Animal activists and Orland Park dog owners urged village trustees to ban the sale of pets raised by commercial breeders, which critics call 'puppy mills,' during a public hearing Monday night.
Cari Meyers, founder and president of the Puppy Mill Project, described large-scale breeders as 'prison for a dog,' with inhumane conditions that can leave pets with lasting health and behavior issues.
'I'm not here to put anybody out of business,' said Meyers, who also advocated for recently-approved bans in Chicago and Cook County. 'I'm here to ask the businesses that are affected by this to go humane.'
Kristen Kaminski, who bought her dog, Roxy, from Happiness is Pets in Orland Park five years ago, told trustees the dog had several health issues requiring costly medical testing and surgery. At the time, she was told the issues were minor and would go away on their own, she said.
'In 2011, my dog's breeder had 63 puppies and 76 adult dogs,' Kaminski said. 'That to me sounds like a mill.'
Mayor Dan McLaughlin asked trustees to look into the issue after Chicago banned sales from large-scale breeders last month. Cook County has since passed its own version of the ordinance, which requires stores to sell pets from government shelters, rescue agencies and human societies, or federally licensed breeders with no more than five reproducing female animals.
But because Orland Park is a home rule community, it would have the option of accepting Cook County's ordinance, overturning the county ban or designing its own regulations for pet shops, said Trustee Dan Calandriello, chair of the Public Safety Committee.
Dianne Arp, the Companion Animal Protection Society's Chicago Outreach Coordinator, said if Orland Park didn't enact a similar ban, it could attract disreputable pet stores that didn't want to comply with the new Chicago and Cook County rules.
The only person to speak in opposition to banning sales of commercially-bred pets was the owner of the only Orland Park business that would be affected.
Ronald Berning, owner of Happiness is Pets, said the ban would unfairly punish responsible shops that work with humane breeders. Of the 343 puppies Happiness is Pets sold Orland Park residents in the last three years, 34 percent were repeat customers or referrals, Berning said. 'So we must be doing something right,' he said.
While Meyers and Arp said several of Berning's breeders kept dogs in unsanitary, inhumane conditions, Berning said he'd worked with his breeders to improve conditions for dogs, providing financial assistance to help them design better, larger cages and outdoor areas to play. He said restricting pet shop sales could prompt families who don't want shelter dogs to turn to less-regulated Internet sales.
The Chicago Veterinary Medical Association made a similar argument in a statement issued in response to the Cook County ban, arguing unscrupulous breeders would find ways around a law targeting store sales.
Trustee Pat Gira said in an interview that Orland Park wouldn't necessarily keep shops from selling commercially-bred dogs if the village could verify that they used reputable breeders who treat their dogs humanely. 'But the devil is in the details,' she said.
The village has not yet proposed what its regulations might look like, Gira said. Monday's committee meeting was a chance to hear testimony and evidence before considering a proposed ordinance at next month's meeting, she said.
lzumbach@tribune.com Twitter @laurenzumbach
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