Just spent 5 hours with a store manager and his district manager at Petco, and the worst of my fears were confirmed ?

This is kind of a store, so buckle down, I’m going to go through every detail because I think it’s important.<br><br>I live in Texas - 45 minutes northeast of Austin. I am a professional dog trainer, dog breeder, and owner of a doggy daycare facility. I am a close friend of the owner of the new Petco store that just opened up here - 2.5 miles from my house. I’ve been involved every step of the way, giving them feedback on the design of the store, spent hours training their employees about local breeders and how to recognize a reputable breeder. I have now helped them identify 2 dozen puppy mills/kennels and scammers that they were buying puppies from. <br><br>This was mostly all done via zoom meetings, until the district manager decided to fly in and ask me to come in and meet with them face to face. For the first hour, we walked around and looked over the store, identified some changes that needed to be made, the store manager is sending me a list of the breeders they’re buying puppies from. I’ve already identified 3 puppy mills and have the names of the owners of the kennel. They are all Amish owned.<br><br>I have done extensive research into Petco over the past 6 months - and I have identified over 300 scammers, puppy mills, and frauds listed as breeders on their website. This is not a small amount. They are all categorized, with all of the information I could find about them. Payment methods, address, fake website, etc. I’m working on getting this information to the district manager so they can go through the list nationally. <br><br>I’ve also gotten permission from the district manager to work directly with this new store, to take them to meet with local breeders, and to work on getting store credit for our puppies. The store manager is going to send me a list of the puppies they have in stock now, so I can identify puppy mills/scams. While some of this is going to be a lot of work on my end, I’m happy to do it for the dogs. For the first time, I actually feel hopeful. I also think that there is still a small amount of demand for puppies, that can’t be met by backyard breeders. <br><br>I’m just hoping that this is going to make a dent - or at the least, slow them down. The district manager seemed genuinely upset by the information I shared. <br><br>But now that I know, I have to keep going. ??<br><br>I wanted to share my experience with you all - as it may be helpful in the future.