The Top Dog Store™ Re-invents Retail for Dogs

During the past six years, leading thinkers in the Alliance for Urban Animals have worked to improve the homing of puppies and dogs.

This robust conversation developed codes of ethical conduct for breeders and quality marks for sources that will benefit those looking for a pet. In 2015, the breeder/source project moves into beta test with implementation cycles in both the US (Purdue, Center of Animal Wellness Science) and Canada (Alliance for Urban Animals).

Robert Church is an experienced pet product retailer as well as a former Director of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) Canada. In just a few weeks, Robert will open a new concept retail centre in Calgary for everything dog. The Top Dog Store™ will beta test concepts developed by primary thought leaders in the Canadian conversation. Members of the Alliance for Urban Animals have gathered to support a method of homing pets that can be replicated across the industry.

The Top Dog Store™ will produce a unique dog centric experience:

• Certified and inspected sources of animals;
• Enhanced levels of in-store care, staff training and bio-security;
• Preselection education about the dog lifestyle, responsibilities and costs;
• Homing protocols including a mandatory vet visit, animal warranty, national identification and return to owner services; and,
• Follow on services for clients that support behavior and training, ongoing health and re-homing assistance if necessary.

"The Top Dog Store™ offers a safe and reliable option for families wishing to add a puppy to their lives," said Robert Church. "Our store will help clients to understand the needs of their new companion in advance, ensure they select an appropriate animal for their lifestyle, deliver a healthy animal and create a lifelong supportive relationship," he added.

The Top Dog Store™ will be a centre of excellence in Calgary by helping clients develop relationships with other trusted service providers. As a member of the Alliance for Urban Animals, the knowledge and experience gained by Robert at The Top Dog Store™ will be the new retail story.

Kijiji Canada continues to lead the Alliance for Urban Animals to identify trusted sources of pets for the online environment. The Top Dog Store™ will be the first retail centre to be added to the Calgary portal of this joint Alliance/Kijiji program.

"The Top Dog Store™ is an exciting development in the long journey toward a more positive pet experience," said Dr. Drew Van Niekerk, Veterinarian and leader in the Alliance for Urban Animals. "For too long we have confused clients with passionate but conflicting messages about sources, diets, behaviors and owner responsibilities. The Alliance for Urban Animals is intent on creating positive pet experiences and healthy communities for pets and people. The Top Dog Store™ is a welcome addition to this initiative."

InfoStream plans to publish an interview with Robert Church including images of The Top Dog Store™ once the rigors of opening are complete.

“Mom, I want a dog!”

Stephanie McDonald
InfoStream Guest Author 

These are the inevitable words that many parents hear from their young animal-loving children. It begins the discussion of whether to add a dog to the household, or not. As parents, they will have to deal with this request and provide a reasonable answer to their child. And, of course, many children will continue a relentless negotiation as their parents make their decision.

“I promise I will walk the dog every day!”

“I promise I will clean up the yard.”

“I promise I will play with the dog, and feed it, and love it!”

I was one of those kids; you may have been too. In the end, I won over my parents and was given the greatest gift of my life, a sweet, little black puppy.  But where did they get my dog from? It certainly didn’t matter to me, at the time.

Back then, some could say, life was easier. We were not overloaded with information, opinions and social pressures. Getting a dog was as easy as shopping at the pet store, finding a neighbour with a litter of puppies, locating a breeder, visiting the animal shelter or searching the classified ads.

In those days, any of those options was as socially acceptable as the next. I don’t think many people gave it a second thought.

The current options are not substantially different—add sourcing a rescue group to the list, and the options for finding a dog today are pretty much the same. But being in the age of readily-available information has changed many people’s perceptions. More people are aware and conscious of the pet overpopulation crisis and are seeking to make informed, socially responsible decisions about where to find their next pet.

For some, the most apparent solution for not wanting to contribute to this massive overpopulation problem is to adopt their dog from a shelter or rescue group. After all, rescue groups and animal shelters have done a pretty fantastic job of getting the “Adopt, don’t shop!” message out there.  But for others, the choice is not so straight-forward.

What if the pet you want is simply not readily available at the local shelter or rescue group? The reality is, certain breeds enter shelters or rescue groups incredibly rarely and, let’s face it, once a family is ready for their new pet, the wait can be nearly unbearable.

So, you head over to the online classifieds and find pages and pages of puppies for sale. In a few clicks in you realize that some of the “breeders” of these pets may not be on the up and up; in some cases they appear to be backyard breeders, others are accidental litters, and in the worst cases they’re puppy-mills disguised.

Presumably, you still want to be part of the solution. You want to make a good decision for your family and make one that takes animal welfare into account.

What now? What happens when your search for information leads to more questions? As a public member simply wishing to do the right thing while adding a new family member, it can begin to feel nearly impossible for you to do just that.

How do animal welfare leaders create a road-map for the public? Despite the pet overpopulation crisis, is breeding animals ok under the “right” circumstances? What are those circumstances? What does it mean to be a “responsible reputable breeder?”  Who defines it? Who regulates it?

Can the breeding industry accept standards, guidelines, transparency and maybe even an accreditation process? Can they reach a consensus on what that process is?

I spent over a decade of my career advocating for animal welfare as CEO of a large humane society. I’ve seen thousands of families choose the adoption option and I strongly believe that it’s a great option for most people, but I’ve also come to understand why that isn’t always the first or best option for everyone.

When faced with the question of where to get a pet when adoption is not an option, I’ve provided the “from a responsible breeder” answer. Guidelines, like these from the HSUS, provide a basis for people to start to figure out what that means. But it’s not necessarily an easy process for people.

I believe that it is time for the pet breeding industry to develop and accept standards and accreditation that account for animal welfare and care throughout the purchase process. The standards need to all-inclusive, from record keeping and health care to housing and environmental enrichment.  They need to account for these aspects for the offspring and for the breeding pets as well.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as I see it, and it won’t be an easy task.  Animal shelters and rescue groups are struggling with this task too. Not all shelters and rescue groups are the same, and they all have different standards.  It is getting better with introduction of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians Shelter Guidelines, but we still have a ways to go.

As animal welfare professionals, I believe we have a responsibility to help the public make the most informed, ethical choices possible.  We should be thrilled when people add animals to their families in a well-considered and responsible manner whether the animals come from a shelter, a rescue group, or from a responsible reputable breeder. But we need to guide this process, set some standards and help people as much as possible, don’t you think?

ABOUT STEPHANIE MCDONALD:

Stephanie and her experienced team provide consulting services for animal welfare organizations. Partnering with Humane Society Management Services Canada LLC.  

Stephanie McDonald was the CEO for the Edmonton Humane Society for over 12 years. She introduced a multitude of innovative shelter operational improvements, focusing on improved animal care, new facility, customer service, fiscal management, disaster response and employee satisfaction.

Stephanie has been recognized internationally and locally for her contributions to animal welfare and has received several prestigious awards.

Facts and Evidence: Why we need Science-Based Breeding Guidelines?

In January 2014, Purdue University engaged Candace Croney, Ph.D. to direct the Centre for Animal Welfare Science (CAWS). Dr. Croney is leading the CAWS initiative to discover a science base (Facts and Evidence) for breeding.

Judi Stella, Ph.D.

Summit 2014 is pleased to present CAWS:

'Setting the Standard: Why We Need Science-Based Breeding Guidelines' directed by Judi Stella, Ph.D.

For more than a decade, passionate people have waged a war against 'puppy mills' and 'irresponsible breeding'. However, the industry has found it difficult to agree, or even to constructively disagree, on an evidence based approach to breeding. For this reason the battle has produced collateral damage and unintended consequences for retailers, breeders, brokers, rescues and pet owners who through no fault of their own may have crossed an imaginary line.

Several attempts have been made to engage Urban Animal stakeholders in a conversation that would produce guidelines. The 'breeder codes of ethical conduct' conversation which began at Summit 2009 was the latest attempt and by 2011 had not produced an accepted result. However, the Pet Experience Project of Summit 2012 showed that sourcing was a major issue for pet owners and a fundamental cause of surrender and abandonment. Summit 2013 developed a 'sourcing conversation' that revived the interest in developing breeding standards and a way of identifying animals produced under this standard with a Certified Quality Mark (CQM) program.

It is in this context that Judi Stella Ph.D., arrives to stimulate the Sourcing conversation with evidence of the need for Science based breeding guidelines.

Register for this conversation

Ed Sayres on commercial breeding and retail bans

New President and CEO of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, Ed Sayres, is standing behind the organization's position on the banning of retail pet sales. 

READ MORE: What's next for Retail Bans and Commercial Breeding?

Earlier this week, Sayres posted an opinion piece on the PIJAC website where he stated that sub-standard operators make up a small percentage of breeders in the U.S. and they are giving the entire pet industry a bad name. 

"The truth is that most breeders are getting it right. Many are not just meeting but exceeding humane standards of care with state-of-the-art facilities where puppies get the best veterinary care, a healthy diet, clean, spacious kennels and safe comfortable transportation," he said. 

"Given that fewer than 10 percent of all dog owners buy their dogs from pet stores, restricting pet store sales will do little to address the underlying problem of sub-standard breeders." 

READ MORE: For the Love of Pets, Give Consumers Choice