Last Saturday my husband and I walked by this store in my neighborhood that caters to farms and such, they sell feed and hay and stuff like that, BUT they also sell live animals. They have farm animals and bunnies and baby goats and ponies and things of that nature. Well as we were walking by in the back of the store where all these animals are in pens, in one of the open pens I saw a puppy. He saw me and my husband outside the gate and started going crazy, jumping barking and wanting attention. The store was already closed at this time and I Just felt horrible. This puppy who looked like 3 months old at the most, was in a dirt pen, with no shelter to cover him from the elements and it was about at least 50 degrees at that time of the early evening. He had a couple of bowls I assumed were food and water, and that was about it, no blanket or anything. I wanted to jump over that fence and resuce him, but my husband just told me to come back tomorrow if I was so worried. Well I did. On Sunday as soon as they opened I was there. I went into the store and to the back, and low and behold the puppy saw me and was jumping and barking. He did have food and clean water and had a couple of chew toys, but he was still in the dirt. I asked one of the workers if I could donate an old sheet I had in my trunk so that he could at least lay on. The guy happily said, YES! Of course. So I got the sheet and went into the pen with the little guy, he was so happy and starved for attention. I played with him for a while, he was so dirty from rolling around in the dirt. I put down the blanket and he started playing with it. I finally dragged myself away from there, as much as i didn't want to. I saw that they were selling this guy for $800 . I don't even remember what kind of dog this is, its short hair, he is black with white on his belly and paws. I asked the guy how long he'd been there and he said 4 days, and that his little brother had just been sold the previous day so he was lonely. so sadly I tore away, I petted the young baby goats in the pen next to him (who also have no shelter, but I don't know if they usually do?) and went home.

So yesterday I drove by there again to see if this little guy was still there. He was laying on the sheet I provided and he was so much calmer, when I looked at him through the fence he didn't jump and bark this time, just kind of sat there and looked at me. It was Awfully cold last night. This morning on my way to work it was 48 degrees. And I can't stop thinking about this puppy. Its supposed to rain tomorrow and he has no shelter. Today I want to find a large box and take it to him so he at least has somewhere to hide and keep warmer. They also have a bunch of bunniest outside in little cages that are not even big enough for a guinea pig, nonetheless a bunny. :tears I HATE HATE HATE places that sell live animals, I relaly wish there was a law against sale of live animals. :mad

call animal services

I would call and talk to the manager and bring up your issues. Maybe lighting a fire under their ass will make them give these animals a little more respect.

Well I am calling the humane society this morning, i want to know if what they are doing is legal, if not they can send someone out there. What saddens me is that if this IS legal, animals will continue to be in conditions like this.

It breaks my heart

Oh god that breaks my heart reading this. Man $800 bucks, if it were less, I know I'd be doing everything in my power to buy that puppy, sounds like he already likes you :) I sooo know how you feel, that's why I don't go to pet stores with live animals because it breaks my heart too much, I just want to take them all home with me.

In a way, I hope that the conditions they are keeping the animals in IS illegal because something would be done for them, but if not, it's heartbreaking that that is allowed.

I'm so glad you gave him something to lay one. That is so sweet of you!! He has an angel looking out for him!

Well I called the Humane Society and they just told me they would dispatch an officer out to check out the situation. I'm going to stop by there later today to see if it looks like anything is different, then call the Humane Society back to see if they could give me any info.

:sadeyes

Awww that is so sad.

Well here is an update.

yesterday after calling the humane society in the morning, I thought about this all day. Later in the day around 3:30pm I called them back and asked them if I could get an update and if anything happened. The receptionist told me an officer went out in the morning after I called, and that he had seen 6 Sheltie puppies out there! On Sat of last week when I had seen the one black puppy, I noticed some guy had brought in a bunch of little Sheltie puppies and they had them inside in a large tub, didn't realize they would end up outside! Well looks like they did, and they were put in the same enclosure with the black puppy. So they told me the officer adviced the store that the dogs must either be indoors or must have a shelter. And that was it, she told me to give them a call back if I saw anything else. So immediately after that when I got out of work at 4pm I drove over there. I had to see what they did. I just walked in like any customer and I walked to the back to see the animals. Right away I saw that they put about a medium sized dog house in their enclosure, looks like its one they had for sale because it still has the "Dog house $99" sign on it. And I saw 4 of the Shelties running around and playing and the black dog hanging out outside the door of the doghouse. The 2 other sheltie puppies were inside the store sleeping. I was relieved to see they finally had a house out there, but sad to know they are still outside, I guess I can't do anything about that. And my blanket was still there, it was outside the little house.



Today it started raining, so during my lunch break I drove by there because I wanted to see how the dogs were doing, I was hoping all of them would fit inside that little house. Well I went by and looked in through the fence but didn't see ANY dogs in the enclosre. The little house is still there, so I'm wondering if the dogs were all cuddled up inside. I'm not sure where they went, but wherever they are at least they are not getting wet in the rain. I did feel sad for the little goats and a horse a little baby pony that were in their enclosure with nothing to shelter them from the rain. I mean, I don't know much about farm animals so I don't know if that's ok for them, but I still felt bad. The goats were eating their hay, and the little pony (who is SOOO cute) was just kinda rubbing himself against the fence, I guess he's not used to rain (its San Diego so it doesn't rain much).



Anyway, that's all for now. But I know I'll be back to that store again to make sure all is well with the animals.

i'm glad they at least have some shelter!

Wow.....it always amazes me when I hear stories of just regular customers doing so much to help an animal. You are such a good person for caring like you have. You see so many things about abused animals that you rarely hear the good stories. I'm glad you shared this and keep on doing what you are doing.

I talked to the Humane Society again today. I was actually there today because I was training to be a volunteer dog walker. So I told them about my concern with the goats and ponies. An officer called over there and talked to the manager, and the manager apologized and said they were sorry but that the goats ate their shelter and that they were waiting on one that they ordered. That sounds weird but whatever. They said they are still 'learning' all the rules and doing their best to make sure they are followed. I guess they also put the horse and pony into a barn type thing when it started raining. So, they been talked to twice now so at least they are aware that they are being watched and that they need to be more careful with what they do. So they are still selling animals which is the bummer, but at least some changes are happening.

well it is true that goats will eat ANYTHING lol but they shoud've done something in the meantime to shelter them

Call animal services - often!

And, realy - I wouldn't think badly of someone if they snipped his fence and took him away!