Campaigning Against Sale of Sick Dogs
If a new car makes a racket on the drive home from the dealer, you take it right back. A new refrigerator won’t cool, you expect the store owner to make it right.
But what if you take home a defective dog from the pet store? And here’s a complicating factor: You know that if you take it back, the dog’s next fate is the Big Sleep.
Tina Moodhart, a registered nurse from Fountain Valley, is on a campaign to get dog breeders and their brokers to stop selling unhealthy dogs to pet store owners--and to assure that these store owners make their customers aware of any health problems a dog might have.
The dog in question here is Duncan, a beautiful Rhodesian ridgeback. A ridgeback, with a distinctive ridge of fur along its spine, looks a bit like a reddish-brown hound. But these dogs are large and carry the graceful look of a greyhound.
Ellie Shobe of Newport Beach recently walked into a pet store in Orange and immediately fell in love with the 4-month-old dog. She knew from the pet store owner that Duncan had some cyst lumps in his neck. The pet store owner had in fact taken Duncan off the market after other dog experts detected the problem.
So the pet store owner gave her the dog--a breed that usually sells for up to $900--for nothing, to save it from being sent back for euthanasia. The dog’s condition turned out to be much more serious than first thought. It was afflicted with dermoid sinus, a disease that can reach the nervous system. Without surgery, the condition can be fatal. Shobe had already spent $300 on supplies and a vet visit. Now she was facing a minimum of $500 more in surgery bills.
Not sure what to do, she found the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of the U.S. on the Internet. Through its rescue operation, Shobe found Moodhart.
Moodhart owns a ridgeback herself, and in the past six months has found homes for 19 ridgebacks who were facing euthanasia. Not an easy task.
Moodhart found a veterinarian to perform the surgery for free. With Shobe’s blessing, she now has Duncan in a foster home while he recovers.
So this one has a semi-happy ending.
But Moodhart contends the pet store owner should have volunteered to pay for the surgery. Shobe believes the owner had good intentions. But she too worries how many other pets being sold at high prices have been bred in what she calls “puppy mills,” where volume is emphasized over health.
At the pet store where Duncan came from, one of its dog handlers there told me that each dog has a one-year warranty; you can return it if it turns out the dog has a genetic defect. I suspect the argument will come over which types of health problems will fit within that definition.
We’re not talking about small change. The prices are not listed on the dogs’ cages, only in the back. But the dog handler said the prices range from $500 to $900. But when I pointed to one set of dogs and asked how much, she said they were $1,150 each.
For that price, Moodhart says, “breeders should not be sending these dogs to pet stores. And pet store owners should not pass on any unhealthy dog to a customer.”
If you want a nice dog for your family for Christmas, I’ve got a suggestion that beats any offer any pet store in the county can come up with.
Wednesday, I stopped at a place where dozens and dozens of dogs were on display, all for under $50. And that’s just a fee for shots and handling. The place is the Orange County Animal Shelter (just half a block north of the Garden Grove Freeway along The City Drive).
You’ve never seen such a batch of sad but hopeful faces. There was a 6-week-old Jindu (a Japanese dog, almost like a husky) more beautiful than any I saw at the pet store. I almost took her myself despite my family’s house full of cats.
This is not to knock those who are devoted to raising well-bred dogs. And by the way, if you’re in the market for a ridgeback, Duncan still needs a permanent home.
Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com
