Sold and surrendered - not yet six weeks

ALTHOUGH six-week old Coco is too young to be away from her mother, she has already been sold from a pet shop and surrendered to an animal shelter.

The brown female cocker spaniel was handed to the Lost Dogs Home soon after she was bought because the owner’s parents would not let her keep the pup, a shelter spokeswoman said. Shelter manager Sue Conroy said the girl did the right thing by giving up the pooch but it should not have been in a shop in the first place.

“People stroll past the window and get sucked into a gorgeous pup, not considering that it’s soon going to be an adolescent dog which will need training, desexing and vaccinations and is at least a 15-year commitment,” she said.

The Lost Dogs Home handles 11,000 dogs and 9000 cats each year.

The home’s managing director, Dr Graeme Smith, has called for a ban on selling pets in shops. "It is incomprehensible that the sale of pets in shops is still an acceptable practice, especially since many of the puppies come from commercial puppy farms."

Paul Collishaw, owner of four Pets Paradise stores, said the sale of Coco so young was against the code of practice. He said none of his stores sold pets to people under 18. “People work in this industry because we love our animals — and we want to make sure they go to the right home,” he said.

From: The Herald Sun