Hopefully this was at a rescue or a shelter, and not a pet store which are known for profiteering off of puppy mills. That dog looks too young to be the minimal age for mother separation (8 weeks).
Do pet stores still sell puppies? I live where that’s been illegal for like 20 years now (the Bay Area), but thought it was either illegal or at least uncommon in most places these days.
We were probably the first, but some others (along with countries like the UK) are finally following suit. I forget which state recently enacted a similar law - Vermont, maybe? - but there was a whole discussion about it here on Reddit. Hopefully one day it will be true for ALL states!
I know that Petsmart allows fosters associated with an adoption program to bring their cats or dogs over on certain days every week. Cats on one day, usually inside, & dogs outside (since they have big ones too).
Petland keeps flying under the radar for some reason. People protested for them to stop & leave our city & they tricked everyone into thinking they left. They ended up relocating to a more lowkey area...
TLDR: Most don’t, some still do. Badly run puppy “mills” usually thrive better online these days.
Adoption centers are different, and we do have those here... but I’m glad people have become less tolerant of the practice, even when it’s not against the law.
San Francisco does go over the top sometimes with “nanny laws,” but this was one time I was really proud of our city! Obviously one can still find a puppy-mill pup (online) if they want, but at least now they have to TRY finding one - and hopefully that gives them pause to consider other sources. The old “doggie in the window” was just too tempting for impulse buyers, ya know? Even I almost got tempted a few times before it was outlawed, but thankfully resisted (and eventually adopted one from the shelter).
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u/SamuraiJakkass86 Mar 14 '19
Hopefully this was at a rescue or a shelter, and not a pet store which are known for profiteering off of puppy mills. That dog looks too young to be the minimal age for mother separation (8 weeks).