Here’s something we’ve never seen before: coupons for puppy mill dogs.
If you follow our work at CAPS, you know that buying animals from pet shops is never a good idea. Pet shop puppies come from puppy mills. Always. But now a pet shop in Lake Grove, NY is using a new tactic to lure in unsuspecting customers. Coupons.
American Dog Club is offering a coupon for discounted puppies in a local community coupon book. This is the same pet shop that was cited a few months ago for having sick dogs — including eight puppies with untreated upper respiratory infections, and a dehydrated and unresponsive Yorkie. The shop was also selling a sick Labrador Retriever that was housed with other puppies, putting them all at risk.
Are these the sorts of conditions that American Dog Club is referring to in their coupon as the area’s “finest pet boutique”?
The coupon also boasts of their “USDA puppies,” meant to reassure customers about the source of their dogs. But, as CAPS has shown, if a breeder is licensed by the USDA it doesn’t mean that the animals aren’t suffering. In fact, most puppy mills are USDA-licensed facilities.
We sent investigators to American Dog Club, and the employees there told us that they were “very strict” when choosing their breeders. They claimed to “hand pick them very very carefully.”
Here are just a few of those hand-picked breeders:
Starmye Halpain — whose dogs have skin and gum infections.
Kevin Aschinger — who’s been cited by the USDA for having dogs with infected teeth and wounded legs; and for keeping bags of cat feces and cat urine beneath the dog cages, flooding the kennels with an ammonia-like odor.
Judy Gray — who’s been cited for an alarming fifty-seven Animal Welfare Act violations in the last four years, including dogs with untreated lesions, dogs without teeth, and dogs missing large patches of fur.
Larry Albrecht — whose recent federal inspections revealed malnourished dogs, dogs with open wounds, dogs without protection from the weather, and a dog with a protruding eyeball.
And, sadly, there are many more…
What can you do to help?
Please call the Community Coupon Book and let them know that you will not support them, or any of the businesses advertising with them, as long as they provide coupon space for American Dog Club in the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, NY — a store that is publicly known to sell puppy mill animals.
Community Coupon Book:
1-800-346-3130
(516) 676-3100 (local office number)
By making our voices heard as consumers, we can help put an end to the suffering of animals in the pet shop and puppy mill industries.
