The Champaign County Humane Society says it has proof Lucky Puppy, in Champaign, is buying puppies raised in horrible conditions.  The stores owners deny their puppies come from a troubled large scale breeder in Wisconsin.  They say they'd never support that kind of treatment.

Lucky Puppy has been bringing smiles to people's faces since it opened six months ago.  But some feel the store is just helping large scale breeders stay in business.  "Dogs sold in retail establishments usually come from large scale commercial breeding facilities, and those are inhumane," says Mary Tiefenbrunn, Executive Director at the Champaign County Humane Society.

The accusations started Saturday, after someone brought a puppy to the humane society a day after buying it at Lucky Puppy.   She said she just couldn't take care of it and handed over all the papers for the puppy.  That's when the humane society saw the registration.  It says it's proof Lucky Puppy buys from an inhumane facility.  The registration application that came with the puppy shows Lucky Puppy bought it from a breeder in Wisconsin named Wallace Havens.

"We actually sought Wallace out and went and did a home visit with him. And we were very impressed with his puppies," says Lucky Puppy owner, Kari Pryor.

But others say Puppy Haven in Wisconsin is inhumane.  The Humane Society there tells us puppies aren't living in good conditions.  One woman who goes there often to rescue the dogs says there are some with chewed off tails and feet.  She calls it a puppy factory. 

Tiefenbrunn says it's heartbreaking puppies being sold in town may have lived in that environment.  "It's part of our mission to try and educate people about those conditions and try to bring that stuff to an end.  So it's very disturbing." 

The owners of the Lucky Puppy say they visit every breeder before buying, and would never buy from a place people would consider a "puppy mill".
"That actually bothers me because we have been there ourselves too.  And we know what we've seen with our eyes," says Pryor who owns the store with her husband.

Still, the humane society has doubts.  "It's just inconceivable that a real reputable breeder would sell to a pet store.  So the claim that all the dogs from the pet store are from responsible breeders is frankly disingenuous," says Tiefenbrunn.
     
The owners of Lucky Puppy do plan to go out and visit with Wallace Havens again to see if they've been missing something.  Online, Havens says all his kennels are clean and the dogs are well cared for.  According to the American Kennel Club, his privileges were suspended in 2006 for ten years because of unacceptable conditions.

The humane society is concerned about the warranty people get at Lucky Puppy as well.   The old warranty says a customer can return the puppy within 48 hours.  It also wouldn't allow anyone to buy until they thought about it for 24 hours.  That language is missing from the new warranty.  Pryor says she wasn't aware of the change, and plans to add the language back to the warranty on Tuesday.