Formerly Investigated Old Town Puppy Store Says 'No' to Mills

When it comes to puppy mill breeders, Chicago's oldest pet store is putting its foot down.

Collar and Leash Pet Boutique in nearby Old Town at 1435 N. Wells St., is transitioning its dog supply away from potential puppy mills on April 1 and will have a grand reopening on April 6 and 7, representatives said. 

"We'd been in touch with The Puppy Mill Project founder, Cari Meyers for a long time, and realize it's time we take this jump with them to help make a statement to put an end to puppy mills," one of the store's owner Sonja Raymond said in a statement. "This truly is going to be an adventure. We will no longer buy and sell cats and dogs from mills and are proud to align ourselves with The Puppy Mill Project."

Collar and Leash was one of five North Side pet stores last year among a list of a dozen in the Chicago area identified in a Humane Society of the United States puppy mill investigation.

READ: Local Shops Part of Puppy Mill Investigation

The list also included Lincoln Park's Pocket Puppies at 2479 N. Clark St.; Portage Park's Hug-A-Pup at 4950 W. Irving Park Road; Elmwood Park's Top Dog’s Puppy Store at 6919 W. Grand Ave.; and Lake View's Puppies R Us at 3404 N. Ashland Ave.

Representatives from the Humane Society said, at the time, that undercover investigators visited 12 stores over a three-day period in October 2012, and found that many were linked to inhumane commercial breeders known as "puppy mills." During the visits, employees at the stores denied selling animals from puppy mills, but documents showed otherwise.

Raymond told Patch in December that she was aware of the allegations and that she and her husband, Dan, do their very best to make sure they were not purchasing from puppy mills.

"The No. 1 thing the public has to be aware of, is that we are forced to go through distributors," she said. "Sometimes, those distributors, unbeknownst to us, are the ones purchasing from puppy mills." 

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The high costs of puppies that come from private breeders would essentially put most stores out of business, Raymond noted, because the resale price following vaccinations and necessary care would be so costly that prospective pet owners wouldn't be able to afford them.

The Puppy Mill Project has been working with the store since earlier this year to make the transition to stop the sale of puppies. The move comes after several years of protests by the organization outside the store to help educate consumers about the origin of the pets sold inside.

“This is huge for all of us,” Meyers said in a statement. “I grew up looking at the puppies in the window of this store and it’s been my priority to stop the sale of dogs and cats at this store and move it to an adoption model. We’ll be working with shelters and rescues to host adoption days at Collar and Leash in the future.”

Collar and Leash has been at the Old Town location since 1956. It joins Dog Patch Pet and Feed from Naperville, Thee Fish Bowl in Evanston and Wilmette Pet Center as the fourth pet store in the metropolitan area to publicize their partnership with The Puppy Mill Project.

Raymond started to look at Department of Agriculture reports on the origin of the dogs that were being delivered to her store from the brokers. She said at that point, she could no longer trust those brokers to do business with them.

“The pet stores that sell dogs do make a lot of money from that end of their business when they make the transition,” Meyers said in a written statement this week. “Once they make the transition, they will see a lot of new customers that will want to shop at their store because they’ve stopped selling puppies.”

Collar and Leash's grand reopening will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 6; and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 7. There will be animal adoptions on site and Broadway Animal Hospital will be offering wellness checks and vaccinations.

Chicago's The Capp's Law Firm is among companies working to fight animal cruelty brought on by puppy mills.

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