PetSmart takes heat for excluding pit bulls from doggie day care
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Newsday’s pet columnist and blogger Denise Flaim writes in a recent post that the pet supplies retailer PetSmart has been the target of online complaints about “breedist” requirements at its doggie day-care facilities.
Its PetsHotel and Dog Day Camp programs do not welcome any dogs with a “bully breed” classification, which it defines as “American Pit Bull Terriers, Miniature Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Bull Dogs, Bull Terriers or mixed breeds that have the appearance or characteristics of one of these breeds.” It also retains the right to reject individual dogs of any breed. “I will no longer patronize them in any way -- and have written them to tell them so,” wrote one irate cross-poster. “On the Web site, there is a ‘contact us’ capability to send an e-mail. I thought a good name for them would be PetStupid, and told them that was what I would call them from now on ... ” Animal House
The criticism of PetSmart is another installment in the ongoing debate about much-maligned pit bulls, which have experienced high kill rates at local animal shelters and have faced municipal bans, mostly because of their tough reputations as fighters.
--Tony Barboza