I stopped to check out a new neighborhood pet store the other night. I won’t mention the store name, since this is not going to be a positive post.

As I was walking to the door, I noticed the big “Science Diet” poster on the window. At that point, I sighed, and figured this wasn’t going to be a new place to buy pet food.

Making a long story short, I was speaking with the owner, asking her about her training programs, and we started to talk about food.

I asked if Science Diet was the only food she sold? And she said yes, along with the “Nature’s Best” which is also Hills/Science Diet. She was very gracious, and asked what food I used, and I told her EVO and RAW. She was looking into selling EVO, only if she could offer it at a lower price than other stores. (side note: I can’t imagine Natura allowing her to sell their products along side Science Diet; but who knows)

Anyway, held my tongue, until she said that when she worked at an animal hospital, Science Diet was the brand sold by the hospital; I replied that most vets don’t know anything about nutrition, but she insisted that there were other brands that would have been more profitable, but they chose Science Diet.

Huh? Okay, Science Diet is not recommended by Vets because of it’s nutritional value. It’s recommended because of the huge profit margin. And it’s the same profit margin that this store was trying to make.

I mean come on! Look at the ingredients:

Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Soybean Mill Run, Flaxseed, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Potassium Chloride, Dried Chicken Cartilage, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Iodized Salt, Taurine, L-Lysine, L-Tryptophan, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-carnitine, DL-methionine, Dicalcium Phosphate, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, L-Arginine, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

It’s basically CORN! You are feeding your dog corn and some chicken beaks, feet, feathers, and other assorted by products if you choose Science Diet. Animal fat? What kind of animal? Soybean Mill Run? What the heck is that? Sounds like a by-product from a soy mill. It’s disgusting, and I wouldn’t even think about feeding one kibble of this garbage to my girls.

More info on The Science Diet Scam by Sabine Contreras, BetterDogCare.com & dogfoodproject.com

Anyway, the store looked nice enough, and her training methods were positive, but I lost a lot of respect for her because of the pet food she chose to sell in her store. It was kind of sad.

UPDATE: Since the time we brought Mindy home, my feelings about pet stores have completely changed. No matter what any pet store tells you, these puppies are from puppy mills. Plain and simple! No caring breeder would shuffle their precious babies across country in a truck or plane to be sold to strangers. Don’t believe it! And don’t support puppy stores no matter how "nice" they look or act!

I knew that both stores had Havanese puppies, and I thought that maybe it might be the breed for us. They were friendly happy dogs, but required grooming maintenance.

On Saturday (yesterday), we arrived at the Charlton Puppies Galore store and it was almost closing time. We didn’t have too much time to bond with any puppies. That turned out to be a good thing!

But when we returned home, I started to have doubts about spending all that money ($800) on a Havenese puppy that could have so many medical problems in the future, like knee problems, cataracts, or PRD. I was nervous about the puppies not being AKC registered too. Yes, AKC registered puppies would cost so much more, but would a private breeder be a better choice for our new addition??

We almost didn’t even go back to the store today (Sunday), because I really didn’t think we were ready to purchase this weekend. Funny how fate steps in.

I was in the shower and I thought maybe if I spoke with the puppy store(s) and found answers to all my nagging questions, I would feel more comfortable about purchasing our puppy from them.

We decided to go back to the Hopkington Puppy Patch store, and to be truthful, I didn’t feel any more confident about spending $800 for a Havenese puppy there. I tried playing with the little golden colored Havenese puppy but she was very lathargic, even in the private play room. The one at the Charlton store was also very sleepy but I attributed it to the lateness of the time of day.

Anyway, when we initially walked into the puppy room, we noticed that the little female Rat Terrier was still there. Mike picked her up and she kissed him. I saw how much he really loved this dog.

I tried swaying Mike away from the Rat, and we played with a little pug (Noodles was with us again this weekend, and she was in love with the Pug) along with the Havanese.

After we returned the dogs to their pens, Mike went into the restroom. I walked over to where the cute female Rat Terrier was and brought her into a play room.

A sense of calm swept over me and for the first time, I felt relaxed and comfortable about bringing a puppy home – bringing “this” puppy home.

I know it sounds terrible to admit, but she was less expensive than the other puppies at $350; but price wasn’t the only issue; she was a heartier breed and sweeter than any of the puppies we saw. She charmed her way into my heart.

When Mike came out of the restroom, I called him over to the play room where I was playing with Mindy. It didn’t take much convincing for Mike to agree that this puppy was the “one”

We had no food, no collars, no leash…we weren’t prepared for a dog today, but I wasn’t letting her go. She was meant to come home with us and that was that.

We stopped at Walmart to purchase a little collar (a cat collar with a bell, since she was so small) and leash. And we found some Eukanuba food at the local pet store in our town, along with some treats (like greenies.)

So Mindy arrived home with us today (February 20, 2005.) She is such a small little puppy and so very cute!

Actually I originally started to call her Dolly for a few minutes, until we finally decided on Mindy for her name. The three of us were searching through the list of names on the Shichon breed web site.

UPDATE: Since the time we brought Mindy home, my feelings about pet stores have completely changed. No matter what any pet store tells you, these puppies are from puppy mills. Plain and simple! No caring breeder would shuffle their precious babies across country in a truck or plane to be sold to strangers. Don’t believe it! And don’t support puppy stores no matter how "nice" they look or act!

This was the day that we met little Mindy, the female Rat Terrier, along with a batch of other wonderful little puppies.

We were just starting to look at puppies and Mike, Noodles (our niece) and I took a drive out the Puppy Patch store in Hopkington, MA and the Puppies Galore store in Charlton, MA. Both were (affiliated) stores that sold puppies from reputable kennels in the US and Canada.

We stopped at the Puppy Patch first. As you can see Mike was quite taken with this little female Rat Terrier. She was very sweet, her fur was white with a little spot of brown and black around one eye. Her ears were black too. I think she was the first dog we really noticed.

How fortunate that we have these precious photos as memories of our first meeting of Mindy. We didn’t know at the time, but Mindy would eventually become a part of our family very soon. I think she always knew she would be coming home with us. (I originally published a dozen or so photos of all the cute puppies to an online gallery. When my friend Farron saw Mindy’s photos, she commented on how she already had Mike “wrapped”)

A few other cuties we met were the Bichon, Beagle and male Rat Terrier (Mindy’s brother.)

We headed out to the Puppies Galore store next, and found many puppies there too.

There really were so many to choose from and I didn’t feel ready to make a final decision on the breed we wanted. I asked both stores all sorts of questions (in person and by phone) about their establishments and eventually we felt comfortable choosing a puppy there, as opposed to any other pet store. But there still was an uncertainty if we should find our own breeder instead. I liked the Puppies Galore store in Charlton better than the Hopkington store. It was the original store and more friendly and knowledgeable in my opinion.

(Note: Mindy was at the Puppy Patch store in Hopkington)

I was doing an enormous amount of research on breeds, and I did not think the Rat Terrier would be a good fit for us, seeing that we also had a little parakeet named Jack in the family. Rat Terriers by nature hunt little critters like mice, rats, birds, etc. I was worried about Jack’s safety.

I put the Rat Terrier breed out of the running of puppy choices. We were thinking of Havenese, Bichon Frise, and possibly even a Yorkshire Terrier. We even went to a dog show in Hartford, CT to further research the breeds.

But Mike really loved that little female Rat Terrier. (to be continued….)

What started us on the journey of bringing a new puppy into our family? It all started a few weeks before. After dining at a Chinese buffet restaurant in Billerica, MA, we walked over to the little pet store in the corner of the mall. We like to check out the birds and other pets.

There was the cutest little Miniature Pinscher pup in the glass cage. And I don’t know how to describe it, but he just spoke to us in some mysterious way. The way he “looked” at me, I felt such a strong message to “take me home” – He wouldn’t take his eyes off mine. It sounds hokey and corny, but he just leaped into my heart.

I have seen many many dogs in pet stores, and I think they are cute, but I have never before felt such a strong desire. Mike and I were in sync. I don’t know who said it first, but we started talking about someday bringing home a new puppy.

Mike then relayed the story to Noodles (our niece) and she excitedly tried to convince Mike to convince me to get the puppy asap. She always wanted a dog, and this would be fantastic. She was relentless in her ploy for a new puppy.

It snowballed from there. Could we get a dog? Do we have time for a dog? What breed of dog? Can we afford a dog? Who would take care of the dog?

I started to feverishly research online and at the Library for breeds, and dog training advice. It was an obsession.

I searched on the online rescues and shelters. Did we want to adopt a shelter dog?

We had a regretful experience with a shelter dog a few years ago; We adopted Sheba and had to find her a new home a year later. It was a traumatic and horrible decision to make, but I feel she is much happier in her new home.

We failed once, could we take the chance with a new dog? I couldn’t bear to fail again. We decided that a young puppy from a breeder was the best choice for us; we would have a clean slate to train him or her the proper way right from the beginning.

So the hunt was on….(to be continued)