Petland Petland sold me a sick Miniature Pinscher Guaranteeing he was purebred and that he had papers. Novi, Michigan
I just found this site and thought I would share my own personal Petland experience.
My brother and I decided that we wanted a Miniature Pinscher. We were both clear-thinking adults and we thought we had asked all the right questions. All of the breeders are quite a ways from us and it was Sunday. We found ourselves at the mall looking in the tiny puppy cages at a min pin. Big mistake.
The store was decorated with "Healthy Guarantee" ads. Basically, anything goes wrong with the puppy and they take care of it. But... no price on the glass. I asked the girl "How much for the Miniature Pinscher?". She ran off, grabbed the puppy (Brutus) and put him down in the "visitation room", which I did not ask her to do. So here's this seemingly helpless little guy, and of course he was adorable. It's a min pin puppy... and the original question was asked again. This time she said $1,400.00. Dear god, I can't afford that. "Oh, well you can pay it in installments." Then I asked all of the appropriate questions. I was assured that Brutus was coming from a reputable breeder and that he did have papers stating this and all other info and it would be mailed to me in a few weeks.
I was then reminded of the "Healthy Guarantee" and told that his sleepy behavior was because he had a little "cold" and the store vet was already taking care of it. So after much deliberation, and a down payment of $500.00, we left the store with Brutus.
We took him to the vet the next day because we were concerned about the sick behavior, diarrhea primarily. He was indeed sick with Giardia (which is also contagious to humans) and the vet had not been treating him for it. Not to mention that the medication was EXTREMELY expensive. I saw the bill and said "Thank God Petland is paying this". At which time the Vet informed me that Petland would not be covering my next visit. "Excuse me?!" I immediately called Petland and was given the extreme run-around when asking to speak to the owner. At this time they also admitted that he did NOT HAVE PAPERS and said "That doesn't matter anyways, he's not going to be a show dog is he? You're not going to love him because he doesn't have papers?". At this point I was furious. Finally the owner called me and agreed to pay the vet bills ONLY for the condition he was being treated for, Giardia. He would not under any circumstances refund any money. We even asked about outright returning the puppy and going to a real breeder as I found that Brutus had come from a Canadian puppy mill with some research after they admitted he did not have papers.
Brutus is now 3 and he's healthy and happy. However, due to his beginnings he is very anxious, fearful and one vet even insisted I put him on relaxers before bringing him in for treatment. We do not want to return our beloved pet, but I STILL feel I am owed a large portion of the money I paid for a dog that I thought was a purebred with papers. I will never visit Petland again and I always tell people to stay away from that store.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Do-do
Roseville,Michigan,
USA
I Observed What You Report
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, October 29, 2012
I have been considering getting a Boston Terrier for a pal. Had one many years ago and its the best pet you could ever have hands down. They are endless entertainment. After months of looking at Web pages of Boston breeders all over the country I was struck by how poor the conformation of so-called well bred, professionally bred, blah blah blah...their stock was.
I visited several breeders to look over the pups and parents, put up with all the colostrum-educing chit chat (you need to wear nursing pads to get through some of these people), got grilled by a couple of them about my personal habits and behaviour...it was - to put it bluntly, depressing and a colossal waste of time (I took multi day trips to do this research). And worst of all, I saw some of the worst excuses for Boston Terriers I ever imagined. What did they do to that breed??? My ordinary pet quality Boston from 25 years ago would be a super champion today.
But to cut to the quick, I was in the Novi mall one day about 6 months ago and they had two of the most beautiful Boston Terrier puppies I have seen in my recent forays to the breeders. I am not kidding. Bostons usually do not acquire their "looks" until they are about 16 - 20 weeks old, but they had younger ones that already had "the correct look."
Well just like the OC, i get snagged by someone working there and merely asked how much they cost, and boom. she takes this pup out and puts me and her in a puppy corral. I didn't ask her to. So while I am trying to have a look at this (utterly doped up) puppy who acted like she was on Mars, I asked again how much she cost and the price almost gave me a stroke right then and there (almost twice that of a show Boston from a breeder and three times that of pet quality)....and then I got the same business about how she just came back from the vet...which I asked whyfor the vet? and got no answer. Anyway, I was out of there in 3 more minutes. Beautiful as this Boston was I wouldn't buy a puppy from them on a bet with Jesus.
I am no fan of dog breeders these days. It has become a money making hobby for lazy people, but more importantly, people who have no business tinkering with dog breeds because they don't know what they're doing. Then you have Petland which for reasons here as well as on other posts really should by shut down. I don't like sheisters, but I especailly dislike sheisters that abuse helpless animals.