Petland Naples
1000 Immokalee Rd., Suite 40
Naples, FL 34110
(239) 324-4711
Date and time of CAPS investigation: 05/14/22; 1539
Approximate number of dogs observed at time of investigation: 24 puppies
The store had about eight enclosures for puppies, each elevated and made with glass front walls and slatted plastic floorings. Some of them were divided into two enclosures by a glass wall, with two to four puppies per enclosure. When I entered the store and approached the puppies, an employee (Caucasian male, about 5’9″, 180 lbs., with black hair several inches long, a mustache, and short beard under his bottom lip and chin) quickly approached and asked to help me.
I spoke to the employee about the store’s breeders, and financing for puppies. Petland Naples is owned by Luis Marquez, and the employee’s statements about breeders were the same outright lies I have heard at other Marquez-owned Petland franchises.. In addition, his statements about financing hid the actual costs of purchasing puppies.
The employee said the breeders all genetically test their dogs to prevent genetic illness. He showed me a video of dogs and puppies running on open grassy yards, and said it represents all of the store’s breeders, saying, “All of our kennels have heated floors, and they’re also temperature regulated as well. And they’re absolutely massive; they’re six foot by six foot.” At one point, he pointed to the screen and said, “These are multi-million dollar facilities. Multiple acres.”
I asked the employee, “Do you know, when they’re done with the dogs, do you know how long they breed them for and what happens to them when they’re with them?” He answered, “After the mother has one litter, depending on the breed of the dog. French Bulldogs, English Bulldogs, Pugs, they have one litter and then they get retired. The mothers. It’s so taxing on their bodies. Bulldog, Bulldog litters, whether it be English or French Bulldogs, Pugs, they have one litter and then they get retired. The mother. Because it’s so taxing on their bodies. The Bulldog, the Bulldog litters, whether it be English or French Bulldogs, they only have one to three puppies per litter. And a lot of times they have a C-section. So, we retire the mothers after one litter for those Bulldogs, and one to two litters for other breeds, like Rottweilers or German Shepherds, or big-size dogs, like a twenty-five pound Corgi. We retire them after one or two, one or two litters. So, we’re not abusing the mothers. We’ll re-use the same father, but we’re not abusing the mothers. The breeders will send those to another home, or something like that.” I asked, “Oh really?” He said, “Yeah, they’ll sell the puppy as like a retired, I think they’re called queens, or maybe I’m not sure about the exact vocabulary.”
When I asked about financing, the employee told me, “It’s a credit check. Just like applying for a car loan. We got a really good place called Lending USA. They have an interest-free program for six months or for twelve months. They do, however, have an eight-percent origin fee for every single deal that you sign. So, if you borrow five thousand dollars, eight percent of five thousand is four hundred. You have twelve months to pay off five thousand four hundred interest-free rate. Which another company that we work with is our own in-house credit card; it’s called Petland Credit Card. Like a revolving Master Card or Discover Card, where there’s no set term length like other companies. You take, however, long or slow as you want to pay it off. Pay four percent of the amount borrowed every single month. So, that’s how your monthly payment will go down, you’re not paying two-fifty every single month. You’re paying two-fifty, and then two-thirty, and then two-ten.” When I tried to confirm if those are the options when purchasing a puppy, he said, “We have a bunch of different options. We have, those are our two “best,” air quotes, Those are our two best. And then we have a company called EasyPay. Which is like a, if you’re’ in the rebuilding stage of your credit, they offer more loans but at a ludicrously high interest rate. It’s a hundred and ninety-three, hundred and eighty percent interest rate. So, if you take it to like the twenty-four month term plan, you’re’ paying pretty much double of what you’re borrowing. So you pay off that company off within three months so it’s interest-free.”
Evidence of false statements and misrepresentations of breeders by store
The employee’s claim that English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, and Pugs have only one litter and are then retired is false. His claim that female dogs of other breeds are only bred only once or twice is also false. Breeders get as many litters as they can from their female dogs, especially ones that produce large litters.
The employee’s claim that dogs have “acres” to run on is a lie. Not all breeders use exercise yards, and those that do, even the Blue Ribbon puppies used to supply the Petland Naples store owned by Luis Marquez, often use smaller exercise yards with crushed rock floorings for dogs to go into. Larger grass yards are more often used for photo ops.
The employee’s claim that the Petland Credit Card only has four percent interest is a lie. The card has as 29.99 percent APR. The employee’s discussion of the EasyPay card being a high rate helps to make it appear as though the Petland card is a more viable option, though he hid the actual costs of the card.
Breeder information obtained during store investigation
David Lee, Cincinnati, IA 52549, 42-A-1586, 62 adults, 29 puppies at 10/10/24 USDA inspection
Breeder information obtained from 2024 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection
Daniel Lambright, Wolcottville, IN, unlicensed
Broker information obtained from 2024 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection
Shepherd Hills Kennels, Bloomfield, IA, 42-B-0332, 101 adults, 112 puppies at 10/17/24 USDA inspection
Marvin Mullet, Cloveridge Kennel, Corydon, IA, 42-B-1515, 59 adults, 23 puppies at 1/23/25 USDA inspection
K9 Partner, LLC, Bloomfield, IA, 42-B-0335, 27 adults, 18 puppies at 1/7/25 USDA inspection. CVI was co-signed by K9 Partners, Inc, Miami Lakes, FL, 58-B-0702 9 (active until 6/9/25), 0 dogs and puppies and 6/8/22 pre-license inspection, which says Site 002, with no recent inspections.
Bart Basi in Longboat Key, FL, a business associate of Luis Marquez (owner of this Petland and others – see below), is the authorized person listed on Iowa incorporation documents for K9 Partner, LLC. K9 Partners, Inc. is incorporated with the Florida Secretary of State, with the original registered agent being a CPA in Illinois. Luis Marquez signed K9 Partner incorporation documents as the director. Below his name is Canines and Pooches, which has the Miami Lakes address.
Broker information obtained from 2021 and 2022 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection
Blue Ribbon Puppies (Levi Graber), Odon, IN, 31-B-0233, 33 puppies at 4/9/25 USDA inspection
https://caps-web.org/caps-investigators-journal-the-truth-behind-amish-puppy-mills/
Luis Marquez, Petland franchise owner
Luis Marquez currently owns three Petland franchises in Texas: Webster, Woodlands and Tyler. Petland Bellaire in Houston was selling puppies for well over a year after the passage of Houston’s retail ban and finally went out of business. In Florida, Marquez owns Petlands in Pembroke Pines, Kendall and Largo. His Petland franchises in Davie, Doral and Plantation have closed. After taking over the Petland franchise in Overland Park, Kansas, the Kansas Department of Agriculture ordered him to stop selling puppies because of serious violations, but the store is now allowed to sell puppies again. Truist Bank in Florida has filed a foreclosure and commercial line of credit default lawsuit against Marquez’ companies.
