BowWow Babies
830 W Jericho Turnpike
Huntington, NY 11743
(631) 923-3111
Date and time of CAPS investigation: 05/16/18, 17:34
Approximate number of dogs observed at time of investigation: about 25 puppies
Puppies were kept in open-topped enclosures with glass walls and shredded paper on solid floorings. A sign offering source information of puppies for customers was on a wall at about head height, placed near several puppy enclosures. Cage card containing information about the source of each puppy was on enclosures.
I spoke to three employees at the store, who repeatedly dodged questions from me about the conditions at the kennels who supply the store. I repeatedly asked questions, however, and after a period of over 10 minutes employees either gave me information that I know is false or refused to provide me with the information I asked for.
One employee (Caucasian female, about 40 years old, 5’5”, 170 lbs, with long red hair) told me it is illegal for stores in Suffolk County to buy from puppy mills. I asked her if anyone from the store has ever visited their breeders, and she said, “If we’ve worked with them long enough, we don’t have to.” I asked if dogs at the breeders’ kennels are kept in cages, and she said they are crated but not on “chicken wire.”
The same employee told me that the store’s breeders skip cycles, and another employee (Caucasian female, about 40 years old with long brown hair, who was sitting behind a desk the entire time I was at the store) told me that the breeders usually only have one or two females breeding at a time.
I asked the employee with red hair if she knew anything specific about the kennel conditions for a breeder called Forever Friends, and the employee said she would have to call the breeder for the information and wouldn’t do so unless she felt I was more serious about buying a puppy. Within line of sight of us, however, was a sign offering breeder information to customers upon request. I then asked what information on Forever Friends the employee had on file, and she said she only had vaccination records and nothing else (Res.423 – Sec 3(D) General requirements). She also claimed that the information that I want about of breeders’ dogs are kept in cages, and the physical conditions of kennels can’t be shown to customers because pictures of kennels don’t exist. She then said that if I want to buy a puppy from a pet store I have to take a “leap of faith” in believing what I’m told by employees.
Another employee (Caucasian female, about 5’8”, 130 lbs, with shoulder-length black hair and thin-rimmed glasses) told me that pet stores have access to information on breeders that nobody else can have access to, which explains the real conditions of breeders. She said that other information I can find on breeders that makes them look bad is lies put up by activists because activists want to put pet stores out of business, so the activists can make more money adopting out dogs.
Evidence of false statements and misrepresentations of breeders by store:
I saw a cage card showing a puppy in the store was from Bixenman Kennels in new Cambria, MO. A CAPS investigation of the Bixenman Kennels in 2012 showed numerous breeding and whelping dogs in elevated wire cages. This evidence refutes an employee’s claim dogs are kept in “crates” but not wire cages. Furthermore, cage cards showed puppies in the store from Forever Friends with USDA license # 73-B-0204, which is a license that belongs to Linda Baker with Okie Pets. USDA inspection reports of 9/19/14 reveal four adult female dogs needed veterinary attention, three for wounded paws and another with eye discharge. Numerous adult females at facilities refutes the employee’s claim that breeders only breed one or two females at a time, which in my experience visiting hundreds of USDA-licensed puppy mills, is a statement that goes against the very nature of commercial dog breeding facilities which aim to have as many breeding females active at one time as possible.
Also, noting that CAPS has video footage and photographs of dozens of USDA-licensed kennels on their website, the workers’ claims that photographs of facilities don’t exist, and that information about posted commercial dog kennels by activists are lies clearly fall under misrepresentation. Also, many of the names of the kennels are someone’s name followed by puppies, such as Sally’s Puppies. These are not the names that appear on the USDA licenses for these breeders. Is it possible that the owner of the store created these names to make large commercial breeders appear to be small home-based operations?
Breeder info:
- Sally’s Puppies (Sally Culver), Hartville, MO, 43-A-5038
- Kayla’s Puppies, Seymour, MO
- Anita Light, Dixon, MO
- Burch Kennel, (Holly Burch), Cordell, OK, 73-A-2706
- Forever Friends, Ketchum, OK, 73-B-0204; Afton, OK, 73-B-0204 (license belongs to Linda Baker with Okie Pets)
- Darlene’s Puppies (Darlene’s Puppies), Mountain Grove, MO, 43-A-2517
- Stewart Kennel (Jim and Pam Stewart), Lebanon, MO, 43-A-2215
- Devonna’s Puppies (Devonna Francis), Stoutland, MO, 43-A-5817
- Glory Kennel, Marshall, AR
- Bixenman Kennels, New Cambria, MO, 43-A-4306
- Larissa’s Puppies, Seymour, MO
- Shonda’s Puppies (Shonda Madison), Pierce City, MO, 43-A-6095
