So I'm futzing again. Its been awhile since I've drawn or designed something, however the itch to do something art related and my recent reading about puppy mills caused me to make something.

This all started because of a post in stupidpetowners. A community in livejournal that I'm apart of. This reminded me about a recent pet boutique that opened up at the mall near U of I Champaign-Urbana.

Its called Lucky Puppy, and Dale and I were wandering the mall when I noticed this new store. I thought it'd be a cute place to wander around, maybe they'd have some good treats I could spoil Zepplin with.

As we neared the store there was a crowd of people by the front, my heart sank as I saw two puppys in a window display. I walked in the store and was surrounded by the frou frou merchandise that people buy to spoil their pets with (clothes mostly) and the unforgivable sight of puppies in cages on the back wall.

I grabbed Dale and turned around, refusing to take another step in that store.

He doesn't really share my views on pet store pups. Or rather, he understands them but doesn't share my passion of not supporting a store like that. So he thought I was being silly. (We've had a rather large heart to heart about this topic, and have come to an understanding. Personally if he were on his own he'd probably still go to a pet store because its convienent, and he doesn't like dealing with hassle. Which doesn't please me, but at least he's not going to go out and do it while with me, or prevent me from raising our future kids with my viewpoint)

So curious I spent a morning researching the store and came across blogs, and more blogs, news articles, and debate. There was a lot more, but honestly that's the chunk of it.

Even if were to overlook this one little store (that the owner plans on trying to open another one due to its success), there's still the well known, large chain, Petland. I used to think it was an okay place. A person I knew from high school worked there and Dale and I played with a kitten. The kitten was adorable, and the aquintance assured me these animals were from local breeders, that they never had "unsold puppies" because they "sold themselves".

Now, however... well I can't believe how naive and willing to believe I was. There are tons of consumer complaints, nevermind personal stories, and campaigns about the chains. It shocks me that a pet store that has had so many people bring home sick puppies, is still operating.

These pups seem fine, or are told they have a "cold". They get a free vet visit from the vet of Petland's choice, who usually gives the dog a clean bill of health. However there have been cases of kennel cough and the puppy flu, in many of these pups. And since they're not receiving the proper care that they need at these stores, are often in a very bad state once the pup has been home for awhile.

Normally owners see something wrong after the Petland vet visit, and go to a different vet and find out there's a maltitude of things wrong with their new family pet. Petland has a policy of if you're unhappy with your dog, or something's wrong with it, you can bring it back and pick out a new one. But honestly who's going to do that at this point since the family's already attached to the animal? Its not like an appliance for christ sake, and is very tricksy of Petland to do.

Some people have fought and been told that Petland will pay for the vet bills, but haven't seen all of their money. A woman bought a keeshound puppy. She saw it one day, decided to wait and see if the price ever dropped, came back a few weeks later and managed to get a "bargain". The Petland vet found hip problems among other things, and the woman brought the dog back with the vet report and wanted a full refund. Was promised she would receive it, they couldn't give it to her right then and there. She came back a few days, or weeks I can't really remember, later and the store was gone.

Petland Corporation says its the owner of the store's problem not theirs.

Nevermind other people who have had managers never call them back, give them the run around, etc. I just can't fathom WHY this chain is still in business with such obvious atrocious customer service once problems arise.

Its all very puzzling to me, and makes me weep that humans are so unpassionate about fellow living beings. I'm not a vegetarian, so I suppose you could call me a hypocrite, but I go out and buy the free range, hormone free meat. I recognize I'm an omnivore by nature, but I'm going to make sure my meat is raised in a way that meets my standards.

I would tolerate pet store puppies if they didn't come from mills. I would tolerate back yard breeders if there wasn't such an obvious pet population problem. Fact of the matter is there really needs to be a stronger breeding liscensing program in force. You can only breed so many pups each year. You have to provide this and this for the dog. Sure there are standards, but to me a crowded cage is not tolerable just because the dog has food and water at all times. That's just not right. A brooding mother shouldn't be forced to breed litter after litter after litter after litter, not knowing a life outside of being a mother in this tiny cage.

Fine have brooding mothers, but again, each mother should only be allowed a certain number of litters per year. Each mother must be in a certain sized enclosure where they can run, etc. Quality care, not just the bare minimum.

This goes for any living animal that we create for the simple act of making money. Cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. There needs to be a higher standard of care than there already is. There needs to be more inspectors that the rules are being followed than there is. There needs to be more inspections in general.

Who's with me?