We stopped at a mall someplace outside of Nashville, TN, last month and saw what I thought was pretty thought-provoking.
In a pet store, all of the dog and cat crates had the price monthly for the animal. Apparantly, you can now finance a pet much like you would a new dining room set. What do you think? Is this nice because it allows people who normally couldn't afford a purebreed to purchase one?
It left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not a fan of buying animals from pet stores anyway (but my kids love to look at the animals there!) and I wondered if maybe financing an animal could somehow make the purchase of a pet less of a big, life-changing event. I mean, if you can't afford to pay for a an expensive purebred, how will you afford the equally expensive upkeep? Does it encourage in a subtle way for people to learn less about a particular breed because it's not such a financial hardship to purchase one?
Do pet stores in your area do this, or is it isolated? I was kind of steamed when we left anyway because they had a big display of crabs with painted shells (umm, painted like painted with cartoon characters) on display. One of the crabs actually had a plastic football helmet covering his shell. Harmful? Probaby not. Ethical? Not in my book. But hey, that's me.
I'd be very interested to hear your opinions on the using payments to purchase a pet.
space opera
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
We have a PetLand at our mall. I don’t like how they keep them in little cages. I’d rather get my pets from a reputable breeder. I’ve heard lots of problems with the pets gotten from there being sick and lots of symptoms indicating inbreeding. The local vets don’t like them much either. I got my pet from a breeder locally and seem to have a much better quality pure dog that those from PetLand. Not to mention I paid a ton less too!
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I can hardly bring myself to look at pet store pups, knowing what conditions their parents are kept and bred in. Part of me wants them all to go to a safe and loving home, but the other part of me wants people to stop buying pets that way when it creates such a despicable market. Puppy Mills.
There are hundreds of thousands of perfectly wonderful puppies and kittens put to death every year in this country, and they would have only cost a few bucks.
What's crazy is that these stores are charging usually double or triple the cost of what a reputable breeder would charge. Our purebred Boxer cost $650, and we have the peace of mind of having met both of her happy, healthy parents and seen the very nice conditions she was whelped in. A pet store Boxer would have cost at least $1200, and would have most likely been sickly and "dirty", lacking even the most basic housebreaking instinct that she shouldn't pee in her bed.
It just blows my mind. Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I've never bought a pet in a pet store, but I would guess that they take credit cards. If so, the pet would still have been bought on a payment plan. It's just that now, the pet store makes the interest instead of the credit card company.
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
I guess having your pet repossessed is better than them going to the pound... But not by much likely. I don't think I want to contemplate the potential boom in the used-pets market.
If you didn't notice, I think this is a bad idea all-around. That opinion probably stems from the fact I think selling animals in pet stores is an all-around bad idea, primarily from the reasons already mentioned. Buying a puppy from an "oops" litter from someone who had little idea what they were doing is probably a better alternative than buying one blind from a store.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
How bad I think this is depends on what sort of financing they're using. Just like any other big purchase, if you buy a dog on a monthly payment plan how much do you end up paying in interest? The idea of paying interest on a pet when you could get one from an animal shelter is a bit disturbing.
Are they offerring "no payments, no interest" for the first X months? That's extra bad, because those plans have high interest rates and it still accrues while you're not paying it. If it's not paid off during the "free" timeframe you get hit with a bunch of interest and finance charges all at once. Good way to end up paying 2-3 times the cost for something.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
The Petland near me (Dallas area) has been financing their dogs for at least a year now. I never looked into it so I have no idea what the interest rates were.
I don't know that this makes the decision to buy a dog a smaller deal than it would be otherwise. When people buy cars on financing, it's still a big deal. But I agree that pet stores are not the best place to buy dogs.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Absolutely, positively support reputable breeders and don't buy from pet shops. If only people would stop buying pets there, then the puppy mills wouldn't have customers.
Buy from a breeder, ask to meet the parents of the puppy you're buying, a good breeder is a wealth of information about the breed and can help you choose a puppy that fits well with your family.
My stepmother rescued a dog from a puppy mill - she had never been out of a cage, had no clue how to walk around outside - the dog couldn't handle a curb because she just had no experience walking outside. She had been kept in a cage and bred. That's all she ever did. Puppy mills are deplorable, I wish they could all be shut down.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
quote:I’d rather get my pets from a reputable breeder. I’ve heard lots of problems with the pets gotten from there being sick and lots of symptoms indicating inbreeding.
I think you might have the wrong idea about breeders. While they do usually take good care of their puppies, they inbreed. That's how you get a good show dog and that's the business they're in. They find some good qualities in two dogs and breed them, and breed them, and then, often breed them with later generations. That is how you isolate certain traits in dogs.
While I felt it necessary to buy from a breeder (I just had to have a chihuahua), my parents have gotten the greatest pets from the pound.
Support your local Humane Society!
Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
I prefer to *not* get purebred dogs. Apart from the miniature fox terrier, which was specifically bred for health and hardiness, each breed has their own range of special problems. I love a good cross breed.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Cardigan Welsh Corgis have a few minor potential problems, but they're easily tested for, and responsible breeders ensure that carriers aren't crossed with carriers.
Other than that, a wonderfully healthy, hardy breed.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
quote:Support your local Humane Society!
There are a lot of things I wanted to say in this thread, but this sentence sums it up.
Posted by Avadaru (Member # 3026) on :
Pets can be financed. I recently quit my job at Petland, and we financed dogs all the time. Most of our puppies ranged from $1000-4000, so financing was a useful option to many people. We had financing available for any purchase over $250 for 12, 24, or 36 months at an 18% interest rate with no pre-payment penalties.
quote:I think you might have the wrong idea about breeders. While they do usually take good care of their puppies, they inbreed. That's how you get a good show dog and that's the business they're in. They find some good qualities in two dogs and breed them, and breed them, and then, often breed them with later generations. That is how you isolate certain traits in dogs.
You're very much mistaken in this. Inbreeding in show dogs is not at all common; in fact, it's considered a taboo. Inbreeding leads to tons of health issues. Distant inbreeding, called "linebreeding", consists of breeding cousins or distant relatives to try and isolate a certain trait. Direct inbreeding causes very unhealthy dogs to be produced. No responsible breeders do it. My dogs come from a line of champions, and I can trace their pedigree at least 7 generations back, with absolutely no inbreeding. AND my dogs have zero health problems, as is the case with most carefully-bred purebreds.
Also, I have a TON to say about Petland and puppy mills. For potential legal reasons, I will not post my explanation here, but if any of you want to hear them, I will be glad to privately e-mail you. I quit my job because of mistreatment and neglect that I witnessed at Petland, as well as the deplorable conditions in which puppies arrived. You can e-mail me at avadaru@gmail.com.
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
Raina cost me $25 at the Animal Welfare League. I was shocked it was so low; I was expecting the fee to be in the $50-$75 range. And yeah, this included her spaying, which was required. I'm pretty sure she's chipped, too.
If I ever get a dog, it will be a mutt from the Welfare League. We had mutts growing up, and they were all wonderful dogs. Molly, our beagle/german shepard mix, just passed away at the age of 13.
I can't imagine financing a pet, and think it's a horrible idea.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Penney, my yellow lab/rotti mix, came from the local pound. She was wonderful, and I really miss having her. She was my parents dog, and they are moving/retiring to a place that doesn't allow dogs, and I couldn't have one where I live, so my dad took her back to the same pound, 10 years later.
Good news; she was adopted withn an hour, and the people asked the pound for my dad's phone number. The pound refused, but offered to contact him and ask for permission to give them his number. They wanted to thank him for raising her so well, and told him that it was obvoius that she had been well loved and cared for, and that they knew that just by the way she acted around people, even before the pound told her why my parents HAD to get rid of her.
Dammit, now I am crying...
At least it sounds like her new home is wonderful.
Kwea
Posted by sarahdipity (Member # 3254) on :
I love this site. It allows you to search pounds all over the US.
There are a lot of good reasons to buy a pure-breed. However, there aren't many people who actually have those reasons. If you need/want a dog for a specific purpose, a mutt is not going to cut it. Unfortunately, there are very few working lines available, compared to all the show-ring only lines, which are just dogs that look like a particular breed, but are incapable of doing what the breed was originally developed for. Thus, you find Irish Setters who can't hunt, Border Collies that can't herd, etc. The exception being breeds that were originally developed to be pets.
I agree that the Humane Society (ASPCA, etc) is a good place to get pets. But you have be careful, because a lot of times people don't know how to train their dogs and then take them in because they have horrible behavior problems. Unless you're prepared to deal with that possibility, buying from a reputable breeder could pay off in the long run, as you will know that your dog has been well-raised and socialized.
Posted by Zeugma (Member # 6636) on :
I do feel a little silly about owning a purebred dog sometimes, since we only needed a pet, but this is what Mark had as a kid, so his heart was set on it. Our next Boxer will probably be a rescue.
It was great getting to choose her at 4 weeks (and pick her up a month later), having a very good idea of what her temperament, health, and size would be like as an adult.
But as for what her ancestors were originally bred to do... I don't think anyone's quite sure what Boxers were for, exactly, though I know she'd be excellent in most working situations. And if she was meant to be a bull-baiter, well, she's certainly good at baiting the poor pit-bulls at the dog park.
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We had mutts growing up, and they were all wonderful dogs. Molly, our beagle/german shepard mix, just passed away at the age of 13.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)