Fish Bowl Aquarium & Pet Mart
425 Pleasant St
Fall River, MA 02721
508) 673-0800
Date and time of CAPS investigation: 6/30/26, 1334
Approximate number of puppies observed at time of investigation: 15
This store, in Fall Fiver, is where most of the breeders and brokers send their puppies. The Fall River store then brings puppies to the Fish Bowl stores in West Warwick and N. Kingstown, RI.
Puppies were kept in aquarium-like enclosures set into a wall in the back of the store. There were eight enclosures total, one holding a kitten and most others containing one to three puppies each. The enclosures’ floorings had newspapers and newspaper shreds on them. Food and water dishes were mostly empty, many with shreds of newspaper having absorbed most or all of the water. Many of the enclosures had dirty stains on the walls. Cage cards listed the puppies’ breeds but had no information about the people who bred them. In addition, signs were posted on the enclosures and in the puppy playroom telling customers to fill out information cards to help “oppose the pet shop ban bill.”
A room on the other side of the store, which had a sink and various supplies in it, had a bank of metal cages, one of which held two puppies that seemed to be about eight weeks old. There did not appear to be food or water dishes in the cages, which were only visible because the door to the room holding them had been left open.
The store’s puppy playroom was filthy. Brown and yellow stains coated the lower parts of the walls. The room was also dark, with a motion-sensing light that kept going out unless I stood and waved my arms to activate it.
I asked an employee about a Morkie, and she had me play with the puppy in the store’s playroom. The puppy’s collar had the pet store name, the puppy’s breed, and “USDA #43-B-3871” written on it. The employee said that she knew nothing at all about the conditions that breeding dogs supplying the store were kept in. But she claimed that they weren’t from puppy mills and that financing was available for the puppies. But she said she knew nothing beyond that. She did, however, have a large binder of info on the puppy. In it was pet registry information saying that the puppy was bred by Titus Coblentz, USDA #43-A-6163. However, a veterinary record from Pinnacle Vet Clinic listed the breeder as Paul Kilmer, Sandy Knoll Kennel, 455 E 1500 Rd, Sheldon, MO 64784, USDA #43-A-6774. I asked the employee about the discrepancy, and she went to speak to a worker at a check-out desk, who claimed that Kilmer was the correct breeder for the puppy. She had no explanation, however, as to why conflicting information was in the binder or why Kilmer was the actual breeder and not Coblentz.
Breeder names obtained during store investigation
Paul Kilmer, Sandy Knoll Kennel, Sheldon, MO 64784, 43-A-6774, 92 dogs and 33 puppies at 9/17/25 USDA inspection
Titus and Elaine Coblentz, Tunas, MO, 43-A-6163, 51 dogs and 31 puppies at 2/9/26 USDA inspection
Broker names obtained from 2025 and 2026 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection and documents obtained through Rhode Island public records requests
Pinnacle Pet, Neosho, MO, 43-B-378, 179 puppies at 5/27/26 USDA inspection. 301 puppies and 60 ferrets at 2/19/26 USDA inspection. The owner of Pinnacle Pet claims he has the largest pet brokerage facility in the country. Pinnacle Pet also owns a transport company and a “rescue” called A Dog’s Dream, which tries to find homes for retired breeding stock, charging high “adoption” fees for the dogs. Neither the website nor the Petfinder page for A Dog’s Dream indicates that the “rescue” is run by Pinnacle Pet.
In addition, animal shelters have adopted out retired breeding dogs obtained from Pinnacle Pet. One such shelter, Tampa Bay SPCA, was going to also offer puppies from Pinnacle Pet, until media coverage and a public outroar forced the shelter to cancel its plans.
CAPS has investigated numerous pet shops that source from Pinnacle Pet, including Sunshine Puppies, a pet shop for which Tampa Bay SPCA was providing veterinary care.
Becky Busboom, Dannebrog, NE, 47-B-0116, 0 puppies at 4/28/26 USDA inspection; 18 puppies at 2/27/25 USDA inspection. Busboom was the broker for Claudia Obermiller, a notorious cat breeder in Nebraska, and Gary Felts, who ran a horrendous puppy mill in Iowa. CAPS’ investigations of both breeders led to USDA fines and termination of licenses. We also worked with the USDA’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Iowa after Felts continued to sell puppies and hide assets to avoid paying his federal fine.
Busboom was also a broker for Dr. A.G. Beukelman in Iowa, a veterinarian who ran his own puppy mill. Busboom used his veterinary services, as did Jolyn Noethe, the owner of J.A.K.’s Puppies, for Rescue Pets Iowa, one of the fraudulent rescues she created to circumvent the California and Chicago retail ban laws. Dr. Beukelman, who had DVM and a MPVM degrees from UC Davis, had 9 violations at his 10/12/16 USDA inspection. He passed away in 2023.
Breeder names obtained from 2026 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection and documents obtained through Rhode Island public records requests
Perry Petersheim, Moberly, MO 65270, 43-A-6646. 51 dogs and 52 puppies at 5/22/25 USDA inspection. Petersheim had numerous Missouri Department of Agriculture violations in 2023 and 2024: failing to document treatment of puppies with certain medications; exceeding days of prescribed treatment with deworming medication; having primary enclosure with puppies lacking sufficient solid resting surface space; not providing vet treatment for a limping dog; selling dogs without disposition records; not having a smoke detector in sheltered building; and insufficient space for a mother and her seven puppies.
Edna and Elmer Troyer, Timber View Kennel, Clark, MO, 43-A-5917, 58 dogs and 58 puppies at 1/13/26 USDA inspection. The USDA inspector cited the Troyers for excessive flies on 5/13/22 when they had a total of 143 dogs and puppies. At their 2/15/22 inspection, when they had 193 dogs and puppies, the Troyers had six violations: excessive feces, which included smeared feces on floors and resting surfaces and brown matter on doorways and walls; unsealed flooring for a Golden Doodle and her puppies; inadequate space in outdoor housing; chewed self-feeding bowls; empty water bottles—dogs were very thirsty and drank lots of water when offered it; and insufficient documents for The Program of Veterinary Care.
The Troyer’s 2/15/22 Missouri Department of Agriculture violations included: build-up of dirt and grime on doors and frames; the entire facility requiring a deep cleaning because of an accumulation of dirt, dander, kibble, clipped fur, and grime on walls and wires; plastic feeders with broken sharp edges; a female Golden Doodle living on an unsealed concrete floor; lack of shelter for dogs in outdoor enclosures; fecal build-up in outdoor enclosures; and wrong inventory count records. A Missouri inspector cited the Troyers for accumulation of feces at their 2025 and 2026 inspections. They received an Official Letter of Warning on their 6/4/26 state inspection.
Clemens and Lizzie Borntrager, Waverly, KS, 48-A-2381, 62 dogs and 49 puppies at 6/15/26 USDA inspection. The Borntragers’ were inspected three times by the USDA in 2026:
Their 1/12/26 report, which lists 73 dogs and 69 puppies, had the following violations: direct veterinary care violations for two dogs with severe dental issues, including missing teeth, loose teeth, swollen and red gums, and recessed gums; build-up of hair, cobwebs, dirt, debris, and rodent droppings in several areas of the dog building; feces under enclosures; noticeable ammonia odor; dirty access doors; whelping enclosure tops covered with cobwebs and hair; numerous discarded items around a building housing dogs, including boxes, wire flooring sections, dewormer bottles, transport crates, animal bones, metal, and wood; no veterinary dental plan with licensee not knowing the preventative measures to take; no medical records for yearly most recent veterinary exam.
The Borntrager’s 4/14/26 report had additional serious veterinary care violations, which should have been cited as direct. There was a Shih Tzu with heavy mats, comingled with feces, on all four legs. The mats were so thick and tight that the inspector had trouble finding the dog’s nails. The dog had to drag the mats along the floor. A Poodle had heavy, tight mats on his back, face, and hind legs. The inspector cited the Borntragers for failing to use appropriate methods to maintain the coats of the dogs. There was also a violation for dogs without identification.
At their 6/15/26 USDA inspection, the inspector cited the Borntragers for an Alaskan Kee-Klai whose left toes were trapped in the raised wire flooring. The dog was unable to remove her foot. There was also a violation for an enclosure with bent wire flooring with numerous sharp points that were bending slightly upwards.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture cited the Borntragers on 2/2/26 for rusty wire on indoor and outdoor runs, cracks on kennel walls, punctures on pen sidings, chewed water bottles, and an accumulation of feces under runs.
Amos A. Borntrager, Jr., Happy Canine Kennel, Augusta, WI, 35-A-0526 (cancelled 7/13/26). Bontrager had numerous violations at his 2/24/26 USDA inspection: dogs with dental issues; dogs and puppies without identification; nail heads sticking out of walls on an outdoor portion of enclosures at the level of the dogs; feeders with wood shavings; outdoor part of shelter enclosures not sanitized for a month; grates coated with feces; dirt and grim on door frames to dog doors; dirty feeders and water bowls, a cluttered food storage area with mouse droppings and sand throughout; and not following vaccine and deworming schedules. The inspector cited him on 6/16/26 for a Shih Tzu housed in a barn with access to the outside who had been missing since 3/20/25. Borntrager found this dog deceased in a horse pasture three weeks later.
Samuel Yoder, August, WI, 35-A-0523, 17 dogs at 8/20/26 USDA inspection. Yoder had numerous violations at his 2/24/26 USDA inspection: A Poodle with untreated hair loss; 16 puppies with no identification; a mother and three puppies on frayed, filthy, feces-stained carpet that hadn’t been replaced in five weeks; containers with bedding that had no lid, including an outdoor one filled with snow; a strong ammonia smell in the kennel; filthy cages with fecal matter on grates and surfaces on which puppies lie; dogs without parvo/distemper vaccines; puppies without parvo/distemper vaccines and deworming; and no dogs being tested for fecal parasites. At his 5/2/24 USDA inspection, Yoder had violations for adult dogs without identification, puppies in undersized enclosures, no physical exams for all adult dogs in over a year; no adult dogs being current on parvo/distemper vaccines; and heartworm and parasite testing not being done.
Freeman Kurtz, D & F Kennel, August, WI, 35-A 0536 (former 35-A-0476), 52 dogs and 54 puppies at 5/13/26 USDA inspection. Kurtz’s USDA inspection dated 1/4/23 cited him for shipping a puppy under 8 weeks, and his 12/5/23 inspection cited him for a Pug with an untreated infected eye.
Daniel Kuehne, Reading, MN, 41-A-0349, 37 dogs and 44 puppies at 5/21/26 USDA inspection. Kuehne had veterinary care violations at his 7/24/23 USDA inspection: a dog with dental issues; a dog with hair loss and reddened skin on the neck and legs; 7-week-old puppies in a too-small enclosure; failing to do heartworm or fecal parasite testing; and no vaccination records for parvo/distemper shots.
Evidence contradicting the store’s claims
The store’s website offers no information about the store’s breeders other than to say that they are “USDA certified and local breeders, who are required to meet high standards of animal care.” The USDA provides minimal standards for the survival of breeding dogs and puppies, but its space requirements are so small that many dogs develop behavioral problems, such as incessant pacing and circling from extreme boredom, anxiety, and stress.
In addition, most USDA-licensed dog kennels do not provide exercise or social enrichment for dogs, adding to their psychological distress. Most dogs have nothing to chew on, which leads to dental disease. Since it is hard to find homes for dogs with such significant mental and physical problems, many USDA-licensed breeders have told me that they prefer to kill or have their vet kill their “retired” breeding dogs, rather than have the dogs take up space inside their kennels.
The employee claimed that the store does not buy puppies from mills. Clearly, the facilities listed above, which all had myriad state and federal violations, are quintessential puppy mills. But even clean commercial facilities are mills, where the dogs are still being raised in livestock-like conditions. We define a puppy mill as any commercial breeding establishment that mass produces dogs or cats for resale to pet shops or through online sales. In addition, CAPS’ investigations show that Pinnacle Pet and Becky Busboom source their puppies from puppy mills, as do all USDA “B” licensed dealers who sell puppies directly to pet shops. Breeders who sell to pet shops without using a broker usually go through PBT Marketplace, which is an online “broker” who brings together pet shops and breeders.
