New York AG sues pet store for allegedly selling sick, injured puppies to unknowing customers

New York’s Attorney General on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a Long Island pet store for allegedly selling sick puppies, some of which later died, to unknowing customers.

Attorney General Letitia James (D) is charging Shake a Paw, which owns two pet stores on Long Island, with falsely advertising sick puppies as healthy, fabricating health certificates and refusing to reimburse veterinarian bills for customers.

In the lawsuit, filed in the New York Supreme Court in Nassau County, James’s office is pushing for thousands of dollars in monetary damages and seeking to ban Shake A Paw from selling any more puppies for violating the Pet Lemon Law, which requires the seller of a pet to disclose the animal’s health to a customer.

“Shake A Paw’s actions of deceiving consumers into purchasing sick or injured dogs is unconscionable and illegal,” James said in a statement. “When New Yorkers purchased puppies from Shake A Paw, they did not expect to bring home dogs in such heartbreaking and horrifying conditions.

The office opened an investigation into Shake A Paw after receiving numerous complaints from customers, according to a press release from James’s office. After reviewing hundreds of cases, investigators determined Shake A Paw bought puppies from “dangerous” puppy mills.

Many of the dogs were allegedly sick when they were sold and some died within days or weeks of purchase. According to the press release, 52 percent of the puppies had respiratory problems such as coughing, 54 percent were infected with parasites and 10 percent were diagnosed with pneumonia.

“We can and should no longer turn a blind eye to the stories of people buying sick puppies from Shake A Paw and other pet stores. Not only are families left brokenhearted, but they are also left with massive veterinary bills,” said U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.) in a statement. “Pet stores that buy, transport, and sell animals from puppy mills must be held accountable and the attorney general’s efforts will do just that.”

Shake A Paw was founded in 1994 and has two locations, in Lynbrook and Hicksville, both in Long Island. Since 2016, the New York attorney general’s office has received 99 complaints about sick puppies at Shake A Paw.

Customers typically pay anywhere from $2,500 to $8,000 for a puppy advertised as “healthy” and “adorable,” according to the lawsuit. But after puppies died, were hospitalized or were reported sick, the business allegedly gave the “run-around” to customers or simply refused to reimburse them.

The puppy mills named in the lawsuit include Missouri-based Choice Puppies, Indiana-based Blue Ribbon Puppies and various small breeders, all of whom allegedly raised dangerously sick puppies in inhumane conditions.

Matt Bershadker, the president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said in a statement, “New York has one of the country’s highest number of puppy-selling pet stores” and purchases them from out-of-state puppy mills.

“Every year, thousands of these puppies are marketed in New York pet stores as healthy dogs from responsible breeders, which is far from the truth,” Bershadker said. “We are grateful to Attorney General Letitia James for taking decisive and compassionate action to shut down this pipeline to protect both animals and consumers.”

The Hill has reached out to Shake A Paw for comment.