Pet Store Loans Puppies For The Night

[Tilly]

Pet store loans puppies for the night

Milena Stojceska | 12:01am December 12, 2012

POTENTIAL puppy owners now have a new way to see if owning a pet is really for them.

Wildside Dogz at Surfers Paradise is the only Gold Coast pet store lending out puppies for the night so they are not left in a dark, empty shop.

It's a try-before-you-buy program called Bedtime Buddies and allows puppies to be collected by suitable pet carers after 5pm and dropped back to the store about 9.30am.

The store assesses the puppysitters and gives them food for the night and instructions on how to care for them.

Wildside Dogz owner Justin Byrnes said it was the best program for the puppies and dog lovers.

"This way the puppies go to a loving home every night. They get used to being away from the litter and they also become toilet trained," he said.

"People can also see if owning a puppy is for them.

"All we ask is that they won't lock them away at bedtime but provide nice and comfortable bedding like blankets or even have them in their bed."

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said pet owners needed more than one night to determine whether they could care for a puppy.

"We don't have a problem with the program as long as it encourages the family to realise it is a life-long commitment," he said.

"You need a lot more than one night to know the responsibilities involved in caring and owning a puppy."

The store is also due to close in the next month if business does not pick up.

Mr Byrnes said the light rail work outside the store had severely affected business since July -- with sales down by 80 per cent.

"With these road works, I don't know how long we'll be able to keep the shop going for, maybe another couple of weeks," he said.

"We're an independent store, so it's hard competing against pet store giants."

He said other pet stores usually kept their puppies in pens where disease and germs could spread because of the close proximity of their food to their faeces.

"Rather than sleeping in their own mess, they get to go home to a loving home and every now and then someone falls in love and buys the pup," he said.

Mr Byrnes said they only had one dog stolen in the past few years while the program had been running, but because all the dogs were microchipped and the sitters signed a contract, they were able to retrieve the pup.

The puppies range from eight to 12-weeks-old and vary in price between $390 to $2800.

The carers must be above 18 years of age and pet owners must show certification their pet is vaccinated and show various forms of identification.

The program is free and preference goes to locals who are looking to purchase a pup.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2012/12/12/443506_gold-coast-news.html

Personally I think this would be highly stressful for the puppies. I know when my little boy came home for the first time it took him a good week to settle in.

[minimax]

They think they become toilet trained by sending them to a different home every night? Yes, I imagine the consistency in training would be awesome

I think it's very stressful on the pups to be in a new environment every night

[SchnauzerMax]

I think they are banking on the fact that people would find it hard to give the puppy back in the morning.

[Sheridan]

And I think 'banking' is the right word there.

[Simply Grand]

Here's an idea if you think it's a bad thing for puppies to be left in a store and to have to toilet in close proximity to food and bed, DON'T SELL PUPPIES! Much simpler and kinder than shuffling the poor pups back and forth every night with god knows who

[Dame Aussie]

Here's an idea if you think it's a bad thing for puppies to be left in a store and to have to toilet in close proximity to food and bed, DON'T SELL PUPPIES! Much simpler and kinder than shuffling the poor pups back and forth every night with god knows who

Yup. :

[juice]

Petshop looking for feel good publicity for his ailing business.

Hope he goes out of business

[Dmayma]

Utterly disgusting.

Stressful and unfair for the puppies to say the least.

Furthermore, the puppies are not t-shirts or household items...they are living beings, not "things" and should be treated with a little more respect.

It is appalling enough that this store supports puppy farmers , let alone its overnight lay-by.

How is it possible such people are still in business? They should be shut down.

[tdierikx]

We used to have a pet store in my suburb that used to let people take pups home for the night... I did it quite often - and only ever bought one of them... *grin*

Nowadays, I'm much more aware of how easy it can be for a young pup that hasn't been fully vaccinated to pick up something really nasty... and wouldn't advocate for anyone to be participating in such a scheme...

I get all the puppy loving I need now from fostering them for rescue instead.

T.

[Guest Labradork]

How irresponsible. What a f***wit.

[jerry lee]

Another reason why pet food shops shouldn't be allowed to sell live animals.

[Alyosha]

$2800??

[Chris the Rebel Wolf]

He said other pet stores usually kept their puppies in pens where disease and germs could spread because of the close proximity of their food to their faeces.

Yes, that's why pet store puppies have health problems. Well done. No mention of the appalling puppy factories rife with diseases both genetic and viral? Funny that.

[indigirl]

$2800??

I was thinking the same thing .. Prolly a 'teacup' non shedding 'rare' oodle of some description

[misha&milo]

And then run off in the night with a $2800 puppy

[minimax]

And then run off in the night with a $2800 puppy

I wondered about that, but you probably have to give a security deposit or credit card details as security.

[minyvlz]

I've done this a few times for fun. Yeah you had to provide credit card details.

[espinay2]

Lets see. Take vulnerable pups into a range of different environments and then bring them back together again each day. No real provisions for the possible transmission of disease as I am betting pups are not quarantined after coming back to the shop. Just because the owners other pets are vaccinated doesn't mean that the pup is not vulnerable to things like Parvo or Kennel Cough. Particularly a pup under 12 weeks of age!

And not to mention the stress of being in different environments with seemingly no real controls placed on the carers apart from having a blanket for the pup or it sleeping in the persons bed ?????

[minimax]

And I wonder if the eventual new owners of the pup are told about the background, and it's being passed around each night to explain the issues it will have settling it and with seperation anxiety and the bad habits it comes home with?