Following is a letter written by a former pet shop employee,
telling of the horrific conditions to which puppies are subjected by
callous pet shop owners and management.

STOP PUPPY MILLS !
DO NOT PATRONISE PET SHOPS!

I used to work for 'x corporation' and also for 'y corporation' (names available upon private request). The puppies are all from mills in the south and the western states. They came in shipped 6 to a crate that was the size for one, two at the most. Covered in feces and filth sometimes one or two would be dead. Some were pulled from their mothers at 4 weeks so that by the time they were shipped to the stores they would be 6 weeks old. Puppies came to the store that had hardly any teeth and couldn't eat the food given to them. These pups are also fed a minimal amount of food so that the sales personnel are selling dogs and not spending their time cleaning cages. 1/4 cup of food per day per dog only!

We were trained to sell sick puppies by showing how calm (sick) they were. Many puppies died within days of reaching the store or were so sick and malnourished that they died within days of being bought. The store has no motivation to correct this because they get "CREDIT" for all puppies that die. ALL stores that sell puppies work this way. They buy a puppy for no more than $100 usually closer to $60 and sell it with worthless AKC (American Kennel Club) papers for $600 or more. The customer will not get their money back if the dog dies or becomes ill but must take a credit for another puppy.  The warrantee always states this in very clever ways.  Stores will not spend $100 in vet bills for a $60 pup so they get minimal or no vet care.  Once stores stop selling puppies the mills will die out too. AKC also benefits by this bogus trade in hundreds of thousands of dollars in worthless AKC registration applications. Most puppies are not even of pet quality and harbor birth defects and other deformities. The puppy mills exist to feed the pet store chains. They are connected and something must be done on both ends. This is a multi-million dollar industry rooted in death and suffering.

I thought it was the greatest job in the world until I got a good look at the behind the scenes of the business end. The day I quit was the day that a pug puppy died from collapsed lungs in my arms as I took it to a vet, on my own without the stores permission. The dog came in apparently healthy but five days later started coughing and had a nasal discharge. The pup was pulled from out front and put out back, out of view. Out back it was also about 60 degrees or less. The pup then developed severe diahreah (excuse the spelling). On the managers orders the pup was to be given no food or water. His belief was that without water and food it couldn't have the runs. Two days later the dog was so dehydrated that it could no longer stand and when you pulled the skin up on its neck it stayed that way. Now the manager took an IV needle and put about a cup of fluid under the pups skin on the neck. The pup lay there rasping and gasping and wheezing( it had recieved no medication  up  until this point) and when the manager left for the day I took the dog to the vet. It was dead before we got there and the vet said it's lungs had collapsed. The manager was furious that I took the dog to a vet because he did not need a vet to see the condition of the dog. I quit after that because so many had died and would continue to die for a buck.

The sales people (myself included) are sent to training seminars on "How to sell a puppy." Basically, when you see someone looking at a puppy you go get it and, without asking, put the puppy in their arms. Then you either back off and force them to stay with the puppy for as long as possible or you lock them in a little room with the pup.  Either way, afterwards, you make yourself scarce until they have sold themselves on bringing the dog home. It is not an accident, the sales people are trained to do this. We are also trained to make a list for the potential customer on why it is good to have a puppy from the store. We think of every little thing and write it down. Then we make a list of all the negatives and we do not help the customer think of any at all. Guaranteed the PLUS list is much much longer. I used to work as a Vet assistant before I took this job. When I saw the conditions that the pups were in and how they were handled I thought that I could help the store to be better. What I found instead was an animal nightmare and that they had it set up just the way they wanted. I saw papers fabricated and medical histories falsified. The customers would ask about a puppy that they had seen a day or two before and now was missing (because it died or was going to.) The standard answer was, and still is, "Oh, he has been sold and has gone to a new home." Medications are not done by a vet but by the sales people and store workers themselves. Mostly older teens and young people trying their first job. They cannot be expected to know what they are doing or how to care for a sick animal properly. Anyway they are not allowed to because they have to be out on the floor selling the puppies. You get paid on a commission basis and the more pups you sell the more you make...........For these reasons, and more, I don't mind at all if anyone else sees this. I only wish I still had the paperwork from the 'x corporation' on selling and dog care to give to someone.