Simona, Kali dog’s human, sent me this photo of a dog dealer’s shop in Kathmandu.
She says that the the shop usually has little fuzzy bichon/poodle-type dogs available in the store, but you can order a golden retriever or German shepherd pup from the store’s catalog.
This is Nepal, a country that occasionally has a Maoist government take over (through elections of all things), but they allow this bit bourgeois decadence to go on.
And don’t be smug.
You can still find shops like this in the US, and at one time, they were very commonplace. As recently as 20 years ago, every pet store sold puppies.
And we still have mass-production facilities for puppies.
It’s just in Nepal, it’s still politically correct.
The mass-production puppymill providers were not always the case. Back in the first half of the 20th century, most pet shops got their puppies from private breeders. I have several old books for breeders of that era, and selling through pet shops was just one more way for the small breeder to sell. Also, back then, pet shops were not chain frnchises, either, more of “mom and pop” operations, even the classy ones in big cities. Some very well-bred dogs came via pet shops.
But that was then. And now is different.
Unfortunately, here in Australia they still sell pets in ‘some’ pet shops – cute little fluffy puppies, kittens, rabbits etc. However, FINALLY the word is starting to get out not to purchase from pet shops.
This whole ‘designer dog’ business started here, when the Australian Guide Dog Association needed an allergenic type of guide dog and thus the Labradoodle was born – after which you get all of the other poodle and other crosses that developed – all over the world – all under the guise of hybrid vigor. This is something that as an Aussie I’m not too proud of.
A popular area for walking dogs off the lead around here covers many acres of public access hill country and here one meets a wide variety of energetic dogs and owners enjoying this beautiful place. An increasing trend seems to be these bespoke crossbreeds: labradoodle, cockerpoos and various others. You have to judge as you find and I observe that in the main they seem to be friendly and bidable dogs with caring owners. This may often be a better option than obtaining some so called ” pedigree” with the potential built in health, temperament and structural issues.
In the specific case of labradoodles, which Marg mentions, I’m told that there is now a tendency among serious breeders towards using DNA tested males; a good thing especially when there is the intention of breeding from an F2 generation where there is the potential for hidden disease factors to resurface.
20 years ago there was a pet store in the local mall in the nearest city. Haven’t seen one sense,but they do still exist. Rabbits,ferrets and the occasional kitten can still be seen though. With kittens they just use them as a outlet for free or cheap oops litters.
Why is the sign in English?
The shop looks fairly new and is located in a rather upscale area of Kathmandu. Prime Minister’s official residence and the Russian Embassy for example are close by.
I wonder of there are still any pet shops in the world that sell monkeys? That used to be quite common
I don’t think we have any pet shops that sell live dogs or cats in Gainesville (apart from an occasional day when the rescues bring dogs for adoption into PetsMart), but we have THREE shops that sell live reptiles! I guess the animal rights people don’t recognize reptiles as animals.
In response to Jill, I am in the translation business, and quite often we have been asked to translate signage into English to give the impression that the premises is ‘upmarket’. You will also find that labeling on products is also quite often in English for the very same purpose.
Thanks Marg, I looked up Nepal phone codes and they have 8 and 10 numbers in them. I thought one of the phone numbers might be Houma Louisiana, and the other, if I remember right, Charlotte North Carolina, US.
It didn’t make sense for the sign to be in English, but it didn’t look like American shops, but you explained it.