(Sad) Babies

Today, I'm going to tell you all about my experience at the store Furry Babies in Aurora, IL.

In my last blog, I talked all about puppy mills, and how to identify them. In that blog, I very briefly mentioned the store Furry Babies. Furry Babies has 5 different locations, most of them in the Chicago area.

Last summer, I went to Aurora for a day shopping trip. After finishing up at the outlet mall there, my mom, sister and I went to the Fox Valley Mall.

While we were there, I noticed they had a Furry Babies store. Being obsessed with dogs, I had to take a peek.

The scent of cleaning products was potent, even 20 feet outside of the store. As soon as I entered, my lungs burned from inhaling all of the chemicals. I could only imagine how it would feel constantly being surrounded by it.

The inside of the store was decorated all pretty and pink as if it were meant for a baby girl. It had about 6 different cribs set up, each containing up to 5 puppies. The puppies were adorable, but a lot of them were fighting. I watched a puppy cry as another one was biting at it. You could see urine at the bottom of some of the cribs where the dogs were sitting.

The workers there all appeared young, most likely teenagers or in their early twenties. They were dressed in scrubs and walked around carrying multiple puppies in their arms. I asked one if I was allowed to hold one of the puppies. She looked me up and down and said in a condescending tone that I wasn't old enough and that I needed to be at least 18 years old. I responded by telling her that I actually was 18. She then rolled her eyes and asked which one I wanted to see.

All of the dogs looked up at me, longing for some attention. I wanted to break them all out and take them home with me. I picked one to hold and the worker gave it to me. I'd never seen a dog so excited before.

I noticed that some of the dogs were missing from the cribs. I asked the worker if that meant they had been sold. She said, "They're in the back. They've already been put to sleep for the night." I found that odd, considering it was only 6 o'clock. I also couldn't imagine how the back room of a store in the mall would be a good place for about 20 dogs to sleep.

After about 10 minutes in the store, my heart and lungs had had enough. I left, heartbroken for all of the dogs that would have to stay there until they were lucky enough to get sold.