Okay, so we just bought a cockapoo from this store. You will find, upon further inspection, that they are in fact selling dogs that come from a "broker", QD Kennels in Missouri, which actually has a terrible reputation for being a puppy mill (despite being licensed with the USDA). QD currently brokers about 2,000 puppies a year and has had terrible reviews. I stumbled onto this because the day I picked up my puppy she had a terrible cough. I suspected kennel cough and took her to the vet two days later. While there, I pointed out to the vet that the vaccine record provided by Pawz and Clawz had the top part of the page cut off, and there was no name provided of the vet that would have administered the initial puppy vaccinations. It was suspicious to me and to my vet that the top of the page was cut (so I had an 8.5 x 8.5 page rather than 8.5 x 11). You really have no way of knowing if those vaccines were really and truly administered, because of course, anyone can write down anything and you have no way to prove or disprove it without any type of signature, stamp, name of vet, etc. I began to wonder if the puppy really had had the kennel cough vaccine, or any others for that matter.
I called the pet store upon returning home from the vet and asked for the name of the vet that had performed the initial vaccinations. I also asked what information had been cut off the top of the vaccine record. The man I spoke to hemmed and hawed and said that the microchip number had been the only information cut off. I said, no, the microchip number is on there and again asked what information had been above that. After my not letting up, he finally said that it was the name of the kennel, QD Kennels. I asked who the vet was and he said that the person who administered the vaccines was Brenda Schindler, who he said was the "vet tech" for QD Kennels. He said he didn't have any more information than that.
I looked up QD Kennels when I got home, found all the negative press, and also learned that QD Kennels is run by a woman named Bonnie Sue Schindler (who I highly doubt is a "vet tech"). No matter that they have a USDA license, this place is known for brokering substandard puppies at auctions in the south and apparently selling older dogs for research-- Dogs and puppies living in cramped and unsanitary conditions and then trucked around the country to auctions. If you do a Googlemaps view of QD's street address, you can see the satellite view of giant barns and what look like about half a dozen delivery trucks parked outside. In fact, QD was a major supplier (supplying thousands of dogs a year) to a pet store chain down south that eventually went out of business for its unscrupulous business practices.
So, although Pawz & Clawz indicates that their vendors are on the up and up because they have their USDA licenses, it really pays to do some research. Any store that would deliberately cut off the top of the vaccines document is clearly trying to hide some information.
Thankfully, we think we have begun to treat the kennel cough before this morphs into pneumonia, but I have learned my lesson. Whenever information is omitted on purpose, someone is trying to hide something. Do not do business with this store. There are reputable cockapoo breeders as near as Massachusetts, where the dogs are raised in homes with families. You will pay more money, but you will know that you didn't support a heinous industry that apparently is big business in Missouri especially. read more