[MicoSiru]

Steve Schulman holds his 6 month old corgi, Bessie Mae, in his home in Fishkill.

December 21, 2008



Puppies take long road home

Several stops, facilities come before pet shop

By Sarah Bradshaw
Poughkeepsie Journal Peddling puppies will be an estimated $2.1 billion industry this year, according to the American Pet Products Association.

U.S. residents own 74.8 million dogs, the association's 2007-08 pet owners survey reports.

Dogs of all breeds are purchased every year from commercial, small-scale and backyard breeders. And one of the easiest places to pick up a pooch is from the mall pet store.

However, dogs are different than sweaters scanned at cash registers in retail centers. They are living, breathing beings that require care, commitment and thousands of dollars for food, health care and other expenses.

For that reason, the wholesale trade of dogs is a regulated business, with oversight by the United States Department of Agriculture, and commercial pet dealers here are licensed to operate by the New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Commercial pet dealers believe backyard breeders are unregulated and unlicensed, and therefore pose a threat to consumers.

Small-scale breeders, who are not required to be licensed, believe that even though the commercial industry is regulated, insufficient inspections of facilities and regulation loopholes allow for the mistreatment of dogs.
Dogs sold to consumers at pet stores come from wholesale breeders located all over the United States. These breeders use dog brokerages or distribution companies - the middleman between the breeder and the pet store.

Before Bessie Mae, a Pembroke Welsh corgi, was purchased by Fishkill resident Stephen Schulman at The Pet Company in the Poughkeepsie Galleria, she had lived in Missouri and then Kansas.

She was bought on Sept. 24 for $488.

Bred in Missouri

Her paperwork supplied by The Pet Company and obtained by the Poughkeepsie Journal shows that her breeder was Micca Marin of Squires, Mo., a USDA licensed wholesale breeder. The corgi's paperwork also indicates she was held at Lambriar Kennels, of Mahaska, Kan., a dog distribution center.

This was Schulman's first pet store purchase and he admitted he knew very little about the business. He had never heard about "puppy mills," the term used to denote substandard commercial breeding facilities.
When Schulman brought home his new puppy in September he was smitten by her sweet personality and youthful energy. So when she showed signs of a skin infection, the worried owner began to think about how he could provide her with the best veterinary care.

Because Bessie Mae's medical records provided by the pet store showed she had been unfit for sale between July 15 and Aug. 11 (while being treated for infections), Schulman wanted to track down her breeder. He asked the pet store to provide a contact for the breeder, proof the breeder is reputable and additional proof Bessie Mae is a purebred.
Schulman's requests were denied by the pet store.

Had he known he wouldn't be able to get more information about Bessie Mae's breeder, he said he probably would not have purchased a dog from a pet store.

"But once I picked her up, I had a wonderful feeling about her. She's part of the family and we will take care of her," said Schulman, a partner of Insolvency Strategies Inc., a business that sells and reorganizes bankrupt companies.

The Pet Company is the United Pet Supply Inc.'s pet store in the Poughkeepsie Galleria, company President Steven Zerilli said.

United Pet Supply is headquartered in New Windsor and operates 27 retail locations in New York, New Jersey, New England, Tennessee and Atlanta.
Zerilli said he owns the pet store in the Middletown mall, too.

Zerilli believes Schulman is out of line.

"We have made every effort to accommodate him as our customer," Zerilli said. "He has raised an issue that we feel is without merit. He is asking for something that we simply cannot do."

Schulman's main concern is his dog's breeder information was not correct on Bessie Mae's Pet Company paperwork and he has been unable to speak to the breeder about the health history of the dog's parents.

The paperwork listed "Lambriar Kennels" as the "kennel."

Schulman said he originally thought Bessie Mae was born at Lambriar Kennels.

But he discovered Lambriar is actually a distribution center for dogs sold commercially.

"Lambriar is a dog broker. I believe there's a difference between a dog broker and a kennel," Schulman said. "I just think it should be disclosed."
Roger Lambert, who co-founded Lambriar Kennels in 1969, described his facility as "perfect."

"We have never been written up. The facility has passed every inspection," he said. "We are licensed by the state of Kansas and by the USDA, so we have a constant flow of inspectors."

Inspection reports from the USDA weren't immediately available.

When asked for specific details about the kennels, Lambert refused to say how many dogs are kept there, how dogs are transported from his distribution center to pet stores or how long the dogs stay at Lambriar before transport.

"We can't discuss a lot of these things. It's not something for the general public's knowledge," Lambert said.

Bessie Mae's papers show she was born on April 30 and shipped to Lambriar Kennels July 9. She was transported to The Pet Company between July 10 and July 15.

Zerilli declined to answer questions pertaining to how his business operates.

Lambert said dogs come from the breeder to his distribution center, where they are processed, vaccinated, de-wormed and checked by veterinarians before being distributed to pet stores.

"The animals' health and welfare is our primary concern," he said.
Lambert wouldn't share information about Bessie Mae's breeder because of a privacy contract.

Zerilli said he also cannot disclose contact information for breeders for privacy reasons.

Breeder passes inspection

In order to receive her USDA license on June 30, Bessie Mae's breeder, Marin, was inspected by the USDA on June 23. She was notified of the inspection beforehand, according to USDA policy for first-time licensees, USDA spokeswoman Jessica Milteer said.

Marin used a post office box for an address on her USDA license. Her phone number is not listed.

Lambert said the term "puppy mill" stems from "misconceptions" and added, "We're proud of the people who supply us animals."

Zerilli agreed. "There's been no misrepresentation with regard to anything involved with this transaction," he said. "I am aware that (Schulman's) puppy is a purebred puppy and that he has his registry papers and we filled everything needed in his agreement."

Zerilli said his company provides American Kennel Club pedigrees to prove the validity of the animal's ancestry.

But Marin used the America's Pet Registry Inc. to register Bessie Mae's pedigree. According to its online biography, America's Pet Registry, of Arkansas, is chartered and supported by the pet industry.

The largest pet registry and most well known is the American Kennel Club.
When asked why Bessie Mae doesn't have American Kennel Club, or AKC, papers, Zerilli said that, "the AKC doesn't register all breeds."

AKC testing rigorous

AKC spokeswoman Lisa Peterson said Pembroke Welsh corgis are a breed her club has registered since the 1930s.

Peterson said Marin used the AKC to register many litters of dogs. She registered 10 litters in 2001, 14 litters in 2002 and eight litters in 2003, including bichon frises, but no corgis.

Peterson said many breeders don't use the AKC because they don't want to be inspected or take part in DNA testing. The nonprofit has 15 inspectors on staff who perform about 5,000 random inspections of any breeder who registers a dog with the club.

America's Pet Registry President and CEO Marcus Richmond said his for-profit club polices its breeders to the best of its ability. Breeders have to sign a code of ethics and some are inspected.

"We have individuals who do spot checks, but we are a small service," Richmond said. If breeders aren't adhering to the code, they aren't allowed to use the service.

"We have had to do it (suspend registrants), not several times, but we have had to do it, usually because people are just not being honest," he said.

Pat Tetrault, a Siberian husky breeder and operator of Top Notch Dog Training in Hopewell Junction, said when the AKC instituted more rigorous regulations, scores of new pet registries became available.

Tetrault, who has served on the board of the Dutchess County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for 20 years, uses the AKC to register her puppies.

She is also involved in a Siberian husky dog rescue agency.

"Part of the reason why there are so many dogs in rescue is because society is about instant gratification," she said. "In a pet store you can walk in and buy a pet, no questions asked."

Schulman said after holding Bessie Mae, "I fell in love with her, and bought her on the spot."

He felt he was rescuing her, but Joyce Garrity, executive director of the DCSPCA, said Schulman may have fallen for a business tactic.

"The store is counting on you to feel that way - that the animal needs rescue," she said.

Garrity believes buying dogs from pet stores keeps large-scale breeding operations in business.

"It's the mommies of these little puppies that are suffering. All they do is pump puppies out," she said.

Zerilli said every puppy United Pet Supply sells "comes to us from a duly licensed breeder, through a chain of supply that we audit."

He said his own purebred beagles come from the Hunte Corporation, of Goodman, Mo., a dog broker that also supplies puppies to United Pet Supply.

"We visit both, the breeder and broker, not every breeder in every case, but we do a substantial amount of auditing," he said.

Whether or not the Poughkeepsie pet store will stay in Zerilli's hands is unknown. A new lease is in negotiations, he said.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/a...NESS/812210315

[Deseassaugs]

I don't doubt it one bit - just look at this list of "pit bull" breeders.

http://www.pitbull411.com/display_breeders.php