Pet Store Investigation Part 1: people claim local pet store sells sick dogs
Delia Martin wanted a dog for her son, so she went to Palm Desert Puppies.
“He got excited for the German Shepard,” Delia said.
Her family’s first days with their new family member should have been wonderful, but, “The next day I called him and said the puppy is sick. He said that’s normal. A week later I called him and he said it’s still normal,” Delia said.
Pet Store Investigation Part II: People concerned about where pet store dogs come from
She’s talking about the owner. Customers say that’s John Duhamell. Delia ended up taking the sick puppy to a vet at Animal Samaritans in Thousand Palms.
“Vomit, diarrhea, didn’t eat, eyes were closed,” she said of the dog’s symptoms.
The vet gave her an alarming diagnosis – possible distemper, which can be deadly – and a shocking treatment plan – return the dog.
“The owner told me to get out or he would call police,” Delia said.
Delia relinquished the dog to Riverside County Animal Services. It eventually got adopted. She is not the only one complaining about the store on San Pablo Avenue in Palm Desert. Quite a few people told us Palm Desert Puppies sold them sick puppies, too, and wouldn’t give them a refund, either.
Take Lisa Nagler. After buying a puppy that came from the store at a school auction, her vet paperwork shows her dog suffered from giardia, an intestinal disease, and parvo, a viral illness. Then there’s Sheri Moore. Avet discovered ear mites and a tapeworm in the new dog she bought from Palm Desert Puppies. We investigated and found 11 negative reviews out of the 13 on Yelp, and a lot of negative comments on a Palm Desert Puppies Facebook page as well.
For months, I scoured through paperwork and researched animal welfare laws.
According to the Lockyer-Polanco-Farr Pet Protection Act, if a vet states within 15 days of the sale that the dog is sick due to an illness that existed in the dog on or before the sale or if a vet says within one year of the sale that the dog has a congenital or hereditary condition, then one of 3 things must happen:
1. return the dog for a full refund.
2. exchange the dog for another dog at the same price.
3. keep the dog and reimbursement for vet fees.
The law states the owner get to choose which one they want.
All three people we spoke with wanted a rerund, and they say Palm Desert Puppies refused. Icross checked some dates. Delia says her dog suffered diarrhea and vomiting the day after she bought it, but she didn’t take it to the vet until 28 days later . So, she missed the 15 day period. However,the other two people I spoke with all got vet paperwork within the necessary amount of time.
A group of animal advocates dedicate much of their time to protesting the store, and exposing what they call wrongdoing. Riverside County Animal ServicesM the agency in charge of administering state law to pet stores, took these complaints seriously, and opened an investigation. They visited the store a few times andfound a few signage issues. Also,the owner did not have a vet check the dogs every 15 days as the law requires. There also seemed to be some issues when it came to consumer rights.
Consumer rights include being told: breeder’s name and address, dog’s birth date, breed, sex, and color, vaccination and history, spay and neuter information, and a right to return a sick puppy if it falls under the parameters of the law
We asked about the sign in the store boldly stating “no refunds”, which seems to violate the law. Also, the contract customers sign says “no refunds”.
“Our understanding is it’s to help him avoid impulse shoppers,” Rita Gutierrez of Riverside County Animal Services said.
We asked what the county knew about sick puppies.
“We haven’t got any complaints just a second hand complaint that’s the only one I got so far about sick puppies,” Gutierrez said.
However, Tiffani Lobue, one of the animal advocates we talked to, showed us multiple emails she sent to the county informing them about the sick dogs.
“We’ve been there several times and we have not seen any sick animals,” Gutierrez said.
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.
He wouldn’t talk to us when we reached out, but once this story started getting promoted he emailed this statement:
“Bianca,From your text I hope you report a fair and true story, you running an animal rescue it seems like it would be hard for you to report anything good about a pet store who has been open for over three years with out any problems until a few protestors reach out to you. One protestor, Valerie Masi, which turns out used to work for Animal Control, that explains why they been here so many times in the last month, but as I said earlier they were today and said we are up to code on every thing. You should be focusing on the shelter dogs being put to death every day here in the desert. We sell loving puppies to many families here in the desert, I only wish you would of contacted the fifty happy customers each month, not the 1%. Once again I ask you rethink your story and do a complete back ground check on who is trying to cause problems for a business who loves their puppies. Let people decide where they want to get their puppies, don’t try to make us out like something we are not. -Palm Desert Puppies”
Riverside County Animal Services says Palm Desert Puppies is now compliant with state laws, but it continues to monitor the store. It’s an open and ongoing investigation.
