Hypocrisy in Action
I’m Pete, CAPS’ lead investigator. I recently went undercover to all eight Petland stores in Texas and want to share my findings. It’s hard to protect animals in Texas. The Lone Star State has a saying: “Don’t Mess with Texas.” And whether you stand in the political blue, red, or somewhere in between, Texans tend to stand together on one thing: Don’t mess with companion animals in Texas. Despite this, the Texas state government has shot down attempts to ban stores from selling puppies, kittens, and rabbits from breeding mills. Many local municipalities have been successful with such legislation, but in 2023 Texas passed a preemption law prohibiting local governments from passing ordinances that ban the retail sale of animals. Laws already in effect were allowed to remain.
It was a hypocritical move from a state that claims to adore individualism and small government liberties. The law protects business interests but not the will of the people. It protects pet shop but not pets.
There was no bigger supporter of the law than Petland. As CAPS’ lead investigator. My investigation of all eight Petland pet shops in Texas reveals how these franchises use fraud and deception to sell so many puppies at such high prices.
Breeding dogs that have large, organic grassy fields in which to play
Petland portrays its breeding kennels as acres of grassy hills where dogs run and play. The stores have TVs screens with videos of dogs running in open fields. If you ask them where do your puppies come from, an employee will point to the TV. When I visited Texas Petland stores, employees described dog breeding facilities to me as “a lot of acres of land that where dogs are able to play and run around ,” “beautiful sprawling ranches,” and “like free-range chicken.” One employee said, “These dogs have land.”
Of course, puppy mill dogs don’t have land. Petland is notorious for buying from puppy mill breeders and brokers who source puppies from mills. The dogs and puppies at these mills live in wire cages or runs consisting of concrete or dirt. Few kennels have exercise yards. If there happens to be a small yard, it is made of crushed gravel or dirt. No kennel has large, grassy fields that dogs and puppies run and play in. It is easy to see what these facilities look like simply by viewing breeding facilities on Google Maps. Satellite imagery shows the kennels are nothing like employees claim, but most people don’t know the addresses of breeders or even think to ask about them.
Nobody ever asks about this
And it is through this ongoing deception that Petland stores continue to sell mill-bred puppies, priced at thousands of dollars each, often through financing plans with high interest. Most of Petland’s lies are lies of omission. When I asked about breeders at Petland Leon Valley in San Antonio, an employee grabbed a folder of breeder information and literally dusted it off with her hand as she said, “Nobody ever asks about this.”
Once you do ask about breeders, employees will find themselves in a conundrum. You’ll see them try hard to either remember the lies they were told to recite or make up their own stories that are often meandering word soup. For example, when a Petland Bellaire (Houston) employee bragged to me about buying from USDA-licensed breeders, I asked him to explain what the USDA did. He answered, “The USDA is going to be like a food and pharmacy, stuff for us as well. So, they are the United States organization that goes over there, and kind of like checks them, and specializes in them, and makes sure they are following guidelines.”
The employee could see that I wasn’t following the nonsense that had come out of his mouth, and added, “They personally go over, you know that USDA person will personally go over there and inspect the area as well. Make sure they’re being taken care of, make sure the area is clean, good, organic.”
I’m not sure if “organic dogs” or “dogs have land” is a more difficult to believe. But that’s how Petland sells puppies. It’s not that the employees have any idea what they’re talking about. It’s that they look super confident while they make direct eye contact, smile, and just make stuff up. Texas Petland employees told me that breeders have their own veterinarians on site, that dogs don’t live in kennels so much as they live in a “neighborhood” with other dogs, and that any behavioral problem from a Petland puppy is the fault of a non-Petland dog teaching the puppy bad habits.
Luis Marquez, owner of half of the Petland stores in Texas
Luis Marquez owns four Petland franchises in Texas: Webster, Woodlands, Tyler and Bellaire, which was selling puppies in violation of the Houston ordinance. In Florida, he had seven Petland franchises (three now closed) and My Puppy Buddy (now closed). He took over the Petland franchise in Overland Park Kansas, and the Kansas Department of Agriculture ordered him to stop selling puppies because of serious violations, but the state later allowed to sell puppies again. Truist Bank in Florida has filed a foreclosure and commercial line of credit default lawsuit against Marquez’ companies. Marquez owns three veterinary clinics called Your Pet’s Vet in Bellaire and Shenandoah (Woodlands), TX and Pembroke Pines, FL, all locations where he has Petland franchises.
Marquez’ arrest warrant for violating Houston ordinance
Marquez refused to stop selling puppies at his Petland Bellaire store after Houston enacted an ordinance in January 2023 that bans the retail sale of puppies and kittens. After Marquez failed to appear in court in August 2023 for the trial, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest. It took until March 2024 for Marquez to finally comply with the ordinance.
Top two percent of USDA-licensed breeders
Marquez’s employees in Texas all told me that the stores buy from the “top two percent” of USDA-licensed breeders, though the USDA doesn’t rank their breeders. At Marquez’s store in Tyler, a manager claimed, “Over a quarter million dollars in background genetic research has been done on each one of the dogs here.” He tried to assure me that the puppies’ registration with the American Kennel Club meant they weren’t from puppy mills, and said, “AKC is, it’s like the Tiffany’s of jewelry. It is the Tiffany’s of dog registration.”
Finance plans
The Petland Tyler manager also told me I didn’t need to worry about problems with using financing for buying a puppy, saying, “Remember, it’s unsecured lending. There’s no recourse for these guys. They can’t repossess your car.” That’s misleading, of course. While collateral, such as cars, is not put up for unsecured lending, the debts can still be sent to a collection agency, or the lender can sue the borrower. This is, in fact, what has happened to many people who couldn’t afford the payments for their Petland puppies.
Unsocialized, scared puppy mill breeding dogs at two of Marquez’ stores
Marquez’s employees deceived me when they said their stores rescue all of the used breeding dogs from their breeders. They claimed they adopt out these breeding dogs from their stores. Despite dozens of puppies in each store, only two of Marquez’s four Texas stores offered breeding dog for sale. One of them was a French Bulldog at Petland Tyler. The store manager assured me that she was socialized, and even claimed she was “potty-trained” because she was “used to going outside a lot.” Despite his claims about her socialization at the kennel she came from, the Frenchie did not look at him or even stand when he approached her in her cage.
When the employee picked her up, she stayed completely stiff and didn’t move. He set the dog on the floor of a puppy playroom with me; she was motionless. The dog sniffed at a toy nearby and then turned away from me. She didn’t react when I petted her, didn’t sniff my hand when I put it in front of her face, and wouldn’t face me as I moved around her. Sadly, the poor French Bulldog acted like a dog who didn’t know what to do with people, toys, or space in which to move. And that is because she had been used for breeding while living in a small, cramped enclosure. The manager confessed to me that when the dog was given to the store, she didn’t even have a name.
At the Marquez-owned store in Webster, where an employee said that breeding dogs are socialized, I saw a seven-year-old Sheltie breeding dog for sale. However, the dog was in a pen between two aisles of the store and not even visible from the puppies on display. I didn’t know about the Sheltie, whom the store had named Laso, until I specifically asked an employee about any breeding dogs they may sell. As I looked at Laso, an employee kept trying to convince me to buy a more expensive puppy. When I approached Laso, she didn’t move. When I petted her, she didn’t budge. She appeared to be too scared and confused to know what to do with any of the stimuli around her. But there she was, on display in a hidden part of the store so that Petland could claim they “rescue” dogs.
Don’t be fooled by pet shop lies
Texas Petland stores sell puppies using deception about the facilities breeding these puppies for sale at pet shops. Though much of these misleading statements defy common sense, most people don’t think to even ask about the source of these puppies. They just walk into a Petland, see a cute puppy, who licks their face. They don’t thing to question anything that a polite, smiling worker says to them while offering a financing plan.
Don’t be fooled by pet shop lies. Take a stand against puppy mills by not buying puppies from Petland or other pet shops. There are many homeless animals waiting to be adopted from shelters and rescue organizations. Adopt, don’t shop!
Luis Marquez Petland franchises
Other Petlands
TEXAS PETLAND VIDEO EXPOSÉ COMING SOON!
