Pettito
6509 W Park Blvd., Suite 465
Plano, TX 75093
682-255-2406
Dates and times of CAPS investigation: 8/15/24, 1232
Approximate number of puppies observed at time of investigation: 50 puppies
Puppies were in enclosures set into two walls. There were about 15 enclosures total, each about three feet long, two feet deep, and 1.5 to two feet tall. They had solid walls and floorings, with shredded paper on the floorings, and water bottles were attached to enclosures’ rear walls.
There were two to five puppies per enclosure of various breeds. An employee told me that six different lending companies provide financing for puppy purchases.
The only place that doesn’t buy from puppy mills
The employee claimed the owners “do not buy from puppy mills” and are “very particular where they buy puppies from.” She added, “I think this is the only place around here that does not buy from puppy mills.” I asked for particulars on breeders, and she said that the store has worked with breeders for two years. She told me, “Some of them just breed once. Because these are home dogs. They are not in farms. They are home breeders.”
I asked her, “So it’s not like kennels of dogs? There’s dogs in the home?” She answered, “Yes,” and said that the proof is that the breeders send pictures of the puppies and dogs. She recounted how a breeder brought puppies to the store and pulled up pictures on her phone of the dogs in a house, saying it was proof all of the store’s breeders have dogs in homes. I asked her what happens with dogs that are no longer breeding, and she said, “This is their pets.”
Breeder info? What breeder info?
I asked to know who the breeder of a puppy was before I decided to make a purchase, and the employee said she would not give it to me. She claimed the breeder information didn’t exist in the store, and that she had no access to it without asking the owners every time breeder info was needed for individual puppies. She said she wouldn’t do that unless a puppy was going to be purchased, and then pulled out her phone to show me pictures of puppies and dogs on blankets, claiming it was further proof of how the store’s breeders are not puppy mills. She said, “They take good pictures. They take care of their dogs.”
A puppy every 30 minutes
The employee told me with the four other stores under the same owners, and considering that puppies are sold online as well, Pettito sells a puppy every 30 minutes. The store currently has three locations: Plano, Arlington and Bedford
Evidence contradicting the store’s claims:
The employee’s claim that the store’s breeders keep dogs in their homes is a lie. CAPS obtained Certificates of Veterinary Inspection from 2022 and 2023 that reveal that Petito buys from a variety of USDA-licensed commercial breeding with dozens or hundreds of dogs.
For example, Pettito buys from Julie Snidow and Julie Blackburn in Galt, MO (43-A-3124) who had 149 adult dogs and 60 puppies at their 9/25/23 USDA inspection, Sheree Bonnette in Chillicothe MO (43-A-5792), who had 45 adult dogs and 109 puppies at her 5/16/23 USDA inspection, and Jessica Phillips in Bucklin, MO (43-A-6475, who had 48 adult dogs, 20 puppies, 16 cats, and 12 kittens at her 10/24/24 USDA inspection.
I documented Bonnette’s property in March of 2022, and saw dogs pacing continuously in small elevated wire cages. Dog runs attached to a barn were covered in snow and had no paw prints in them, indicating that the dogs had not been let out into these runs in some time.The employee’s claim that breeders keep spent breeding dogs as pets is untrue. With dozens or hundreds of dogs, commercial breeders will either kill their breeding dogs (the most common method I’ve seen and which other breeders have told me they use is a gunshot to the head) or give them to rescues, so that the rescue community must bear the burden of veterinary care and rehabilitation of dogs that have lived for years in confinement.
The employee’s claim that breeders breed their dogs only once is false. Female dogs are typically bred for about six years, at which point the breeders typically stops using them because they are no longer producing enough puppies to be as profitable as a replacement dog.
The employee’s claim that the store doesn’t use puppy mills is not true. The USDA-licensed commercial breeders that the store uses, the ones who keep dogs in cages and pens for their entire breeding lives and treat the dogs as breeding machines for profit, are puppy mills.
Breeder information obtained from 2022, 2023 and 2024 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection
Jay Blackburn/Julie Snidow, Galt, MO, 43-A-3124, 149 adults, 60 puppies at 9/25/23 USDA inspection
Sheree Bonnette, Chillicothe, MO 43-A-2151, 45 adults, 109 puppies at 5/16 23 USDA inspection
Ned Snyder, Browning, MO, 43-A-5792 (license is under Gaynetta Synder/Scott Wheatcraft), 81 dogs, 43 puppies at 10/3/24 USDA inspection
Jessica Phillips, Bucklin, MO, 43-A-6475, 48 adult dogs, 20 puppies, 16 cats, 12 kittens at 10/24/24 USDA inspection.
