Puppy Place USA
10517 SW 40th St
Miami, FL 33165
(305) 403-0215
Date and time of CAPS investigation: 02/12/18; 1723
Approximate number of dogs observed at time of investigation: 16 puppies
Puppies were in various cages in a room of the store. There were four banks of stacked wire cages, with plastic or metal sheeting on their floorings. I saw one cage with a Maltese puppy had an absorbent mat on it covering about 20% of the flooring, but other cages had nothing on them at all to absorb urine (5-9 (d) Primary enclosures (1) Primary enclosures shall permit the animal within them to remain dry) (5-9 (d) Primary enclosures (2) Newspaper shall be provided to contain excreta). Some cages were stacked two cages high, and other three high. Some cages had dividers in the middle, while others were open, but each individual cage held one puppy. There was also a cage crate on the floor containing a puppy, and a wire walled pen on the floor holding another puppy. The room stank of urine and feces (5-9 (c) Ventilation). Breeder information was on the walls near the cages.
The store owner (Hispanic female, about 60 years old, with short hair and who spoke in broken English) told me she knows all of the breeders who sell to the store and claimed to have visited them. She said all of the breeding facilities are “small places.” I asked, “And can you tell me, do they like, do they have the puppies in cages, or do they run on the floor?” She responded, “No, no, no. They have a, they have like a house with like a little apartment, you know? And they can keep dogs there. They are not puppy mills. They are private breeders.” I then asked, “Okay, are the dogs inside the homes?” She said, “Inside. They can go outside, and inside.”
Evidence of false statements and misrepresentations of breeders by store
The owner’s claim about puppies being kept in “apartments” that are private breeders with small places is not true. The store obtains puppies from Choice Puppies (Hunte Corp.), one of the largest brokers in the country, which sources from myriad puppy mills – commercial breeding facilities that mass produce dogs for resale.
The owner’s claim that she knows all of the breeders and has visited them is likely false. CAPS has investigated more than 1,000 puppy and kitten mills, most of them USDA-licensed. In my 18 years with CAPS, I have been to more than 800 of these facilities. CAPS investigated all 100 pet shops, many of them multiple times, in New York (currently around 60; CAPS continues to investigate). Employees and owners claimed that owners and managers visited breeders and even personally picked out the puppies, During my investigation of the puppy mills that sold to New York pet shops, I asked breeders and brokers about visits from pet shops. They all denied that anyone associated with a pet shop visited them.
Broker and breeder Sandy Blake (SanJon Kennel) who sells to pet shops all over the country, including to those in Florida, told me that with the exception of a few local pet shops, store owners don’t visit her.
Breeder and broker information obtained during store investigation
Choice Puppies (Hunte Corp.), 121 N Royhill Blvd, Goodman, MO 64843, 43-B-0123 (800) 429-8155
Hunte Corp. was taken over by West Point, IA-based Select Puppies in 2019. I worked undercover at Hunte for six months in 2004, when it was the largest dog brokerage facility in the country. After I finished there, I investigated breeders who were selling to Hunte.
https://caps-web.org/undercover-at-the-hunte-corporation/
https://caps-web.org/hunte-corporation-from-puppy-mill-to-pet-shop/
Jackson Pets (Justin and Lanae Jackson), Clifton, KS, 48-A-1849, 421 dogs, 209 puppies at 9/27/17 USDA inspection
Violations noted at the 4/3/16 USDA inspection included a Shih Tzu with an opaque cornea, light bulbs used as source of heat for mothers and puppies being too close to the mothers, odor throughout the facility from a settlement pond, and a build-up of dried, caked feed and debris in food receptacles
Philip Chupp, McLeansboro, IL 62859, 33-A-0542, 63 adults and 51 puppies at 1/2/18 USDA inspection
Fred Joder, 44766 CR 388, Bloomingdale, MI 49026 (269) 521-4554 (no USDA number found)
Raymond Davis, 210 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, FL (zip code 66192 written on paperwork, which is a false zip code), (954) 653-8593 (no USDA number found)
Breeder and broker information obtained from 2017 Certificates of Veterinary Inspection
J.A.K.’s Puppies, Britt, IA- 42–0271, 258 puppies at 3/8/18 USDA inspection
CAPS Investigator’s Journal: The Truth Behind J.A.K.’s Puppies
CAPS Investigator’s Journal: The Truth Behind J.A.K.’s Puppies
CAPS Investigator’s Journal: The Truth Behind Hobo K-9 Rescue
CAPS Investigator’s Journal: The Truth Behind Hobo K-9 Rescue
CAPS worked with the Iowa Attorney General to shut down Hobo K-9 Rescue and Rescue Pets Iowa, two fraudulent rescues created by J.A.K.’s puppies to circumvent retail ban laws in California and Chicago.
Kimberly Coleman, Clinton, MO, 43-A-497, 245 dogs at 9/22/16 USDA inspection
Justin and Lanae Jackson (see above)
Lori and Kurt Conrad, Conrad’s Cuddly Canines, Frankford, MO, 43-B-3659, 100 puppies at 2/20/18 USDA inspection
Lack of USDA violations
The fact that few breeders and brokers have USDA violations does not mean that none exist. During our undercover investigation of USDA-licensed facilities, we document violations. USDA has made it very easy for licenses not to have violations. In response to regulatory ordinances, USDA started using teachable moments, self-inspections and a trial announced inspection program. Their recent guidelines also instructed inspectors not to cite ear, eye and dental diseases as veterinary care violations (this requirement was recently changed back). It is for these reasons that USDA Animal Welfare Act violations have significantly decreased.
