Breeder: Perry Petersheim
Address: 2366 County Rd 2755
City, State, Zip: Moberly, MO 65270
USDA License: 43-A-6646
Date and time of CAPS Investigation: 3/19/26, 1241
Weather at time of investigation: 72°F and sunny
Number of dogs and puppies noted in a 5/22/25 USDA inspection: 51 dogs and 52 puppies
The kennel was a long metal building with raised indoor/outdoor dog runs on one side. There were 14 dog runs total: four shorter runs separated from 10 longer ones by a short distance. But they were all on the same side of the building. The runs had metal doggie-doors to allow access to their indoor portions, plastic flooring with numerous holes in it for feces and urine to fall through, and wire walls. Overall, they resembled long, open-topped cages raised about two to two and a half feet above the ground on wooden stilts. The longer runs were each about six feet long and two and a half feet wide, and the other runs were smaller, being about five feet long and two feet wide.
I saw one to three dogs in most enclosures, with several dogs pacing back and forth in their pens. No enrichment of any kind was in the pens, and no play yard for the dogs was evident on the property.
Various tools and discarded items were stored in the area. Each row of pens had a pallet leaning up against it in the middle, one of which had a hose draped over it and a long-handled brush set up against it. This setup may have been for cleaning, with the pallets used as makeshift ladders. Sitting under the longer set of runs was what appeared to be a black rubber mat, and nearby in the grass were stacked cinderblocks. Also, nearby and leaning up against the building to which the runs were attached was an upside-down plastic bucket.
PVC pipes, running from the building through a short metal wall about six feet from one end of the building, had what appeared to be streams of watery feces going downhill on the other side of the wall. Just on the other side of the wall and near one of the feces streams was a pile of trash that seemed to be mostly plastic bags and PVC pipe. Some pieces of trash seemed to have made their way into the feces. Elsewhere, about 10 feet from the building and on the opposite side of the dog runs, was a pile of chopped wood with a large plastic tarp laying on the ground near it. Nearby and within about 20 feet of the building was a pile of small metal sheets discarded on the ground (3.1 Housing facilities, general (b) Condition and site).
Opposite of where the feces ran to was a wire fence within about six feet of the building, All manner of supplies and junk were stored or strewn along it, including metal stakes, tilling equipment, a hose, cinderblock, metal wire, a plastic tarp, and various pieces of trash (3.1 Housing facilities, general (b) Condition and site).
Breeder is connected to the following stores:
- Fish Bowl Aquarium and Pet Mart, 425 Pleasant St, Fall River, MA 02721 (CVI 2024)
- Petland Katy, 1723 N Fry Rd, Katy, TX 77449 (CVI 2022)
- Forever Love Puppies, 9803 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines, FL 33024 (CVI 2022)
Evidence contradicting store’s claims
I visited Petland Katy on 4/19/23, where an employee told me that the store’s breeding dogs run around grassy pastures. She said, “These dogs have land. They have a big, fat, they have multiple acres of land.” She also lied about how many dogs breeders have, saying, “They’re not gonna’ be your big, fat facilities…But it’s only like twenty-five dogs. Five dads, maybe three moms.” Petersheim’s dogs have no exercise yard, and obviously he does not release them onto his land. Like many puppy millers, Petersheim is a USDA-licensed breeder, who breeds for profit. Breeding for him is a business, regardless of what Petland claims.
A CAPS investigator visited Fish Bowl Aquarium and Pet Mart on 10/8/18, where an employee said that the store uses USDA-licensed breeders and not puppy mills. A similar statement was made to me at Petland Katy, where I told an employee I wanted to make sure the puppies didn’t come from puppy mills, and she said, “And we guarantee that.” Claims that USDA-licensed breeders are not puppy mills completely misrepresent the commercial dog-breeding industry, which is largely made up of puppy mills that are, in fact, USDA-licensed. They commercially breed dogs in environments that are not suitable for dogs’ mental well-being and often lead to the deterioration of the dogs’ teeth because they have no toys to chew on to clean their teeth. When no longer used for breeding, breeding dogs are killed, taken to auction, or, if they are fortunate, given to rescues, which then are saddled with expensive veterinary care.
The website of Forever Love Puppies has a section dedicated to “Breeder Standards.” The sole standards listed on the site are, “All our breeders are licensed and approved, ensuring top breeding standards.” To be fair, Petersheim’s mill is licensed and was approved by the USDA for a license, so it does technically live up to the vague standards set by Forever Love Puppies. But a kennel that commercially breeds dogs in small runs is still a puppy mill, regardless of what the pet shop says.
