Bought a Sick Pet Store Puppy? What You Can Do

Posted on by NHARL in Campaigns - Puppy Stores

Many people unknowingly buy a sick puppy from a New Hampshire pet store. If this happens to you, there are things you can do to help prevent it from happening to other people and puppies.

Contact us if you want help!

1. Report your complaint to Humane World for Animals

Complete the Puppy Buyer Complaint Form to submit a complaint. Humane World for Animals will attempt to bring details to the correct authorities, and may also be able to advise you or provide assistance.

2. Contact the Better Business Bureau

You can file a complaint online with the Better Business Bureau. This is an important step because Better Business Bureau reports stay on file and are available for others to read.

3. Contact the New Hampshire attorney general

Contact the attorney general and file a Consumer Complaint. You can file your complaint electronically or by printing and mailing a form.

4. Contact animal control

Animal control in the town/city where the pet store is located may not have jurisdiction over the store, but it’s good to alert them to your situation. Animal control officers are busy people, so be prepared to leave a message.

  • Manchester Animal Control: (603) 792-5461
  • Nashua Animal Control (Bob Langis):
    (603) 594-3500
  • Hudson Animal Control:
    (603) 886-6011 or
    (603) 889-PETS (7387) or
    jmcmillan@hudsonnh.gov
  • Lebanon Police: (603) 448-1212

5. Contact the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture

Call (603) 271-3551 (8:00 am–4:00 pm, M-F) or send email to these addresses describing your complaint:

  • Dr. Mark Prescott, State Veterinarian: Mark.C.Prescott@agr.nh.gov
  • Anna Richards, Veterinary Technician: anna.l.roberts@agr.nh.gov
  • Pet vendor complaints: petvendingcomplaints@agr.nh.gov

6. Contact the media

Local news outlets are always looking for human/animal interest stories. Reach out to New Hampshire newspapers, radio stations, and television channels via “tip lines” or contact an investigative reporter directly. Provide as much documentation as you can (photos, video, receipts). 

  • To Contact WMUR, call (603) 669-9999 or send email to breakingnews@wmur.com
  • To contact the Union Leader call (603) 668-4321 ext. 757 or email news@unionleader.com
  • To contact NHPR, call (603) 228-8910 or email news@nhpr.org

7. File a complaint with the breed club or registry.

If your puppy came with breed registration papers, contact the registry. You might also contact the parent breed club for the breed of your dog.

What Happened to Gus?

Posted on by NHARL in Campaigns - Puppy Stores

This was Gus. He was our puppy and he died at puppy palace...

— Holly B. (Yelp reviewer)
Gus the puppy

On July 22, 2023, a woman named Holly B. reviewed The Puppy Palace on Yelp and told the world how Gus, the puppy her family had planned to take home, died at The Puppy Palace.

(Note: Please disregard Yelp’s “Not Recommended” rating for Holly’s review. The site’s automated software likely mistook it for an unhelpful “rant” because it’s long and her only review.) 

A short, sad life

Puppy mills are large-scale breeding operations that put profit before the well being of dogs. The Puppy Palace in Manchester, NH sells dogs from puppy mills located in the Midwest. One of those dogs was Gus.

Bred in Missouri, Gus arrived at The Puppy Palace on May 25, 2023 in poor health and was not seen by a veterinarian for seven days. When finally examined, the veterinary report shows that Gus was riddled with hookworm and Giardia.

Veterinary report for Gus

According to Holly, Gus also had a cough that she noticed days after his arrival.

He was lethargic, his eyes and nose were runny, and he was not gaining weight like a healthy puppy.

— Holly B.

Holly goes on to write that the store told her that Gus had some kind of respiratory issue and would be treated with antibiotics.

On June 7, Holly went to see Gus, but he was not on display with the other puppies. According to her review, she was told Gus was heavily sedated due to his antibiotic treatment and was resting in the back.

Gus was found dead the morning of June 8, 2023 when staff opened the store.

March 27, 2024 — Remembering Gus on what would have been his 1st birthday

Gus was only one of many sick puppies

Gus is just one of many sick dogs who have passed through The Puppy Palace in Manchester. Below we share accounts of some other sick puppies and their stories.

You can find many more complaints about The Puppy Palace on Yelp and Google reviews.

About Kilo the Puppy

We caught up with this very unhappy customer outside The Puppy Palace on July 29, 2023. His puppy, named Kilo, was extremely sick.

About Alicia’s Puppy

In July 2024, the following review from Alicia Boisvert appeared briefly on The Puppy Palace website before being removed. 

About Chili the Puppy

My son bought his dog there…..$6,000 later! Picked up his Husky on Sunday August 27th….assured he was all healthy and ready to go home. Well on Tuesday (2 days later) he was at the emergency room veterinary hospital with a very sick dog. $$$$. My son WILL be taking legal action. It’s funny how the sales person was checking in to see how the puppy was doing. When my son told him the dog was very sick…. Those texts stopped immediately. I wonder why?! They knowingly sold a sick puppy!

— Angela DeVito Savastano (Facebook comment)

Puppy Stores

Posted on by NHARL in Campaigns

Despite many legislative attempts to ban the retail sale of dogs in New Hampshire, the practice remains legal.

We hold monthly protests of The Puppy Palace in Manchester and will provide signs to anyone wishing to protest at another puppy store.

Speaking up for pigs at the Market Days Festival

Posted on by NHARL in In the News

We are thrilled to share the news of our successful outreach efforts at the Market Days Festival in downtown Concord, NH, June 20- 22, 2024. 

During this three-day event, we invited visitors to get to know pigs as the smart, sentient beings they are and drew attention to how much they suffer when raised for food.

To welcome our visitors, we offered cans of vegan cold brew coffee from RISE Brewing Co. as well as a selection of plant-based milks.

Seeing is Believing

Visitors to our booth were invited to watch the following 1-minute video about pigs, titled, Do You Think That I’m Thinking?

Pig Quiz

We drew people to our booth by asking if they wanted to take a quiz about pigs, which most were happy to do. The quiz opened the door for a conversation about the inherent cruelty of raising pigs for food.

Results: While we didn’t get all the completed quizzes back (some people kept them), below are the results for roughly 200 quizzes handed in: 

Posters

We had a selection of thought-provoking posters, some of which we hung outside the tent, making use of what was essentially free “billboard” space!

Pig Toys

We gave out squeaky pig toys, popular with young and old.

Goodie Bags

We handed out more “goodie bags” containing vegan literature (sampling below).

Swigs for Pigs!

During the festival, we advertised our upcoming screening of The Last Pig in the hopes of attracting the “veg curious” to come see this powerful film.

This is an invitation-only event designed to reach not-yet vegans. The film is also available online.

Thank you!

Thank you to all our supporters and everyone who stopped by to learn about how wonderful pigs are and why we should not eat them.

Sat., Jun 14, 2025 – Portsmouth Market Square Day!

Posted on by NHARL in Events (Passed)

We’re excited to announce that NHARL will be supporting Voices of Wildlife in NH at the very popular Portsmouth Market Square Day this year! 

Our topic is safe and humane rodent management, emphasizing the importance of avoiding rodenticides.

This is a full day event (9 am to 4 pm) with an estimated 50,000 people walking through! Volunteers are warmly welcomed! Click signup button or email info@nhanimalrights.org. 

Sign up

Destruction of Nesting Birds

Posted on by NHARL in Campaigns, In the News

Sign Our Letter

Sign Letter to Hold Market Basket Accountable for Destroying Nesting Birds

On May 13-14, 2024, as part of a parking lot repaving and upgrade project, Market Basket in Milford, NH dredged a half acre of wetland at the entrance to their property. 

Market Basket wetland before dredging (Aug 2023)

Created in 1995, the pond was designed to capture rainwater. Over the decades, cattails filled the area and the pond became a wetland nesting site for red-winged blackbirds and grackles.

In May, blackbirds are actively building nests, sitting on eggs, and feeding hatchlings.

Such was the case at Market Basket, where blackbirds were seen flying in and out of the reeds, to and from their nests.  

Although the Market Basket store manager and the contractor, Continental Paving, were made aware of the presence of the birds, they proceeded with the dredging anyhow.

After being brushed aside when she expressed concern for the birds to the Market Basket store manager, one determined woman stood with a sign to inform shoppers.

Others joined her, some vowing never to shop at Market Basket again.

Concerned citizen informs shoppers

A knowledgeable Milford resident got involved and immediately sent an urgent alert to the state and federal agencies with jurisdiction over migratory birds asking them to step in and protect the birds. 

End of Day 1 (May 13)

By the end of the first day of dredging, more than half the pond was gone and countless blackbird eggs, nestlings, and fledgings had been destroyed.

Adult birds with food and nesting material in their beaks flew about frantically looking for their young.

A red-winged blackbird (circled) searches where his nest used to be.

Day 2 (May 14)

On the second day of the dredging project, we returned, with hope that the agencies charged with protecting birds would intervene. 

Instead, we watched helplessly as the massive digger destroyed the rest of the habitat.

As the excavator advanced relentlessly, we watched as adult birds, having waited as long as they could, finally flew out of the reeds, leaving their young behind. 

We also filmed it.

One protester spotted a lone fledgling and entered the pond to rescue him. Making her way toward the bird, she begged the machine operator to stop, pointing to the baby bird, but he kept going.

Protester enters pond to rescue a fledging.

She was able to scoop up the bird and contacted rehabilitator Maria Colby of Wings of the Dawn for guidance.

Too young to fend for himself, the bird was brought to the rehabilitator for care until he is old enough to be released. 

The lone rescued baby bird

The Fight Is Not Over

The woman who started this campaign by standing alone with a sign outside Market Basket wrote a song about what happened and put it on YouTube:   

While the fight is over for the birds who lost their lives and homes, it is not over for us!

We are working to hold Market Basket accountable and ensure that such reckless disregard for wildlife and wildlife habitat does not happen again.

Promoting Plant-Based Diets for Dogs at Mutt Strutt

Posted on by NHARL in In the News

On May 19, 2024, NHARL had a booth at the Manchester Animal Shelter’s Mutt Strutt, where we promoted plant-based diets for dogs.

Note: The French bulldog in the slideshow was purchased at The Puppy Palace in Manchester, then surrendered to the Manchester Animal Shelter when the purchaser realized he was sick. A shelter volunteer adopted him.

Can Your Dog Be Vegan?

Until recently, little data was available about the health of dogs on vegan diets. But there are now eight such studies in leading scientific journals, and all but one found that the healthiest and least hazardous diet for dogs is a nutritionally sound vegan diet.

We sent visitors to our booth home with sample servings of V-dog Kind Kibble and Wild Earth Performance Formula Dog Food — both brands are fully vegan — so they could try the food without having to buy a whole bag.

And we gave out a variety of “meaty” plant-based dog treats from Bright Earth, which were a big hit with the dogs who stopped by our table.

Thank you to our volunteers and everyone who stopped by to learn about vegan diets for dogs!

Promoting Our Wildlife Programs

Posted on by NHARL in In the News

Today NHARL had an exhibit at the Saving Special Places conference in Alton, NH to promote our various wildlife protection programs, coordinated by our volunteer Wildlife Programs Promoter, Caelin Graber. 

The conference attracted professionals working in conservation, land trusts, and natural resources management, so it was a perfect networking opportunity for NHARL.

One of our talented (and humble) members created this beautiful banner, printed on eco-friendly canvas

The colorful artwork drew visitors to our table and was the perfect starting point for talking about our wildlife programs and the philosophy of just leaving nature alone.

We gave out packets of native wildflower seeds.  

We also handed out postcards (shown below) with more information about our programs and copies of our Landowner’s Guide to Protecting Your Property.

New requests for free No Hunting signs are already coming in!

NHARL will be taking this “Choose Coexistence” exhibit on the road throughout the spring and summer to farmers’ markets and other events.

How you can help fight climate change

Posted on by NHARL in Articles & Letters

Letter to the Editor
The Concord Monitor
March 4, 2024

Regarding the Feb. 22 My Turn in the Concord Monitor that is making the most read list, “Our first Virginia winter? How climate change has impacted NH” by Eric Orff, I would like to respond.

Mr. Orff’s My Turn is an important reminder to everyone that climate change is real and happening faster than anyone thought it would. His voice is hugely important because it is being listened to by others who may still be on the fence about climate change. Our carbon footprint is weighing heavily on the only home we have. Some footprints are heavier than others. People who eat meat and dairy have footprints that are 73% higher than people who eat no meat or dairy.

Many of us can’t afford electric vehicles or solar panels but one inexpensive thing we can all do is to eat less meat and dairy, maybe even none.

I recently took an online quiz to see what my carbon footprint is. It came back with these remarks: “Avoiding animal products makes a big difference in your carbon footprint. Cows and sheep are ruminants that let out large amounts of methane gas, and the fact that you prioritize plant-based foods makes an even bigger difference. A completely plant-based diet has about 15% less carbon footprint than even a vegetarian diet that includes eggs and dairy products.”

Thank you, Mr. Orff, for your My Turn. Let’s all start helping by eating more plant based foods, which not only helps the planet, but our own health too.

BJ WAHL
Sullivan