>OH!  there was a sign on the puppy aquarium saying "don't ask to handle
>the animals unless purchasing"!!!  can you believe that??!!  how am i
>suppose to know whether or not i want to purchase an animal if i can't
>handle it???  sounds to me like they know that their animals are unhealthy
>and they don't want anyone to find out about it.  and i don't know why
>they'd think i'd want an animal that hasn't had anybody handling it!
 
hi:)
I'm a part-time pet store worker and vet student from the sunny Australia.
I hadn't intended to be contentious in my very first post but I really
couldn't ignore the above.  Whilst it is obvious your heart is in the right
place, pet stores have these policies to protect the animals.  It is very
distressing for a young animal to be taken out of a cage and away from its
litter mates to be poked, prodded, grabbed at, fondled, examined etc...
every five minutes by well intentioned (though undeniably thoughtless)
petlovers that just happen to be passing through.  We have literally 100's
of people everyday who come in just wanting to give the "cute puppy" in the
corner pen a "little pat".
 
I realise that seeing this from the animals perspective is difficult if one
hasn't worked in this sort of environment (I certainly had no idea how much
attention these animals received before I started working at the store) and
I can understand your concern, but if US petshops are anything like the
ones here - the animals are probably OVERHANDLED.
 
hope this was useful,
 
Sally Smith
 
(Despite what everyone thinks not ALL petstore ppl/vets have it in for the
little fuzzies.  I LOVE 'em!:)
[Posted in FML issue 2847]