#1. A legit breeder will not sell to a pet shop if for no other reason is they aren't going to sell them wholesale and that's the only way a pet shop will by them.
#2. The pet shops buy from the brokers who buy from the puppy mills. They can look you in the eye and honestly (maybe not morally)tell you they didn't by from puppy mill.
I was getting tossed out of pet shops 35-40 yrs ago and stupid people still buy dogs from them.
You can educate the ignorant but as Will said, "You can't fix stupid".

Selling puppies in a store or online is a result of our impulse buy/easily disposable culture. People think more about where the clothes they wear are made than the origin of that cute puppy.

I've recently moved into a really dog-friendly, almost dog-centric apartment complex. Talk about paradise lost. Ignorance abounds!!! Some of what people say about their dogs makes my jaw drop. Makes me start plotting ways to steal their poor dog and find it a good home. I mention this as I just talked to a young couple who became educated about puppy mills in the hardest fashion. Their P*tl#nd puppy died of parvo 4 days after they bought it.

what some of the problem is, is the fact that most people remember the old pet stores where the mom and pop knew the people in the neighborhood whose dog had puppies. The stores now days want you to think they know the breeder. All they know is the name they are given. I went to a mall and say big signs posted by each puppy they sold, we do not buy from puppy mills, all our puppies are from responsible breeders. Most people do not know the truth and believe them, thinking there must be some regulation against them posting false advertising.
Some even say, well these little pups need homes too. So they realize they may come from puppy mills but think they are helping these puppies, unaware how sick they may be or how heartbreaking some of these puppies emotional scars are.

 Quote: Tammy Moore

The person that buys a puppy from a pet store are the people responsible for supporting puppy mills, they create the demand.

In a nutshell ... I don't know how anyone with any facts in hand could possibly argue with this.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Tammy Moore

The person that buys a puppy from a pet store are the people responsible for supporting puppy mills, they create the demand.

In a nutshell ... I don't know how anyone with any facts in hand could possibly argue with this.

Nor this:

 Quote:

#1. A legit breeder will not sell to a pet shop if for no other reason is they aren't going to sell them wholesale and that's the only way a pet shop will by them.
#2. The pet shops buy from the brokers who buy from the puppy mills. They can look you in the eye and honestly (maybe not morally)tell you they didn't by from puppy mill.

Sad but so true, ignorance abounds.

Why do you suppose people are so ignorant of puppy mills? Why isn't the message filtering down to people?

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

Why do you suppose people are so ignorant of puppy mills? Why isn't the message filtering down to people?

I really have no idea. It gets even worse. I have seen people selling puppies on the corner. It was hot as hell this summer (as in 100 + degrees) and they are under a canopy with the pups with a sign saying puppies for sale!

Seeing how pet stores are still selling puppies, after all these years of knowing where these pups come from, just proves that the general public chooses not to care or even do the research to become educated. I just don't get it.

Adding to horror stories....

One of my neighbors bought two puppies from the same pet store. An "English Mastiff" and a "Rottweiler". They came with "AKC" papers....

The mastiff is not an English mastiff as we recently learned (I sort of guessed it when she turned 4 months old, she doesn't even ACT like an English Mastiff, forget looks). My neighbor managed to find the "breeder" who when she originally sold the puppies to the pet store had them down as Tosa Inu/English Mastiff puppies. So now my neighbor has a dog he can barely handle not, and didn't even get a warning what he was in for. His "Rottweiler" has a TINY head and really scary looking back legs and hips. On my encouragement he traced her back to her "breeder"....it's a dairy farm *cough* mill *cough*.

This pet store lied about...everything really (they puppies weren't healthy at all when he got them either, they were slightly discounted because of this and their age). Best part, his family has been friends with the family that owns the petstore for YEARS, and they still sell him unhealthy puppies with fake papers. If they have no honesty with friends imagine how bad they must be with their normal customers....

Plus side he's developed an interest in training since he's come out to let Ryuk teach his puppies manners (note, the puppies ARE free of all contagious diseases now, can't do much for their hips and allergies though) and let me play with them. He's at least facing in the right direction now, but that pet store...still open, still selling unhealthy dogs and the animal control won't do a thing about it

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Tammy Moore

The person that buys a puppy from a pet store are the people responsible for supporting puppy mills, they create the demand.

In a nutshell ... I don't know how anyone with any facts in hand could possibly argue with this.

Yes, well the problem is 'facts in hand'. Anyone who would buy a puppy from a pet store has done little more than Google what a particular breed looks like.

I think that the vast majority of people out there who are in the market for a puppy have no idea about researching health or temperment issues for a particular breed or finding ethical, responsible breeders.

Frankly, I didn't, when we decided we would get a puppy. I was knowledgable enough to know that I would never buy a pup from a pet store, but I really had no idea how much research is involved in making a wise decision re buying a pup.

The idea of individual temperment was completely foreign to me; we'd always had large, gentle dogs growing up, and I thought that any dog raised from a pup in a kind, responsible way would have a similar temperment. Little did I know...

And as offensive as puppy mills are, where the owners know that they are proliferating dogs with health and temperment problems, just behind them are back yard breeders, who probably think that they are breeding sound dogs, if they even have any thought as to what that is.

Anyway, my next dog will be a rescue...

The pet store in my area has a sign in the window that says 'All breeds Available'

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

Why do you suppose people are so ignorant of puppy mills? Why isn't the message filtering down to people?

IMO, because in the US, the pet industries themselves are the most powerful influence on most peoples attitudes and values about pets.

In other words, our culture with respect to pets is heavily shaped by the business of pets.