Perth Voice Interactive

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Biting back

January 9, 2015

A MOUNT LAWLEY pet shop is considering legal action against an animal rights group after being targeted in a pre-Christmas “puppy farm” protest.

About 30 people attended the December 21 protest outside Mount Lawley Pets and Puppies after the group Oscar’s Law claimed it had flown in litters of puppies, sourced from “factories”, to sell for Christmas.

Store co-owner Rose Wilson says the group is wrong, and has damaged her business.

“All our puppies are sourced from licensed, reputable dealers and are vet-checked up to three times before they are sold,” she told the Voice. “We don’t deal with backyard breeders and offer our customers lots of educational and support services on how to look after their puppy.

“I’d be first to join Oscar’s Law if they went about things the right way, because I and all my staff are animal lovers, but they are overly aggressive and some of the comments on their Facebook page are simply untrue.

01. 863NEWS

“I feel our shop has been unfairly targeted and I have taken legal advice over some of their inaccurate comments about our shop on social media.”

Oscar’s Law seeks to abolish factory farming of companion animals, and ban the sale of companion animals from pet shops and online ads.

Oscar’s Law member Trudi Hall says the protest had enjoyed “lots of support from pedestrians and passing cars”.

Big news

“The pet shop owners were very displeased with our presence, as you would expect,” she told the Voice.

Puppy farms are big news in the eastern states, with new Victorian premier Dan Andrews campaigning heavily on a promise to outlaw them.

Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker says the crackdowns in Victoria and Queensland mean more pups will end up in WA, sold through pet shops, markets and online sites like the Quokka.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

Posted in news

6 responses to “Biting back”

Linda Upfield

January 11, 2015

I take exception to Rose Wilson’s, pet store owner, comment in your front page article Biting Back. She says all their puppies come from ‘reputable breeders’. I think that everyone should think long and hard whether a person who breeds animals for money because they don’t want one of the many thousands of dogs already in existence in refuges and foster homes an be called reputable – and whether such a person would be willing to sell those babies to a pet shop, never knowing where those puppies end up. The store may deal with registered or non-backyard breeders, but no decent person would sell their puppies through a pet shop.
Rose Wilson also states that she would be the ‘first to join Oscar’s Law if they went about it the right way.’ I don’t think so considering Oscar’s Law seeks to ban the sale of companion animals from pet stores and on-line ads.
All pet shops should be stopped from keeping live creatures. And perhaps the advertised ‘wonderful environment’ that the Mount Lawley pet shop has could be used to help the dog rescue rehoming efforts.

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Rachael

January 12, 2015

I thought that licence breeders were not allowed to sell to pet shops.

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Geoff

January 12, 2015

Dogs shouldn’t be allowed to be sold in pet shops, If she was buying from reputable breeders then why are they selling to a pet shop ??? most reputable breeders sell there litters before there even born or at least before the age they are ready to find a home. she also mentions Dealers “puppy Farmers” ;-/ I’ve never heard a breeder call themselves a dealer.

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Kerryn

January 14, 2015

I’d like to comment on an article that was in your latest edition of your paper. I was at the Peaceful Protest outside Mount Lawley Pets & Puppies that has been reported on in your article below. I can absolutely guarantee that we were not aggressive in any way, shape or form. That is not how we operate. We had children and the elderly protesting with us, and what we do is peaceful. We hold up signs and banners, and that is it. We do not try to enter the store or interact with the public that enter or exit the store, unless they approach us.

This is in contrast to Mount Lawley Pets & Puppies who has a family member stand outside constantly as a bouncer/body guard. I have photos of him. I don’t know why he was there. We have no intention of entering the shop. We have protested outside this shop before and never has it become confrontational or heated. The only threatening behaviour has been by co-owner Bob Wilson when he would cross the road and shove cameras in our faces and ask our names. We have photos of that behaviour as well.

Further, we made absolutely no false claims against this shop. I am familiar with the “inaccurate comments” Rose Wilson is referring to. In no way were any of the members of Oscar’s Law making any “inaccurate comments”. There were some generalised suggestions for signs and banners, but they were not specific to this shop or any shop… just generalised to what pet shops do and where they get their animals from. Rose is referring to a banner suggestion “Not vet checked”. This is just a general suggestion. We never said that Mount Lawley Pets puppies are not vet checked. That is the only comment made by a Oscar’s Law member that is being accused of as inaccurate and disputed. But once again, it was just a general banner/sign suggestion, which was not used by anyone for this particular peaceful protest.

And to address another point, if Rose Wilson is suggesting we are damaging her business, I would disagree. It’s the public being educated by Oscar’s Law, the RSPCA, and many other animal welfare organisations that know where pet shops obtain their puppies from. The ONLY place that pet shops can obtain their puppies are unlicenced back yard breeders or licenced commercial puppy breeders or puppy farms, which I’ll explain below…

For those that are interested, I’ll give you a bit of information, and anyone is quite welcome to verify this information independently… don’t believe me. Do your own research. If a breeder is registered with a canine council, for example DogsWest, or any other canine council nationwide, the breeders CANNOT sell their puppies through pet shops. As a registered breeder, if they do this, they will be deregistered. Unrecognised breeds (cross breeds, mutts etc) CANNOT be registered as a breed. Registered breeders with a canine council have papers and a history of their lineage. The reason for this is so that if there are any physical/medical/behavioural problems, that can be bred out of the dog/cat. Breeders that choose not to be registered, or have been deregistered, do not take as much care in the breeding of these dogs. Cross breeds are the same. Mount Lawley Pets and Puppies say their puppies come from LICENCED breeders. That is COMPLETELY different to REGISTERED breeders. Licenced means the breeding facility is licenced with the local council to have a commercial breeding facility. They are two completely different things. I used to live on Eighth Avenue, and I used to “visit” this shop often. They used to tell me that the puppies were from a REGISTERED breeder… I think they realised that they weren’t allowed to say that anymore, so now they say LICENCED.

Cavoodles, pugaliers, jugs, labradoodles, and any other “oodle” or similar are just fancy names for cross breeds! And being labelled a “designer dog” they can charge SO much more for what is essentially a “mutt”. Don’t get me wrong. I love mutts. I have a rescue one as a speak. He would be a poodle x maltese, or in pet shop speak, a Maltipoo… very fancy name? I got this perfect little dog, who is about 2 years old, from a rescue. As an adult, he could be checked by vets and behaviourists to be medically and behaviourally sound. All rescues go through this process. And you know what he cost me, if you want to get down to dollars? $450, sterialised, vet assessed, behaviour assessed, microchipped, wormed, vaccinated, collar, food and toys. How much did you pay for your “designer” dog? AT LEAST $1,000. Many twice that much.

Most of their dogs are flown from the east. A VERY stressful journey. And where are the mums? What condition are the mums in? The dads? How many times are they bred? How are they raised? Are they patted, walked, fed proper nutrition, groomed, clipped, cuddled in a home, or are they stuck in kennels for their entire breeding life? Most puppy farms are hideous, vile cages, but even if they aren’t, they DO NOT get the environmental and behavioural enrichment that they require to be happy, healthy dogs.

On SBS Insight a couple of years ago, they had the owner of ACA kennels (a puppy farm) in Victoria on, boasting how clean their kennels were for approximately 300 dogs. They had between 2 to 3 staff that cleaned and feed these breeding dogs. Sure, the kennels were clean, but how are 2 or 3 staff members going to walk, cuddle, play, pat, talk to, train 300 breeding dogs each day? In an eight hour day of cleaning and feeding, that is physically impossible.

Finally, don’t take my word for it. Please, don’t. Do you own research. Call up the CEO of RSPCA SA and ask about a case of extreme cruelty and neglect of a puppy farm in the Adelaide hills. And ask what pet shop in WA the puppies were being supplied to… The case is still going, and they have black and white evidence of where these puppies were going to. And when the case is over and the evidence is public, I will be glad to hand deliver the evidence to Mount Lawley Pets and Puppies, and I’ll invite anyone who is interested.

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Finn

June 29, 2015

Rose Wilson has started calling protestors “terrorists in the making”, in a terribly hamfisted attempt to besmirch the idea of free speech.

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Susan

June 29, 2015

Condolences to the deceased puppy’s family.

However if you look at the incubation time for kennel cough the puppy would appear to have contracted this disease when in the owners care.
The owner sought veterinary care once the pup was moribund.

Why blame the pet shop?

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