Pet Store Investigation Part II: people concerned about where pet store dogs come from

Sick puppy, after sick puppy, after sick puppy. Eight people claim they bought sick dogs from Palm Desert Puppies, and that the owner wouldn’t refund their money. They even had the vet papers.

Pet Store Investigation Part 1: People claim local store sells sick dogs

The Lockyer-Polanco-Farr Pet Protection Act requires pet stores to refund an owner if a vet states the dog got sick shortly after purchase.

All these ill animals leave many people wondering: where do these dogs come from?

“The community at large doesn’t realize that these puppies come from overcrowded backyard breeders. They are so young when they’re adopted out,” animal advocate Tiffany LoBue said.

It gets many animal advocates talking about puppy mills. Apuppy mill is defined as a large-scale commercial dog breeding facility where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs. The Humane Society of the United States estimates 10,000 puppy mills all over the country. Its puppy mill campaign advocates banning pet stores saying, as stated on its new billboard in Arizona, “Most puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills.”

“Irresponsible breeders don’t breed for standards they breed for money, it’s mass production of dogs.”

Which means many of the dogs have behavioral issues or worse – major health problems.

We spoke with Shelli Rizotti, an animal welfare attorney in Los Angeles.
Rizotti says certain breeds mandate against ever selling to pet stores.

“By virtue that he has puppies of specific breeds at his store and he’s telling consumers they come form reputable breeders. Every breeder has a code of ethics and they say they will never sell to a pet store,” she said. “Reputable breeders want to know where their animals are going. They provide a lifetime guarantee to take them back if they’re sick or have hereditary information. Breeders provide a security for that animal.”

Riverside County Animal Services continues to investigate the store after receiving several complaints. During its initial investigation, Animal Services says the owner, John Duhamell, gave them the list of 10 breeders he buys from – all in Riverside or San Bernardino Counties.

Animal Services has already checked a few, and all are local backyard breeders. The county cannot give us the locations of the breeders until it closes the investigation. So wetried to get them ourself.

We went into the store, talked to the owner’s brother, and asked for breeder information. He told us they don’t give out that information because it would remove the need for his store, and people would go straight to the breeder.

We reached out multiple times to the store owner. When we stopped by, a store employee told us he would be back in 30 minutes, but then told us he wasn’t coming anymore. We called him and left him a voicemail, telling him we wanted to give him a chance to share his side of the story.

We asked Animal services, aren’t they required to give out breeder information?

“To prospective buyers, that’s how the law says. Prospective buyers should be afforded the opportunity to know where their dog came from,” Rita Gutierrez said.

In 1966, Congress passed the Animal Welfare Act, or AWA, which the United States Department of Agriculture enforces. The AWA outlines specific minimum standards of care for animals bred for commercial resale and requires certain large-scale commercial breeders to get licensed and regular inspections from the USDA.

Animal Services says it can’t check on all breeders.

“We are complaint driven, we’re not going door to door. We simply don’t have the staff to go door to door. We couldn’t even patrol randomly,” Gutierrez said.

Most breeders stay fairly private. There is actually only one registered breeder in Riverside County.

“That doesn’t mean theres not a lot of folks in our county, we know there are from board meetings where breeders have come to express concerns about mandatory spay and neuter ordinance, but we now there are a lot of folks who have a male and female, licensed dogs, they’re allowed to, and breed their dogs. Whether they sell to the public or pet shops that’s the part we don’t know about,” Gutierrez said.

Animal Services is continuing to investigate where these puppies are coming from. Meanwhile, animal advocates say the valley doesn’t need more dogs.

“If someone wants to spend that much on a dog god bless them. If it has a good home I could care less. The fact is these dogs are being brought into our community when we have a huge overpopulation problem,” LoBue said.

Many valley cities including Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta and Indio all passed laws banning pet stores. Animal advocates ask: why hasn’t Palm Desert?

“Whether it’s a tobacco store or firearm store, they may be objectionable to some and not others. In this city, we have not had a council that’s been willing to regulate those sales,” Ryan Stendell from the city of Palm Desert said.

Bottom line, if you take one thing away from this investigation, ” I would encourage anyone to go to shelters before they go anywhere else,” Gutierrez said.