It's like they know...

WARNING

The post below talks about a pet store and my opinion on what the animals looked like, with pictures. This is not a paid advertisement for the store or any animal cause. It is just my thoughts by themselves and does not reflect those around me. For the readers who are animal lovers or have a hard time watching an ASPCA ad, please visit again and don't read this post. Unless you want to. I'm not going to stop you. However, this is your fair do's. It might not be for everyone to read and I understand that. I thank you for stopping by and continuing to stop by. Please return on another day and check for an update, should you decide not to stay on this post.

Yesterday my mother wanted to go to a specific store to check their "sale", so I walked in to Petland, which is in the same plaza.

Well, "you know there's a problem, when..." the store is pretty clean looking, the accessories are seemingly marked down, and there's a candle burning as you walk in to the store. 

Yes, there was a good size candle burning at the registers, masking any type of smell there may be. Plus, there were hand sanitizers every two cages, asking people to "please sanitize your hands before and after touching the puppies" (I didn't get a picture of this, and I probably should have. It was a "huh??? moment). 

I'm not sitting here trying to call out Petland for anything shift and shady. I'm here just to say how sad it was, walking around the store. The associate seemed nice, but a little desperate to take a dog out and have me play with it. The first question you're asked is if you have an appointment, or are you just walking in to check things out. I chose the latter because I didn't want to go to the store my mother was in. The associate said that I should let him know if I want to have any of the puppies taken out and played with, because it will be no problem. I thanked him and looked around. 

As it wasn't that busy, sans a family in one of the play areas fawning over a puppy, it seemed like the place was rather empty. I could feel eyes on me as I walked around. I took my time doing a circle around the store and once I got back to the babies, the associate asked me if I have any animals. I said no, and he laughed. He said "everyone should have a puppy" and did his best smile to get me to agree. I kept quiet. He then said that I "should play with one of the puppies here. They are puppies after all, and puppies always want to play". I thanked him but said I was just interested in looking around.

It really is a sad store, this Petland. You walk in and you can feel something bad is happening, and once you see the puppies, you can definitely tell something bad is happening. They're all beautiful little animals, but they're all drained looking. Meaning, they look sad and defeated. It's as if they know people aren't going to buy them and they're going to spend however many days and months locked in their crate before the store decides to do something else with them. 

Which I do not know what, and I don't want to know. 

The puppies I saw were 2-4 in a cage and if they weren't sleeping, they were sitting there waiting for a human to look at them. A few saw me approach their window and immediately came over and pawed at the glass, as if to say "pick me up?". I didn't want to, because I didn't want to have to sign my life away and get conned into a sale of an animal. 

My mother would kill me. Haha. 

But more importantly, if these dogs are already looking sad and lonely, they're going to end up going back in their cage when it's time for me to leave and that's not fair for them. Plus, if you have to sanitize yourself before and after, what underlying issues are there in this place? 

As it is, the cages up and down units. Imagine a 2 shelf bookcase, but instead of being shallow for books, it's big enough to hold a crated dog. The crate is built in to the wall - the top, left and right sides are wall, the front is plexiglass so you can see the animal, the back is a lockable double door (with bars) for the employee to get the dog, and the bottom is a grate with enough space between that and the flooring, so the dog can use the bathroom when it needs to. I'm not going to go into details about bathroom usage, but I did notice a few cages that really needed to be cleaned because the flooring didn't look like normal bathroom behavior. 

I took some photos, and they all have various reflections of the store in the glass, so don't mind the lighting. You'll see how the dogs look almost abused, but they're also so pretty at the same time (the husky, for example, sat like a champ and his eyes were spectacular blue). 

My heart breaks for them because it really makes you feel so bad for them. Again, there were ones I didn't get photos of, as they were sleeping. There were ones who were awake, but they looked just like these ones - they know their fate and they're going to be here for however long with no home to go to. 

It's a struggle because I don't want to be negative about this, however, I really truly walked out of there feeling awful for them. I had told my mom what I saw, and I think she felt bad too, even though she didn't want to go in. 

This is a place I one hundred per cent could not work for. Seeing what the puppies looked like (they were clean, admitedly, and some were spunky, ready to play. Although, it could have been just boredom for them and seeing a new person they wanted to meet), I could not morally try to sell a customer one of the dogs because there's some thing scratching at the back of my head, telling me "this is wrong". There's some big bad aura in this place and I've read some horror stories about the mistreatment of the animals, so seeing them kind of puts it all in place. It almost felt sterile when I walked in, but not in the good way. Maybe that's why there was a candle burning. Who knows. But to work here? No. It's not worth my going home at night, wanting to scrub my skin clean and wonder what will happen to the dogs and if they will be there tomorrow, not only safe, but okay. I can't sell an animal knowing there might be something wrong with it, especially since this is the type of place you get commission on because it's an upsell type of job. Petco or Petsmart, sure. Maybe I could work at those places because it feels more uplifting, more positive. They seem to help all animals get healthy by selling food and treats (at a huge markup, yes), as well as getting animals a makeover with a haircut. You're not actively selling a sentient being that is cooped up looking battered. Yes, there are random little creatures, but I honestly don't get the same dark impression from them as I got in Petland. 

Maybe it's because I'm not an active shopper? So I don't know all the ins and outs?

It's strange, I know, and I don't know how else to explain it. Like I said, there's been horror stories about this brand and I'm sure there are just as bad reviews about the other pet stores. I feel that there's a difference when you walk into them as they seemed more inviting. 

There are no words to really describe any of this correctly. I know there are problems in every store and I'm really trying not to be so bad on one and good on another because my experiences have been different in each place I've walked in to. That's what it boils down to: personal experience. What you see and do, what happens, how you're treated, etc. Everyone is different and every moment is different. Someone reading this could disagree with me wholeheartedly, while the next person could completely agree. I'm fine with that. We are all entitled to speak our minds and have a conversation about it. All I ask is to not be mean or play dirty. Be respectful and you'll get it back. 

Do your research. Grab life by the chewy toy and run in the grass like a maniac. 

Cheers;