The Puppy Burrow — Local services in Mount Pocono

I am an animal lover and have rescued so many of my pets. I have had terrible experiences in pet stores and never thought I would ever go to a pet store again. Please read entire post before you judge. All my pets were rescued and my last dog had what seemed like a burst boil on her head. She was sad and sick and at vets getting surgery and more surgery. One day my Vet who knew my girl her whole life said, what Bella needs is a friend. She was sad and uninspired and didn't want to wake up and go out, didn't want to play ball or with grandkids anymore. I was so worried and so anxious because we rescued Bella from a horrible situation. I went to shelters and I answered ads and looked for her perfect match but she was so depressed and failing in health. So being totally against buying a dog vs. a shelter, vet said she had to have a healthy partner. I had Pizza in Mount Pocono and right across the way was Puppy Burrow. I was afraid to go in because if it was a bad situation...I would have been locked up. And I went in thinking no way, my partner said lets just look. I noticed how clean the store was, how nice it smelled how the dogs weren't in cages and walked past the little doggies and of course petted them and in the last space was my Timmy. He was so beautiful. I asked the cute guy at the counter, Chance, if I could hold him and he brought him out to me and I held him a second and he came home with me. A sweet smart handsome puppy....and I couldn't and didn't let him go. His cool face. His heart everything about him....he was going home with me and he was going to be Bella's best friend. Sadly Bella left us only a two months after Timmy came. So I am home all day and have a huge fenced in yard and Timmy needs a friend so I went back to Puppy Burrow. I deliberately left my pocketbook in car. Didn't matter though. Todays update. I stopped at Puppy Burrow after talking to the owner who encourages communication because he loves the pups and wants to hear from new owners. As I have said I used to go into pet stores and see how they were and back in the day I would get into with the owners because animals were being abused and in filthy sickening condition. In fact my kids wouldn't go into one with me after so many incidents. But having experienced Burrow before I thought I would take a look because it is completely different than the horrors I saw in malls etc. Puppy Burrow not only has their pups in clean open areas they are all healthy and obviously loved. When I took Timmy to vet they could not believe that he was registered chipped and up to date on vaccinations as all the dogs are. I know there are plenty of animals who need a home who didn't have the good fortune to be taken care of from birth to home and sometimes I struggle with that, but when you walk in the owners have maybe 4 or 5 dogs sitting on their laps who are loved and cherished and healthy which is not something you normally see. I can vouch for this the owners and their family are true animal lovers and down to earth people who have many pets of their own. Vaccinations chipping and veterinary visits are very expensive and that's where the price goes. AND they get to bring home toys! I have my heart set on one now who I am considering to be Timmy's BFF and I'm hoping she will be mine. Anyone who knows me and I'm sure there are plenty who recognize my name...believe me. These beauties...

To make this review hit, I have to explain our family dynamic. My wife is a quiet and relaxed Filipino that enjoys the finer things in life. I am a loud Italian from the city that has fallen in love with the outdoors. We have a wonderful 5 yo old daughter, and for the past 2 years all she wanted in the world was a puppy.

On to the review. I am beside myself attempting to explain the experience of this store. My wife told me about this “amazing” puppy shop in a strip mall in the Poconos. I brushed off what she said, as she has never owned a dog and I have owned several through the years and have worked with many breeders. That was my first mistake.

My second mistake was coming to this store with an idea of what I wanted. My initial idea was “large dog, big and goofy, puppy energy”.

The owner of this store, Mark, immediately picked up on our family dynamic. He took roughly an hour talking with me and breaking down my impulsive want for a big dog, and gave suggestions of his available stock based on our needs were as a family unit. We sat on the floor together joshing around with different puppies, basically just shooting the breeze. While he was breaking down my hard-headed concepts, he had placed a lovely Cocker Spaniel named Farley in the arms of my wife. Looking back, I think he knew that puppy was the fit for us and he just needed to get me on board. And he put in the work to do so.

We’ve had Farley for 4 days now. I’ve taken the past few days off work to bond with him, and my god. What a dog. He just fits in our family so perfectly. He’s sporty and loves to engage in my outdoors activity. He’s mild-mannered enough that we were able to bring him into my child’s kindergarten and play with the kids for show and tell, and he will nap next to my wife when she gets off her nursing night shift.

If I’m being honest, I just don’t know if another puppy store owner could have made this match. In all my years of dog ownership, I’ve never felt an immediate bond to the family like this. That comes down to the owner and his insight and experience.

You know what my wife told me yesterday? “I would have paid any amount of money for Farley. I was ready to empty our bank account for him”. Coming from a Filipino with a BS in accounting, that is all you need to know.

Oh, and for those that just want transaction details. There’s a great care package that comes with your purchase, about $200 worth of products. Paperwork is easy, microchip and shots included, blah blah blah. None of that matters because you’re going to fall in love anyway.

Thanks Mark, you’re a great business owner. We’ll bring Farley by once we get...

People are fooling themselves and being deceived to think the puppies come from “reputable breeders”. People need to research pet stores. They will find that 99% of all puppies sold at pet stores come from puppy mills. The National breed club code of ethics forbids any REAL reputable breeder from selling to pet stores. These puppies come from the Amish, where they are born to dogs that are kept in deplorable, filthy conditions. The parents are dirty, matted, and deformed. Some, if not all, are sick and possibly inbred. The puppies are taken from their filthy cages, cleaned up, and sold to pet stores for an outrageous amount of money. Puppies that are “vet” checked from the Amish breeder’s veterinarian are not honestly checked. USDA means nothing when it comes to the health of the puppies. ALL pet stores that sell puppies need to be SHUT DOWN!! I am posting from experience and research. Puppies that are not sold are usually killed as well as their parents when they can no longer breed. The parents are born to live a life of misery. Every person buying a puppy from a pet store is contributing to this atrocity!! People need to do their own research when it comes to buying a puppy from a pet store, a.k.a. glorified puppy mill. The only way these horrible places can no longer exist is to stop buying puppies. People selling these puppies are only concerned about how much money they can make. They don’t care about neither puppies or puppy parents. THIS NEEDS TO STOP!!!!!! People, save yourself the money and heartache. When entering any pet store to inquire about the puppies. Breeders with Amish names and addresses with towns around the Lancaster area (or ANY area with a large Amish population) are red flags. Walk away and do not purchase. If everyone stops buying puppies from these deceiving businesses, every puppy mill will dry up and shut down. So many shelters have dogs that need homes who would make excellent pets. Save a life!!! Don’t have the mindset that if you buy a puppy from a pet store you saved a life. In reality, you really don’t. All you’re doing is allowing dogs in puppy mills to continue to suffer at the hands of money hungry, uncaring “people”.

People at Puppy Burrow will not answer my question of where they get their puppies from and will not allow me to post questions/comments as to the origin of their puppies. Even blocked me from their Facebook page. If they didn’t run a deceitful business and had nothing to hide, they would have answered my question. So buyer beware....