Ex-worker airs issues with store’s puppy care

Owner of the Family Puppy says dogs healthy, stimulated

People pro-tested the Family Puppy store at Talmadge Road and Monroe Street last year. A former employee has accused the store of improperly taking care of its dogs.

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John Stottle, co-owner of the pet store chain with his wife, Debbie, said Mr. Hasenfratz is a “disgruntled employee” and did not inform the owners of his concerns.

A Toledo man is publicly speaking out about what he claims are a number of issues at the Family Puppy in the Franklin Park Mall.

Casey Hasenfratz, a former employee at the pet store, took to social media Tuesday night to quit while detailing allegations of sick puppies, dirty cages, a lack of stimulation for the dogs, and store staff lying to customers. Mr. Hasenfratz said the store is poorly managed by employees who are unqualified and improperly trained.

“I’m not trying to attack the owners as much as I am how the store is being ran currently,” he told The Blade. “I would like the store to have better management.”

John Stottle, co-owner of the southeast Michigan pet-store chain along with his wife, Debbie, said Mr. Hasenfratz is a “disgruntled employee” and did not inform them of his concerns.

“He’s never voiced any concerns to me personally,” Mr. Stottle said. “He can pick up the phone and call me. It’s not like we’re not attainable.”

Mr. Hasenfratz said he witnessed “countless” puppies arriving in Toledo from the chain’s three Michigan stores sick, primarily with diarrhea and sometimes coughing, during his nine-month employment.

“Pretty much every dog has diarrhea when they get there,” he posted. “Sometimes we have to isolate a dog in the back because it gets too bad for customers to see.”

Mr. Stottle said: “All of our puppies are seen by a minimum of two veterinarians prior to being made available for a family to take home. All puppies brought into the Toledo location are again seen by a licensed veterinarian and an interstate health certificate is issued.”

Mr. Hasenfratz also expressed concern about what he alleged is a severe lack of stimulation and socialization for the puppies. He said they are removed from their cages only for cleaning and if a customer 21 years or older wants to interact with a dog. Employees rarely play with the dogs, he said, and they are not generally provided toys or other enrichment while they wait — sometimes for months — to be sold.

People pro-tested the Family Puppy store at Talmadge Road and Monroe Street last year. A former employee has accused the store of improperly taking care of its dogs.

“These dogs are literally going insane in these cages,” Mr. Hasenfratz told The Blade. “There’s nothing for them to do.”

The Family Puppy is known for “providing happy, healthy, well-socialized family pets,” Mr. Stottle said.

“We have built the [Toledo] store with socialization in mind,” he said. “We have five ‘Meet & Greet’ spaces that are full most every day with families and people of all ages and ethnicities that can spend time with any puppy.”

A grass-roots group of area advocates, Boycott The Family Puppy Store, has gathered at the corner of Monroe Street and Talmadge Road to protest the store each Saturday for more than two years. Organizer Susan Robinson said she has heard similar complaints from a number of employees and customers of the Family Puppy.

The Family Puppy opened its Toledo location in October, 2013, amid intense controversy. Just two months after it opened, Toledo City Council passed an ordinance that bans the sale or exchange of companion animals in pet shops, retail businesses, and commercial establishments not in operation on or before Jan. 1, 2014, unless the animals come from a “legitimate animal shelter or animal-control agency, humane society, or nonprofit rescue organization, and the animals are spayed or neutered.”

The Family Puppy, which buys its puppies from primarily Amish breeders in northern Indiana, opened before the ordinance went into effect. It must pay the city a $50 fee for every animal it sells that has not been spayed or neutered.

City records show the store sold 321 puppies in 2014 and 2015, and paid the city the corresponding $16,050.

Contact Alexandra Mester: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.