HomeMy WebLinkAboutKayla Kerr 8.3.211
Danielle Marshall
From:kayla@puppylandwa.com
Sent:Tuesday, August 3, 2021 4:02 PM
To:Danielle Marshall
Subject:Puppyland comment D-194
Chair Matson and Committee,
Pet stores are often demonized and lumped into being bad actors by non profit agencies and
rescues. They seek to monopolize the industry so they can import puppies themselves and turn a
profit. Did you know that most of the rescue animals in Washington State come from Texas,
California, other states, and overseas? Without pet stores non-profits have little to no competition, so
they harass politicians with emotional propaganda and spin webs of incorrect information to sway
politicians towards their opinion. Pet stores need to be heard and we want to show that we provide a
necessity to the public!
My name is Kayla Kerr, and I am the proud founder of Puppyland. I appreciate you taking the time to
read this. I agree with your proposal that pet stores should be regulated, and current rules and
regulations should be broadened to include retail pet stores. I disagree, however, that all puppies
should be sourced within the state of Washington. Washington has no USDA breeders that have a
clean license for the last 3 years. This proposal of regulation would regulate us out of business. Just
like if we regulated shelters to only source their animals from within Washington State, they would be
out of business.
Puppyland goes above and beyond what is required, as does our broker and breeders! Firstly, they
are professional, licensed, and have clean inspection reports for a minimum of 2 years. We look for
things like exercise programs, socialization programs, veterinary programs, and retirement programs
when we chose which breeders to work with.
We attend continuing education seminars with our breeders and frequently assist hands-on with a
mobile veterinarian doing OFA health testing on the parent dogs. (All of our breeders must be willing
to participate in health testing for us to purchase their puppies.) We very much want to show people
that our breeders love their dogs and only want to breed healthy puppies.
Before we get our puppies in our store, they are all taken from breeders to one central location for a
few days. At this holding facility, you can call it a broker if you want, they are microchipped, checked
by a licensed veterinarian, and their paperwork is entered into the computer, so we have a digital
copy of their files.
After this the puppies are on their way to us! Transport consists of specialized vans that have trained
kennel technicians as drivers, special ventilation systems, and secured kennels. They drive 24/7 so
the puppies don’t have to be in transit longer than needed. When our puppies arrive they are checked
by a local licensed veterinarian again and we hold them for a few days to monitor them before we
send them home. Our puppies get daily checks from head to tail by our amazing kennel staff, and we
have both a 15 day health guarantee and a 10 year health guarantee for our customers.
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Our Puppy Counselors are trained to educate customers so that our puppies are well placed, and
customers are set up for success. If a customer is unable to keep a puppy for any reason within it’s
lifetime, we have our Furever A Home program to help them. At any point in time we will help the
customer rehome the puppy, or take that puppy back into our care so that he/she doesn’t end up in
the shelter. We are dedicated to our puppies and their owners for their lifetime!
We care about our customers, employees, and our puppies very much! It’s not about the bottom
dollar, it’s about providing a safe place for someone to purchase a healthy, happy puppy! The Renton
community has been welcoming, and we are honored to be a part of it! We have had customers come
back to purchase their second, and sometimes third, puppy from us.
I’m happy to host store tours whenever you are free and I’m happy to answer any questions that you
may have. Thank you for taking the time to read my testimony, I look forward to hearing from each of
you!
Warmest regards,
Kayla Kerr
Puppyland WA