Actually Impressed with a Petsmart

[Milkingit]

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share a good experience I had at Petsmart, and at least we know their are some decent ones out there.

At my Petsmart a local farmer sells these great treats for my guinea pigs, they are just natural hay wrapped in a dried cornhusk, my girls love them so I always go in once and a while if I am in the area to pick one up as a treat.

Anyways, I went buy the guinea pig where the girl I know who refers to me as the guinea pig guru waved me down and brought me up to this kid. She said this guy has built a cage from Guineapigcages.com do you have your phone to show them (Iphone, with more pics of my piggies then my fiance)

So I explained to the kid about C&C cages and where to buy the items in town, how much they cost, and even gave him my email if he needed some help. The girl was actually refusing to let the kid and his mother purchase another pig (he had 3) until he did this.

When the mother got upset about her not being able to get another pig, she yelled for the manager and got all flustered as mothers do, and the manager came over and said, if my associate doesn't think our animals will go to a good home, we will not sell one to you at all. She mentioned how she could go to (name of random mom and pop store), the Manager said, I know her and she wouldn't sell you if she new the situation. The manager also said she would call the SPCA and warn them about this family as well since I mentioned to her they have 2 piggies up for adoption right now.

Now I know this still isn't the greatest because they were selling live animals as merchandise, but at least the Managers it seems in my city work together to filter out abusive homes. It may not be much but at least it's a start.

And I still get a chuckle about being called the Guinea Pig Guru.

[Kipsie]

I wish I had an iPhone , and what are the treats called, and they are safe, right?

Yeah, and the store was right. They cant have 3 pigs in one PS cage, unless they have those new piggy habitats with 2-3 put together.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

They still sell animals as part of the ugly chain regardless of how they pretend to screen.

Buying even those treats there supports the cycle of abuse and neglect. Unfortunately that family will likely find another pet store to buy from.

[leyley904]

They still sell animals as part of the ugly chain regardless of how they pretend to screen.

Buying even those treats there supports the cycle of abuse and neglect. Unfortunately that family will likely find another pet store to buy from.

I very much see where you're coming from. But, I think this is a start. I feel you are being too negative in that post, try to be happy with this accomplishment, no matter how small of a difference it will make! This Petsmart seems to care a little bit about where its pets go. Which is great! If this post said 'Oh, this pet store doesn't get their pets from pet mills!' no one would believe them. Eliminating pet mills is a HUGE step which will be accomplished sometime by millions of smaller, maybe even some tiny, accomplishments like this one! So, try and be optimistic. Pet mills aren't magically going to disappear one day! What did you expect from this post?!

I'm glad you have a Petsmart like that in your area, compared to some! There is one lady that is so educated at the Petsmart near me, and tells people the REAL facts about veggies and floor time when it comes to piggies!

[sdpiggylvr]

Wow, that's great! Finally, there's an actually decent Petsmart out there.

I wish more pet stores were like this.

Guinea Pig Guru - ha ha.

And congrats about giving him information about the C&C cage. Good way to spread the idea of C&C cages. Not many people I know have even heard about the C&C cage.

Anyway, good job!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

So we should praise a pet store that sells animals for doing ONE thing right when they are doing a hundred other things wrong?

That type of logic fails on a lot of levels. That's like saying oh, their cages are too small and the pigs are usually sick but they feed them veggies sometimes.

They should be held on a higher standard across the board. In which case they FAIL period.

Petsmart is Petsmart. They are part of a corporate chain that stands for the same thing.

One store out of thousands doesn't make much of a dent when all the money is going to the same place.

Are they questioning every buyer? Some aren't obviously going to be bad. How do you know the last one they sold one to didn't stick him in an outdoor hutch or bred the pig? Some people lie too.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

I expect Petsmart to stop selling animals from pet mills. That would put a lot of them out of business including the one in here

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...-new-post.html

That would be a huge accomplishment.

Not Petsmart not selling a live animal once here or there. Or maybe not selling too tiny pet store cages and only selling C&C like cages.

I very much see where you're coming from. But, I think this is a start. I feel you are being too negative in that post, try to be happy with this accomplishment, no matter how small of a difference it will make! This Petsmart seems to care a little bit about where its pets go. Which is great! If this post said 'Oh, this pet store doesn't get their pets from pet mills!' no one would believe them. Eliminating pet mills is a HUGE step which will be accomplished sometime by millions of smaller, maybe even some tiny, accomplishments like this one! So, try and be optimistic. Pet mills aren't magically going to disappear one day! What did you expect from this post?!

I'm glad you have a Petsmart like that in your area, compared to some! There is one lady that is so educated at the Petsmart near me, and tells people the REAL facts about veggies and floor time when it comes to piggies!

[leyley904]

So we should praise a pet store that sells animals for doing ONE thing right when they are doing a hundred other things wrong?

That type of logic fails on a lot of levels. They should be held on a higher standard across the board. In which case they FAIL period.

That's not what I mean at all! Who here is praising the pet store? Who is going to that pet store and telling them that they are doing a 'great' job? This post is not being seen by the petsmart! Being happy that improvement is happening is not praising by any means. Pets stores are terrible any way you look at it. But, why should an improvement make you bring up the terrible things? What would satisfy you!? Them telling you that they are closing down? I bet you would say, "Oh, but there are so many millions more." If you could make another petsmart turn down a neglectful owner with the point of a finger, wouldn't you?! It's better than nothing at all, isn't it!?
Sorry for the raving, but it makes me mad that this forum is so anti-breeder/anti-pets tore (which I'm 100% right along side with), but when a small improvement is made somewhere in the world, its not good enough! This is going to take a VERY long time to eliminate pet mills! We are working TOWARDS that goal! Things are IMPROVING!

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Calling Petsmart decent is "praise".

Actually I would be very happy if they shut down. Or people exposed them for what they were instead of giving them compliments for doing one thing "right" which is even questionable.

How is them "screening" an improvement? It is something they should be doing anyway. And they wouldn't have to if they didn't sell live animals from breeding mills. Their definition of screening is lax.

Again http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...-new-post.html

[leyley904]

Calling Petsmart decent is "praise".

Actually I would be very happy if they shut down. Or people exposed them for what they were instead of giving them compliments for doing one thing "right" which is even questionable.

Hm... but I though you said

One store out of thousands doesn't make much of a dent when all the money is going to the same place.

. I never said that store was decent. I said that store was IMPROVING. And petsmart is in the process of being exposed. The world knowing about the cruelness of petsmart isn't going to happen overnight! Overall, you are just expecting too much, too fast.

[Paula]

This seems to come up every so often - someone sees something that's not blatantly cruel and absurd at a store like Petsmart or Petco and thinks the organization is taking steps to becoming a kinder, gentler company. It's not. It's a handful of isolated incidents where the individual employees of the organization care to go above and beyond the status quo of cruelty their organization generally supports.

At the end of the day, while this store won't let a "bad" owner buy an animal from them - they probably still get the animals from breeding mills and backyard breeders. They still likely sell sick animals. They probably still don't give the animals the space, food or other environmental surroundings that they need. And, realistically, that "bad" owner can still go across town to another Petsmart and the staff there won't be so concerned with who they're selling their merchandise to.

Yes, it's great to know there are individual people in stores like this one that care and try to do what they can to help these poor creatures that are being sold for profit. But it doesn't change the fact that the company they work for still sells animals in the first place.

Furthermore, if they really cared so much about who buys their stock and wanted to see animals treated as more than items to be bought and sold, it would be nice if they drew up an adoption contract, or did any of the other things that an actual rescue organization would do. My guess is they don't. So, yeah, it's nice, but it's a drop in the bucket when it comes to actually making a difference toward the way this company conducts its business in regards to animal sales.

[Kipsie]

I wonder what that family did afterward...

It would be nice if pet stores only did adoptions, instead of sales. I'm not sure what they'd do with fish adoptions, however.

[leyley904]

I know that pet stores are beyond awful. Way beyond. I'm just saying that something, no matter how small, if its in the right direction we should be happy. Not jump around happy. Maybe just smile. Like I said before, when you think about it, pet mills aren't going to disappear overnight, they will gradually through lots of small accomplishments.

[distancel]

Wow I have never heard a petstore actually screening people before they let them buy a pet. This is a good thing, in itself. The problem though still remains of WHERE they get their pets from. No matter if the pets go to good homes it is not making the situation of breeding mills/backyard breeding any better. Shelters will still be full no matter what good homes the petstore pigs go to. I don't mean to be mean, and maybe it is a step in the right direction, but I am just saying that the main problem is still there.

[Wheekie]

Too many nay-sayers on this forum seem to forget that every long journey begins with one little step.

[fridzalone]

I think the one we should impressed with is the manager, not the store. She could say "Okay, I let you buy one. But promise to upgrade your cage" and just sell it. But she didn't right?

It's really different between impressed by the manager and impressed by the store itself. And I think the policies about "only sold to the good home" is only another marketing strategy of Petsmart, come on they didn't really mean it.

[leyley904]

Too many nay-sayers on this forum seem to forget that every long journey begins with one little step.

EXACTLY!

[Paula]

Too many nay-sayers on this forum seem to forget that every long journey begins with one little step.

Sure, I can see this point, but the trouble is, the "little step" taken here isn't by Petsmart as a corporation, it's by an individual (or group of them) that works in this one store. And what's the benefit, really, if the person who is denied a purchase at this store can go to the next one and buy any animal as they please?

Yes, it's nice - I don't dispute that - but it's not a change being made by the corporation, as the corporation still sells animals that are sourced from cruel breeding mills or backyard breeders. THAT is the problem that we need to focus on making steps to resolve. We wouldn't have to rely on whether or not there are kind people working in the individual stores (as of course there are) to look out for the little ones if they weren't selling the animals in the first place.

[Wheekie]

But maybe this ONE MANAGER at ONE STORE will spread the word and influence other managers...and who knows? He might even be in a higher position someday and make this all a new rule! Since we can't wave a magic wand and make all pet store corporations and pet mills go away overnight, any little step in the right direction shoud be appreciated and acknowledged. Maybe the Mother went to another store and bought another guinea pig, true, but one piggie was saved and I say HOORAY!!!It's a small step, but at least it's in the right direction!

[Paula]

First of all, I'm not saying it shouldn't be appreciated or acknowledged. It absolutely should. I'm saying it's more or less meaningless as long as the same person who is denied purchase at this store can just go to another one and buy there. I'm saying that the effort - while outstanding - does nothing to address the underlying, much bigger issue of selling animals as merchandise.