Missouri to Boston…This past holiday season I purchased a beautiful puppy from Lynn’s own Pet Express.
I’d heard some horror stories about Pet Stores/Puppy Mills, but felt confident with a recommendation from the North Shore Animal Hospital. My wife and I both love labs and the little chocolate colored guy that we found was a great addition to the family. Everyone at the shop was friendly and helpful, they went through his breeding information, basic care and warranty info, just in case he should get a little sick. The price of $1000 seemed high, but I figured that you get what you pay for and he was a pure breed dog, we we’re expecting to grow pretty big (huge paws.)
After signing the papers and checking out with some new toys and a few weeks worth of food we’re on the way home. The new pup was great to play with and even though cleaning up pee and poop wasn’t my favorite thing to do he brought a lot of smiles.
It wasn’t until around 17 days later (state warranty runs out after 14 days) that he started getting sick. First he came down with a fever and was having trouble keeping his balance. After a visit to Angell Memorial Animal Hospital and an overnight stay for observation we were told that he had lost vision in one eye and may have an infection in his brain. Obviously heart-broken about the news we optimistically brought him home hoping that he could come through it. After another two days of rest we’re all in high spirits that he had gone through the worst of the situation and would be back to his old self soon enough. That’s when his fever came on again and he lost all strength, to make a long story short he had to be put to sleep at the advice of our vet, due to what she said was, in her professional opinion, Canine Distemper Virus. Something that is unfortunately not treatable with antibiotics.
The next morning I made a call to Pet Express in Lynn wondering if they could shed some light on what happened and find out if any other dogs had gotten sick. They sounded concerned and not very convinced that Distemper Virus was the reason he had gotten sick. So the next step was to talk to the USDA certified and American Kennel Club member Breeder (after speaking with them I prefer not to release their names.) I goggled them (wasn’t sure what else to do) nothing came up, I checked the AKC and USDA websites, again nothing came up. Finally I found a residential listing and got on the phone with this country family from Missouri. They were really nice people and we spent a good time talking about our puppy, his parents, brothers and sisters. They sounded concerned and regretful that the litter their teenage daughter had raised as an FAA scholarship project for High School had been sent so far from home by the Hunte Corporation the family had sold them to.
Apparently the pet store never met or spoke to these people before any of this happened, they bought their puppies not from breeders as they had led me to believe, but from the Hunte Corporation who bought thousands of puppies for a fraction of the selling price from family breeders down south
. 
The hardest part of this whole situation was bringing a puppy into our family and after only 20 days to see him get so sick. John from Pet Express made it clear that the Veterinarian from Angell Memorial and my family were wrong in our decision to euthanize our pet. He also said that he believed our claim for a health warranty would be denied and that if it were up to him he himself would deny it.
Puppy Mills had taken a lot of heat in recent years and it was my impression that Pet Express was buying from a certified, qualified breeder, not a tractor trailer truck from Hunte Corporation. I learned my lesson the hard/expensive way. So be smart and thoughtful about your pet purchases and go to a breeder you can shake hands with or at least comes recommended by someone you trust. Stores like Pet Express are always going to try and make a buck, but hopefully not from anyone who reads this.
For more information on puppy mills and animal cruelty you can visit these websites:
http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/
http://www.stoppuppymills.org/
http://www.petstorecruelty.org/
http://www.nopuppymills.com/
http://www.petshoppuppies.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6QYBg2LFM
I’d heard some horror stories about Pet Stores/Puppy Mills, but felt confident with a recommendation from the North Shore Animal Hospital. My wife and I both love labs and the little chocolate colored guy that we found was a great addition to the family. Everyone at the shop was friendly and helpful, they went through his breeding information, basic care and warranty info, just in case he should get a little sick. The price of $1000 seemed high, but I figured that you get what you pay for and he was a pure breed dog, we we’re expecting to grow pretty big (huge paws.)
After signing the papers and checking out with some new toys and a few weeks worth of food we’re on the way home. The new pup was great to play with and even though cleaning up pee and poop wasn’t my favorite thing to do he brought a lot of smiles.
It wasn’t until around 17 days later (state warranty runs out after 14 days) that he started getting sick. First he came down with a fever and was having trouble keeping his balance. After a visit to Angell Memorial Animal Hospital and an overnight stay for observation we were told that he had lost vision in one eye and may have an infection in his brain. Obviously heart-broken about the news we optimistically brought him home hoping that he could come through it. After another two days of rest we’re all in high spirits that he had gone through the worst of the situation and would be back to his old self soon enough. That’s when his fever came on again and he lost all strength, to make a long story short he had to be put to sleep at the advice of our vet, due to what she said was, in her professional opinion, Canine Distemper Virus. Something that is unfortunately not treatable with antibiotics.
The next morning I made a call to Pet Express in Lynn wondering if they could shed some light on what happened and find out if any other dogs had gotten sick. They sounded concerned and not very convinced that Distemper Virus was the reason he had gotten sick. So the next step was to talk to the USDA certified and American Kennel Club member Breeder (after speaking with them I prefer not to release their names.) I goggled them (wasn’t sure what else to do) nothing came up, I checked the AKC and USDA websites, again nothing came up. Finally I found a residential listing and got on the phone with this country family from Missouri. They were really nice people and we spent a good time talking about our puppy, his parents, brothers and sisters. They sounded concerned and regretful that the litter their teenage daughter had raised as an FAA scholarship project for High School had been sent so far from home by the Hunte Corporation the family had sold them to.
Apparently the pet store never met or spoke to these people before any of this happened, they bought their puppies not from breeders as they had led me to believe, but from the Hunte Corporation who bought thousands of puppies for a fraction of the selling price from family breeders down south
. 
The hardest part of this whole situation was bringing a puppy into our family and after only 20 days to see him get so sick. John from Pet Express made it clear that the Veterinarian from Angell Memorial and my family were wrong in our decision to euthanize our pet. He also said that he believed our claim for a health warranty would be denied and that if it were up to him he himself would deny it.
Puppy Mills had taken a lot of heat in recent years and it was my impression that Pet Express was buying from a certified, qualified breeder, not a tractor trailer truck from Hunte Corporation. I learned my lesson the hard/expensive way. So be smart and thoughtful about your pet purchases and go to a breeder you can shake hands with or at least comes recommended by someone you trust. Stores like Pet Express are always going to try and make a buck, but hopefully not from anyone who reads this.
For more information on puppy mills and animal cruelty you can visit these websites:
http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/
http://www.stoppuppymills.org/
http://www.petstorecruelty.org/
http://www.nopuppymills.com/
http://www.petshoppuppies.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6QYBg2LFM
