COLLEGE STATION, TX — A community joined together to fight a puppy store in the Post Oak mall in College Station. The store, The Puppy Station, is now closed.
Kristen Sandlin and Judy LeUnes met Thursday night to consider their next step to stop unscrupulous pet stores in the Brazos Valley.
Their movement got into high gear when a College Station woman bought a dog at a store in this mall that immediately got sick and died.
Sandlin saw the post on social media and acted fast.
"I'm gonna do some legal research. Let's get it all together and let's try to shut it down," she said.
The result? A community that banded together for a common cause.
"This is the power of women, when we want to get in and protect from something bad happening in our community," explained LeUnes.
These women stepped up to speak for animals that couldn't describe unclean conditions and other violations of the law they say took place at the shop.
"It became a group effort because everybody came together, everybody had a common goal," said Sandlin.
In the past six months, the College Station animal control officers have responded to seven calls for service regarding concerns for the welfare of animals at Puppy Station. In all cases, no offense was found.
The Puppy Station has been a source of complaints online. Looking through Yelp reviews, there were many people questioning how the business took care of the animals.
"This place honestly disgusts me. My friend and I were clueless, some may even call us stupid for buying a puppy here. We bought the cutest Australian Cattle dog here and NOT EVEN 24 HOURS LATER he was diagnosed with parvo. We were conflicted on what to do, we had two options: treat him or put him down. In-vet treating him would've costed us $1500, but we were presented with the option to do at home treatments," one reviewer out of Houston said.
Another reviewer from Georgetown had a similar story.
"I purchased a puppy from puppy station.... thinking i could try and get her out of that horrible place. When i brought her home for thanksgiving break she began vomiting and having diarrhea and barely had energy to move. Within days of having her she was diagnosed with parvo. My pomeriran had to endure hospitalization which costed a fortune, and while going through this hardship I called this place 3 times to try and tell them and call me back. Surprisingly they never called me back," she said.
Both of these reviews were posted in December 2019. You can read more reviews here.
Earlier this year, an article was published on The Odyssey Online that listed 7 reasons why the puppy store should close. There is also a Reddit thread about the store's practices.
A Facebook group was created dedicated to closing The Puppy Station. The group has over 700 members.
The community action resulted in a judgment against the pet shop owner and his closing the shop.
The animal activists aren't just content to see one man close one business. They want to make sure that what happened here never happens anywhere in the Brazos Valley again.
The group plans to take its recent legal success and enlist the help of political leaders to make changes to local laws.
"The real way to take somebody down is in court. If you want to make changes, it's got to be with legislation with the courts," said Sandlin.
They want to see pet stores partner with animal rescue groups to watch each other for the benefit of their four-legged friends.
”What do I think our chances are of changing the law? Oh, I have great confidence in our city government,” said LeUnes, who believes a city hall packed with animal lovers and the recent judgment should convince city leaders here, to look out for animals. Those who want to get involved can reach LeUnes at wienerspiel@gmail.com
The College Station Police Department said that they have not had any reports of abuse, and they do not have any open investigations for Puppy Station.
