Puppy Store Protests Continue

Protestors continued to picket Saturday outside The Perfect Puppy on Route 347 in Stony Brook, as they have done most Saturdays since the store opened in January, claiming the store sells sick or mistreated animals from so-called puppy mills.

The store's management continued to deny the accusations.

"We have nothing to be embarrassed about," said Charles Demonte, weekend manager at The Perfect Puppy. "All they do is make libelous statements."

Dori Scofield, founder of Save-a-Pet in Port Jefferson Station and organizer of the protests, said reputable breeders do not supply pet stores with puppies. Instead, she said, they conduct research on prospective customers, oftentimes requesting references or visiting the homes of people interested in adopting pets.

"I'd love to see him switch his business and change to only helping find homeless animals homes," Scofield said of the store's management. "But not shipping in puppies from out-of-state puppy mills and deceiving people as to where they're from."

The store's multimillion dollar lawsuit against Save-a-Pet, filed in March, is still in progress.

"They can claim whatever they want," Demonte said. "When we go to trial we'll show all our invoices, the genealogy."