| This Edition: In the Daily News August 12, 2000
The 3 R's of Puppy Lemon Laws
New York's Pet Lemon Law
The Slave Trade In Puppies
To Sweeten the Lemon Laws
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The 3 R's of Puppy Lemon Laws Many sick puppies sold by pet stores to the general public come from breeders who are more concerned about profit than the health of the puppies. Puppies are treated by some breeders like merchandise--mass produced with little care. Puppies are overbred; kept in crowded, filthy conditions; malnutritioned; separated from their mother and siblings too early; and even inbred to increase production.
There are, perhaps, three general categories of breeders: (1) the infamous puppy mill, a breeder that mass produces more puppies than it can handle, is motivated by profit, selling to pet stores; (2) the hobbyist, a breeder that cares for the future of the offspring, will not likely sell to pet stores, adhering to a code of ethics of a breed club; and (3) a nameless group, which I call "greenspan," that raises prices by limiting supply. This last category of breeder, the greenspan, will even require purchasers to sign co-ownership contracts, in which the breeder retains the right to decide what food to feed the pet; what medical treatment to give; whether or not to have the pet fixed; whether or not the pet can breed; and even requires the purchaser to pay as much as $10,000 for disobeying the breeder.
You have better remedies if you purchase a defective toaster than if you bring home a sick puppy. Some states have passed lemon laws for puppies, like they did for cars. However, puppy lemon laws, which are suppose to give puppy owners basic rights, actually limit the liability of pet stores, hobbyists turned commercial, and puppy mills. The puppy lemon laws usually limit the purchaser of a sick puppy to three options: (1) return the puppy for a refund; (2) replace the puppy with another one from the same seller; and (3) retain the puppy and get reimbursed for vet bills. These are the 3 R's of the Puppy Lemon Laws. The devil is, as always, in the details.
Puppy lemon laws do not police the breeders; instead, puppy lemon laws focus on the purchaser's remedies. In other words, puppy lemon laws do not force breeders to clean up their act; instead, the lemon laws spell out the purchaser's options if sold a sick puppy.* Puppy lemon laws have two glaring faults: (1) the laws limit the time purchasers have to exercise their rights, e.g., New York's puppy lemon law limits the time a purchaser has to find out a puppy has a contagious/infectious disease or congenital/hereditary defect to just two weeks; and (2) the laws limit the amount you can recover for vet's bills to the cost of the puppy. First, even Ikea will allow you to return or replace furniture within 45 days; and a toaster comes with a 90 day, one year or lifetime warranty. Second, veterinary attention for a sick puppy can be very expensive, even more costly than the puppy itself. Lastly, returning or replacing the newest member of the family, as if it were a defective toaster instead of an adoption, is out of the question for most human beings with souls.
New York's Pet Lemon Law . . . You can read the puppy lemon law for yourself in this PDF file: Sale of Unfit Dogs and Cats Law (General Business Law Art. 35-D). See also: Division of Animal Industry (NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets); New York State's Pet Lemon Law (NYS Attorney General's Office); and Lemon Law for Dogs and Cats (BBB).
The Slave Trade In Puppies . . . I personally recommend adopting a dog from the pound rather than supporting the slave trade in puppies. However, if you insist on purchasing a dog with "papers" that show its lineage, then look for a reputable hobbyist. Here are a few questions to ask to find a reputable hobbyist: 1. Does the breeder belong to a breed club? A breed club may require its members to adhere to a code of ethics to maintain membership. 2. Does the breeder enter shows? Inviting scrutiny from peers and the public may mean the breeder takes pride in the way the breeder cares for and raises all of his or her puppies. 3. Does the breeder allow visits to where the puppies are kept and raised? If complete "back stage" access is denied, then it may mean there's something to hide behind the curtain. 4. Does the breeder interview you about the home you will give to a puppy? If the breeder does not care about what you do with the puppy, it may mean the breeder did not care for the puppies in his or her care. 5. Does the breeder provide references, medical information, helpful information or anything else in writing? Most states do not require medical histories to be given to purchasers, but a reputable breeder should have that and more to give a purchaser. For more information, consider the advice given by these following sources about breeders: Mary Randolph, When a Dog Is a Lemon (NOLO Press); Puppy Lemon Law States; Robin Kovary, How To Choose a Reputable Breeder (American Dog Trainers Network); and Sick Puppies -- Disclosures and Lemon Laws.
To Sweeten the Lemon Laws . . . The puppy lemon laws are mostly bark and little bite. To sweeten the puppy lemon laws, the following changes should be made for starters: (1) the time to find out a puppy has a disease or birth defect should be lengthened; (2) the financial responsibility for vet bills should be increased; and (3) the puppy's age, origin, health record and history should be given to the purchaser in writing. These few changes would help take a bite out of the profit motive of (1) pet stores encouraging puppy mills (i.e., many pet stores buy with "no questions asked" and have no restraint even when they have the answers) and (2) breeders bringing to market mistreated and sick puppies.**
Footnotes . . . *If you are interested in the penalties for animal abuse, let me suggest two starting points relevant to this article. First, a NOLO Press article reports that a pet supply store was fined $7,500 for selling unhealthy dogs that it knew were unfit. See Mary Randolph, When a Dog Is a Lemon (NOLO Press). Second, in a federal court a judgment for $15,000 was entered for the loss of a stray dog's life. See Michael J. Gregorek, Esq., Pets Are Just Another Bag, Again (UpperEastCider.com). The first suggestion illustrates that the government response to animal abuse is infrequent (or we would have many more examples since puppy mills are so pervasive begetting us the puppy lemon laws) and not much of a deterrent to large chain pet stores who deal in volume. The second suggestion is to highlight an effort to value a dog by its right to survive. What is survival worth to you? **Throughout this article I wrote about puppies--the primary victims of disreputable breeders and sellers, but this information applies to mature dogs as well as kittens and cats in New York.
Update . . . The Saturday edition (August 12, 2000) of the New York Daily News (page 28) contains quotes from me regarding this article topic. | Past Editions:
If there is a gap between the date of this issue and the current date, then clicking on this link to the current edition will fill in that gap with a list of all the editions to date, if any, for you to review, below. July 4, 2000: Animals Are Just Another Bag, Again June 24, 2000: Premiere Issue
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