How rescue can help pet shops be better citizens

Right now animal welfare organisations are working hard on getting pets banned in pet stores and the public is rapidly becoming aware of the issues surrounding puppy farms and BYB. This is a tough time to be in the pet shop industry from an image perspective but, understandably, pets stores continue to reject any changes that are seen to restrict their trade.

But if experiences overseas are anything to go by, with the two largest pet stores in the US (Petco and PetSmart) and Pets at Home UK now offering adoption and limiting pet sales… make no mistake, the smart players are recognising that there is money to be made by aligning themselves with rescue.

Every bit of evidence we have says the people who buy pets from stores aren’t evil – they do however make bad decisions. They get a puppy because they like the way it looks, they aren’t given adequate follow up support and make errors leading to basic (or not so basic) behaviour problems. The bond between pet and owner deteriorates and the dog finds himself homeless the next time the family wants to go on holiday.

Why are we surprised by this still? Why are we still blaming ‘irresponsible’ owners, when it’s the system that has set them up to fail? 

 

Pet stores, owners and rescue – believe it or not, there is a solution that helps everybody.

Rather than openly criticizing pet shops as a whole, why not start approaching individual stores to embrace and become the leaders of this new ‘animal welfare educated’ world?

There’s huge potential for rescue groups and pet stores to cross promote, hold adoption days and work together. By using the resources available to stores to promote rescue pets and the resources of rescue to support new owners, pets will be the real winner.

The benefits to rescue are obvious – for every one of your pets in store, there’s not a puppy-mill bred oodle. For every pet you rehome desexed, there’s not one that leaves entire.

Meanwhile the pet shop is also reaping the benefit; creating goodwill in the community by having ethical practices and not supporting puppy-farming. In addition by supporting legislation banning pets in store, they’ll suddenly have an edge on their old-fashioned and not so savvy competitors, because if passed they’ll be the only ones with real, live (rescue) pets!

“We at Pet Supplies Mart have taken the lead by ceasing pet sales and are now working instead with local rescue groups to hold adoption days for homeless animals. We publicly support initiatives that reduce the number of dogs and cats killed in shelters, so feel eliminating the sale of pets in store is the most proactive stance we can take to ensure a better future for pets in Australia.” 

 

Yeah, I’d buy that!

If we can turn the industry on its head; get pet stores on board and show them this legislation and working with us has benefits for them also – that’s when we’ll have the chance to make the biggest impact in helping pets and their owners.