character is an owner of a puppy mill if all of us are getting these faulty puppies. Has anyone had any luck with getting in touch wit this "Graber" person? Feel free to email me whatever information you can, I am also trying to dig up some information myself. Dieseljaylove@AOL.com. Thanks!

A Malt-a-poo is not a breed. It's a cross between a Maltese & a Poodle. There would be no telling what length tail the dog should have or what, in fact, it will look like as an adult. I hope you didn't pay a lot of money for what is basically a mutt.

Denise wrote:

I got a boston terrier pup from Uncle Bill's (Noblesville, IN) back in September. She was about 5 mos old when I bought her. She has been pretty happy & healthy for the most part; however she seems to have issues with being in a crate. She pees & poops in her crate & will pace back & forth constantly, causing her face to become red & irritated from rubbing against the bars (once it even bled a little bit). So obviously I cannot crate her. She is totally housebroken & will not have accidents in the house, no matter how long I wait to take her outside. When I am gone, I keep her in a hallway blocked off by gates, which is fine for her ' crate anxiety.'. But when I'm not home, the max time she will hold it is about 4-5 hours. She pees & poops all on the floor & in her bed. No matter what I do, she will not hold it while I am gone. She is a good dog but I do believe she has some degree of neuroticism or some kind of nervous/separation disorder. Ironically, the breeder's name is Barbara Ann Graber. Does anyone else have these issues or know of anyone who had help with this??

She's still a puppy. And she's a small breed. Small breed = small bladder. Look into dog daycare or a dog walker.

http://www.petshoppuppies.org/indiana/1.htm

Hi all. My sister just got a puppy from Happiness is Pets in Orland Park, IL and the breeder was listed as Blue Ribbon Breeders - Barbara Ann Graber. She is having many behavioral and health issues and is doing everything she can to keep this little pup alive. The vet said the puppy was taken away from it's mother far to early. I researched the breeder and have posted a link above in regards to them. It is very sad and unfortunate that places like this are allowed to exist.

Hi guys, been doing some digging of my own. Wagler, Knepp and Graber all have PO Box 44 in Bloomfield, Indiana. Been tracing each one and found businesses for all three names in Oden Indiana. Thats not to far from Bloomfield. Still don't know the address but this is a start!!

Sorry Odon*

Hi everyone, I found this article by searching for "Linda Graber" on google because I bought a puppy last year from Uncle Bills pet store in Ft. Wayne, IN. The information they gave me was that the dog is a pure bred Pekingese and I paid full price even though they had him neutered as soon as he was born due to a hernia. I am an animal lover so I bought him regardless of the fact that he is neutered already.
But what my issue is that as soon as I took him to the vet for a check up the first time he had Coxcydia (a parasite in animals) that he had got from the pet store/place before being at the store. I later then found out that he isn't even pure bred he is mixed Japanese Chin and Pekingese. He does not have as many common traits of a Peke as he does a Jap chin.
I also believe that he is from a puppy mill and I would not go back to Uncle Bill's again to purchase a pet and don't recommend it to anyone else. I know a dog breeder that is part of a protection league and I plan on talking to her about this and If I find anything out I will post here again to let you all know.

Hi all! I purchased a puppy from Uncle Bills, and the breeder is listed as Vera Graber. If you google her name as a breeder in Indiana, multiple articles come up regarding an investigation on puppy mills. It appears her husband, John Graber, is in on the business. An article I just read indicated he called the sherrif on an investigator who stopped by. John refused to let the investigator leave and tried to block his car in!!

my dtr. got a puppy in virginia that was tied up to their fence at spca. it is not a puppy now. it is a cow. it ate my house and my furniture.

LLZ wrote:

Hi all! I purchased a puppy from Uncle Bills, and the breeder is listed as Vera Graber. If you google her name as a breeder in Indiana, multiple articles come up regarding an investigation on puppy mills. It appears her husband, John Graber, is in on the business. An article I just read indicated he called the sherrif on an investigator who stopped by. John refused to let the investigator leave and tried to block his car in!!

Barbara Ann Graber was the alias they used when I purchaced my minituare poodle from Uncle Bills. DO NOT BUY DOGS FROM UNCLE BILLS!!!!!
I AM TRYING TO LOCATE THIS CON ARTIST PLEASE IF ANYONE KNOWS ABOUT THIS PLEASE EMAIL ME. THIS PERSON USES MULTIPLE AILIASIS AND SELLS TO UNCLE BILLS. UNCLE BILLS CO-OPPERATES WITH THIS PERSON. I BELIEVE THEY GET EVERY DOG THEY HAVE FROM THIS PERSON!!! IT SEEMS.

Nikki, I do hope your poodle is OK. I'm sure you and your family love him/her. Sorry to hear you had problems.

I am so sorry all of you are going through this. However, I hope that others can learn from it. Pet stores are the worst place to buy pets. If you have done your research and know what you want, you can find responsible breeders (or even purebred rescues/shelters) and most likely will spend less money on a pet that will be healthier. Please, anyone who reads this, do not buy puppies, kittens, or any other living thing from pet stores. The majority of these animals are from mills (even ferrets!), are unhealthy, and I promise you they are overpriced.

I saw a Dogue De Bordeaux in a pet store in Vegas. He was literally walking on his elbows! When I mentioned this to the people working there, they said they would discount his price to $2800. That is way too much for a healthy, well-bred dog, and ridiculous for an unhealthy, likely disabled dog! I frequently go to pet stores in my city (to try and prevent people from falling victim to it!), and find that their prices are normally several hundred dollars more than what you would spend going to a reputable breeder.

I recently found a "pomeranian" puppy at Petland that was over $1000 and about 20 pounds as a puppy. Pomeranians don't get that big, and the fur was very short, so they were basically selling a mutt for the price of an overpriced purebred. Shame on the pet stores that sell live animals, and shame on the mills that supply them! If you work for one or own one, shame on you, yes YOU, for being a part of the problem.

Hi all- I also got a dog in Apr/2010 from what I now know is a puppy mill owned by Linda Graber and Martha Wagler, with address P.O. Box 44, Bloomfield, Indiana. My 18 month old German Shepherd has kidney disease and all the top vets in New York are sure she was born with it. I've spent more than $25,000 in vet bills but more importantly, I want to shut down this puppy mill. Has anyone had luck making progress on this? I figure if there are many of us, the case is stronger. My dog is not even 2 years old and she's in a life threatening condition. Who knows how many more dogs are suffering because of these maniacs Martha Wagler and Linda Graber...let's take them down!!!

Please reach me at carolynk@gmail.com.