Frank Mineo

AZ I See It

I was 12 when I first started working at my dad’s pet store in Buffalo, cleaning cages, filling empty water bowls and making sure the dogs and cats were fed. In 1978, my parents moved us to Phoenix to escape awful winters and to see if they could build on their dream of creating a successful small business.

Their dream eventually became mine, too. By the time I was 18, I was managing my first store.

Today our family owns Animal Kingdom and Puppies ‘N Love. For more than 40 years, we have taken great pride in providing happy, healthy pets to families in Arizona. We set high standards for the breeders we do business with and provide amazing care to each animal that comes through our doors.

So we were stunned when Phoenix passed a law banning pet stores like ours from selling animals from commercial breeders. We felt caught in the crossfire. It remains a misguided effort to eliminate puppy mills.

A federal judge last month upheld the ordinance. But while the judge ruled against us on the basis of the law, he went out of his way to note that our store is exemplary and avoids buying from puppy mills. He said our store “works hard to ensure that its puppies have been raised in a humane and caring environment.”

That’s why I was so upset to read your Aug. 3 editorial ("Furry friends win with court's pet-store ruling”), which lumped us in with unscrupulous people who clearly mistreat animals for profit.

Our company has not made one decision without first considering what is best for the animals and doing right by them. Unfortunately, animal rights activists, to further their anti-pet store/anti-breeder agenda, have spread a lot of misinformation. Discovering the truth requires looking past these stereotypes.

Denying families the right to purchase a puppy from a store like mine isn’t the way to get rid of puppy mills. The judge himself affirmed that we do not sell animals from such repugnant people.

Neither the Phoenix City Council nor the Humane Society of the United States has shown proof that banning the sale of puppies from Puppies ‘N Love will do anything to shut down a single puppy mill, though it will surely harm federal- and state-licensed and -regulated responsible breeders.

Your editorial suggests the Phoenix law will help promote adoption of homeless pets. That is a worthy goal. We have converted one of our stores to an outlet for adoptions and have begun offering to adopt out some of our breeders’ adult dogs.

But we also believe that buying the right dog for your family should be based on your needs, not anyone else’s agenda. Making it more difficult for families to find the right pet will only create the unintended consequence of driving more people to unprofessional backyard breeders or the unregulated Internet marketplace.

Let’s instead put our energy behind more rigorous breeder standards. There is an effort underway at Purdue University to do just that. My colleagues across the country who work with pets and pet products support such a concept. That will give everyone the confidence to know all animals from commercial breeders are being treated the way our puppies have always been treated.

If Phoenix wants to shut down puppy mills, that’s what it should do. But don’t go after my business, which has a 40-year track record of compassionate care toward animals, just to say you’ve done something for the humane treatment of animals.

As Judge David Campbell accurately wrote in the conclusion of his ruling: “The burden of the Ordinance will fall hard on the Puppies ‘N Love store in Phoenix.” Tell me about it.

Frank Mineo III is president of Animal Kingdom/Puppies 'N Love.