Their faces are matted because they’re not getting the grooming, the exercise. “I’ve seen dogs in labor for days with half a puppy sticking out of them, and it’s rotting inside of them. “They’re worse than they look in the pictures,” said Jennifer Doll, a veterinarian who assisted in the raiding of Iowa puppy mills while working for the Muscatine Humane Society. Such breeders cut corners in order to cut costs, filling their facilities with hundreds of dogs feeding cheap and innutritious food keeping dogs in small cages stacked on top of each other in crowded rooms with poor ventilation or left outside in the cold or heat skimping on grooming and medical attention or overbreeding and inbreeding dogs. Zegart (1984): “A dog breeding operation in which the health of the dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits.” The Puppy Mill Problemĭefinitions of “puppy mill” vary, but a widely accepted one comes from a federal ruling in the case of Avenson v. Still, these accusations have fueled a campaign to end the for-profit sale of dogs in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Iowa City officials allow up to 75 puppies to be kept at the store on Lower Muscatine Road, and Solsrud said they sell an average of two to three weeks after they arrive at Petland.Īmong the more positive reviews of the business online are others critiquing everything from Petland’s customer service (employees on the sales floor are paid “based on performance,” Solsrud says, though some customers have apparently found them pushy) to the size of the puppy enclosures (Solsrud defends the cages as more than sufficient for a temporary home, and says having several puppies to a cage allows them to socialize with one another).īut the prevailing criticism of Petland and pet stores in general, locally and nationally, are that they prop up puppy mills - a claim Petland’s owner strongly denies. Sourced from dozens of breeders certified by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) across at least four states, these puppies may be sold for upwards of $4,000, depending on the breed, care package and warranty selected by the customer. ![]() Though Solsrud resents the notion that his puppies are “commodities,” Petland’s most valuable products are not its guinea pigs, lizards or pet food, but its dogs. Petland is a pet store and supplies company based in Ohio, founded in 1967. That’s a freedom of choice, bottom-line America.” The Iowa City Petland, 1851 Lower Muscatine Rd, Iowa City. “Right now, you have access to checking out pets and checking out puppies. “I think people are still operating on the old story that there is a overpopulation,” said Ron Solsrud, owner of Petland, Iowa City’s only dog retailer and one of the largest-scale pet stores in Iowa. Shelters in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand for dogs, particularly puppies and purebreds, without supplementing, they argue - especially since management of the unwanted dog population in the last two decades via adoption and spay-and-neuter campaigns has been so effective. ![]() Adopters fill an essential need.īut breeders and pet store owners argue they fill a need as well. ![]() has a population of dogs in desperate need of homes, both for the health of the dogs and the sustainability of the shelters and rescues. The “adopt” side claims the moral high ground, with good reason. ![]() Rescue a dog from a shelter, or buy one from a store or breeder. How does a dog become a pet? The ways in which an owner may meet their new best friend are as varied as dog breeds, ranging from a meticulous, months-long quest to claim a corgi from a rescue organization states away, to a neighbor casually asking if you want to pick a pup from their mutt’s latest litter.īut debates around dog ownership typically boil down to one central choice: adopt or shop. Petland puppies play in their shared enclosure.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |