Do You Shop at Petland?

With almost 8,000 dogs and puppies rescued from puppy mills in the U.S. just since February of this year, I would have thought that the atrocities inflicted in these operations would by now be nationally recognized and condemned, especially by companies devoted to selling products for pets. However, a recently completed, eight-month long investigation by the Humane Society of the United States has revealed that the national pet store chain, Petland, is selling dogs from cruel puppy mills to unsuspecting customers. The investigation into Petland stores in Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and other states showed that many of the puppies sold at these stores came from massive commercial breeders in Missouri and other Midwestern states where hundreds of breeding dogs live their lives packed into filthy, crowded cages. These dogs spend their lives birthing litter after litter, with minimal human contact, no exercise, and never knowing the love of a family.

Please take the time today to ask Petland to stop supporting the puppy mill industry. You can do this by clicking here to send them an email through the HSUS's "Stop Puppy Mills" campaign, by contacting your nearest Petland store, or by calling their corporate headquarters at 740-775-2464 or toll-free at 800-221-5935.

OR... why not do all three! The more we bombard them and let them know we will not shop in their stores until they are no longer selling puppies the more important the issue becomes to them!

Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves!

Dogs Deserve Better

I am so happy to say that I had a part in getting two of the heartworm positive dogs from my last post to a permanent rescue in Minnesota. They were living chained at their owner's house where another dog had been poisoned with antifreeze by neighborhood kids and they have now arrived at Homeward Bound Rescue where they will be treated and loved.

Since volunteering as a Dogs Deserve Better rep for Mississippi, my heart has been broken and I have lost a lot of sleep. When it rains, I think of those precious faithful dogs sitting through it wondering what they did wrong. Today it was 100 degrees and stifling and every chained dog lays patiently in what shade, if any, they can find.

I have been overwhelmed with the number of dogs I have seen or been told about in Starkville who spend their lives on chains or in pens. What is the purpose of a dog you keep chained in your yard? You don't play with him or enjoy him in any way. He is a lawn ornament that you feed and ignore.

There is no other animal that we treat the way we do dogs. Animals bred to be our companions, our loyal helpers, we leave to sit alone in their own feces, to be bitten by insects, to be attacked by other animals their chains won't allow them to escape. We leave them starving for attention and sometimes for food; yet they do not, cannot complain. They only sit and wait for us to change our minds, knowing they will instantly forgive us if we do. They do not demand respect from us, so we forget to give it even though they, above all creatures, deserve it most.

You can learn more about the dangerous and inhumane practice of chaining a dog for life and about ways you can help at Dogs Deserve Better.

"We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made." - M. Acklam