Internet dog sales bite back
By Valerie Berenyi, Calgary HeraldFebruary 17, 2011

Just ask Catherine Rogi about buying her “devil dog,” also known as Bandit, via the Internet.

The Calgary mother of two had been looking for a new dog after the family’s rescued greyhound died. In June, Rogi’s 16-year-old daughter came across a cute little Bichon-shih tzu mix on Kijiji, an Internet marketplace, and fell in love. She decided to use $350 of her savings to buy it.

Rogi says she thought, “Well, this will be a nice learning experience,” and contacted the owner, who said she lived overseas and that cousins in Calgary were looking after the dog. Arrangements were made to pick up the puppy, reportedly eight months old, at a downtown apartment building.

“When we got there, I realized they hadn’t given me an apartment number. Normally, with a new dog, I would go in and see if it has food aggression and to see how the dog reacted with my daughter and do a couple of tests,” says Rogi.

Instead of letting her into their apartment, the sellers brought the dog out to them. He barked at first but otherwise seemed friendly.

“They were going on, ‘Oh we’re so happy we found a home for him.’ They said they had to get rid of him because he was barking in the apartment,” Rogi recalls. They also told her he needed “a little pill for an upset tummy.”

“That was a red flag and I told my daughter we shouldn’t be purchasing this dog. They lowered the price (to $300) and genuinely seemed concerned about the dog, asking if they could come visit it. “Me, being so naive, said ‘Sure, here’s where we live. Here’s my number.’”

In the car, the dog began showing signs of stress. When Rogi did a shoulder-check while driving, it leaped up and bit her face.

Once home, the dog urinated all over the house. It was snarling, fearful and snapped at Rogi when she shooed it off the sofa. She immediately phoned the sellers. No answer.

She then e-mailed them, asking to return the dog. They responded a few days later with, “Buying a dog isn’t like buying groceries. You should have thought about this first.”

“I was quite angry. I’ve had a dog my whole life and our dogs have always been well-behaved. We are very dedicated to our animals.”

A vet check revealed the “puppy” was 18 months old. Its medical history and vaccination record were unknown. Its adorable exterior masked a tiny tyrant who hated children. And that little tummy upset? Worms, from a nasty habit of eating other animals’ feces.

Nervous about having given out their home address, Rogi and her husband decided not to contact the sellers again. They debated euthanizing the dog.

“Our daughter was very stressed. It got to a point where she hated the dog.”

Rogi and her family learned the hard way that buying a pet on the Internet is fraught with peril.

The issue was thrust into the spotlight on Wednesday when a neglected, emaciated bichon cross puppy covered with sores was surrendered to the Calgary Humane Society by a woman who’d bought him in a parking lot — another Kijiji deal gone bad.

The anonymity of buyers and sellers on the Internet makes it difficult to hold responsible those who mistreat animals, says Brad Nichols, head of protection and investigations at the Calgary Humane Society.

“When there’s profit, people seem to forget animals are feeling beings rather than a commodity,” he says.

Pets for profit. Backyard breeders. Puppy mills. Homeless animals. All are tied in with what Bill Bruce, director of Animal and Bylaw Services for the City of Calgary, says is the need for the “responsible procurement” of pets.

He and other animal welfare experts say would-be pet owners must become informed and start asking questions: Where did this cat or dog come from? Under what conditions was it raised?

Pets (and owners) pay the price

“We are extremely concerned about the number of animals for sale on the Internet,” says Patricia Cameron, executive director of Calgary Humane Society, which takes in 8,500 animals every year.

“We’re seeing quite an influx of small and designer-type doggies this year. In November, 32 per cent of our dog population were shih tzu crosses, bichons, Boston bull terriers, chihuahuas. That is a big change in the shelter population and often it’s an Internet or Kijiji sourced dog.”

There’s also been a record number of “purebred-type” bigger dogs — bulldogs, beagles and labradoodles — surrendered. But they come without Canadian Kennel Club tattoos, indicating they are likely sourced from the Internet, Cameron says.

The flood adds to the population of homeless animals, and the costs are borne by non-profit agencies and city taxpayers, she points out.

Because the ’Net is “completely unregulated,” Cameron is working with Kijiji to create a “safe channel” for pets.

“Kijiji tells me Calgary has the third highest level of breeding and posting of animal ads on the Internet after Toronto and Montreal.”

The Humane Society is seeing ads from breeders offering up to eight different kinds of animals online. Many are so-called backyard breeders, amateurs who get a pair of breeding animals and set themselves up in business.

“You post a free ad on the Internet and you start to get $700, $800, up to $3,500 per animal,” Cameron explains. “It seems like easy money, but responsible breeding isn’t a high-margin activity. There’s a lot of costs and you can’t do it like a production line where every time the female goes into heat she has a litter. Irresponsible breeders do exactly that and the animals pay the price.”

Again, the anonymity of the Internet fuels pet exploitation. Reputable breeders meet prospective owners several times, assess their suitability, introduce the breeding pair and have lineage and veterinary records at hand.

Backyard breeders and the operators of higher volume puppy mills prefer to meet people in parking lots or beside Deerfoot Trail for a quick cash-for-animal exchange — no questions asked.

“It’s a classic case of what you don’t want to support as a caring responsible pet owner,” says Cameron

She doesn’t believe pet owners want exploited animals; they’re looking for animals to love as family members, but lack of awareness and education sabotage good intentions. Spaying and neutering are also key.

Six years ago, Julie Bousfield got her first dog from a backyard breeder after responding to a free classified ad for border collie-cross puppies.

“Basically it was someone wanting to off-load some puppies and make a quick buck,” says Bousfield. “At the time, we didn’t know any better. We went and looked at the litter and there were a couple of really big red flags: the mother was timid, the father wasn’t there. A couple of the male puppies were really aloof to people. Now, I’d know to turn around and walk the other way.”

Bousfield handed over “a couple hundred bucks,” took nine-week-old Daisy home and soon discovered her many behaviour problems.

“I don’t think (the litter) had any socialization to people. She’s fearful, scared of strangers, scared of other dogs, scared of just about everything.”

Bousfield has spent four years and countless hours working with dog trainers and taking classes to help Daisy. Now a volunteer with the Animal Rescue Foundation, which rescues unwanted and stray dogs and cats from First Nations and rural communities, she’s learned a lot about the ugly issues surrounding companion animals in our communities.

Internet worse than pet stores

Puppy mills and backyard breeders are a growing concern, says Bruce.

To combat the problem, animal welfare advocates have long called for stopping the sale of companion animals at pet stores. Richmond, B.C. banned the retailing of dogs in October; it was the first Canadian city to join a growing trend of North American municipalities seeking to crack down on puppy mills.

While Bruce is closely following other communities’ efforts, he says retail bans may not be the answer.

“It won’t make a lick of difference,” he says, explaining that pet stores will just open in satellite communities around Calgary and even more animals will be sold anonymously on the Internet.

Still, he wants to address retail sales — “I find the whole concept of putting an animal on display like a pair of shoes or a handbag offensive” — because it can lead to impulse purchases.

“It’s not like the adoption process where we interview you and try to educate you about the responsibility and expense you’re taking on. This could be a 20-year relationship you’re walking into. You need to put more thought into it than you do buying a pair of shoes.”

Bruce wants to include “responsible, ethical procurement” in the city’s acclaimed Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw. He’s started discussions with the pet industry and the public to look at the big picture. Ideally, controls on sales and breeding would be provincewide, he says.

For its part, the pet industry is changing its ways through training and by implementing standards of animal care, says Louis McCann, executive director of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council of Canada, a non-profit, voluntary body that speaks for the Canadian pet industry.

A survey by PIJACC in 2010 found most of its member retailers source their puppies from commercial or home breeders. What controls are in place to ensure they’re from reputable breeders and not puppy mills?

“The answer is not enough. We feel there are not enough controls in place,” says McCann, formerly a director of cruelty investigations at the Montreal SPCA. “We provide advice and information on what (retailers) should look for from somebody offering to sell their dogs to them for resale. All we can do is recommend to them, to be honest.

“But we find that more and more, because of public opinion, retailers realize that it’s important to have that kind of strict review when they select their animals.”

McCann believes the one of the advantages of retail stores is that they’re accountable and at fixed addresses.

The Humane Society is not advocating a ban on retail sales at pet stores.

“Pet stores are very much in the public eye; they’re very visible and they’re more careful,” says Cameron. “When we look at the sources of animal overpopulation and all of the animals that end up in rescues and shelters, we are do not see a huge volume of pets bought from retailers.

“The leading pet retailer has a lifetime guarantee, so if an animal comes to us from that source, we pick up the phone, tell them to come pick it up and re-home it.”

A sort-of happy tail

Catherine Rogi wishes she could have returned Bandit. After the purchase, it got sick and required about $1,500 of medical care.

“There was incredible family stress for the first three or four months,” she says. To their credit, they are working hard to rehabilitate the little pooch.

“The changes in the dog have been amazing but it was a full family commitment. Our daughter has since come on board,” she says.

With strict training, patience and love, they’re slowly helping Bandit overcome his fears and teaching him to be nice. Still, Rogi doesn’t completely trust the dog.

“The bottom line is we bought the dog off Kijiji and there isn’t a guarantee. The main thing I’ve learned is that you need to read a lot before you purchase a dog. There are so many good books out there — ones that I’m now reading, after the fact.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Internet+sales+bite+back/4303882/story.html