CHRISTIANSBURG --Jonathan Couch's decision to sell puppies at ZooQuatic Pet Center has landed him in the doghouse with local animal welfare activists opposed to the pup-peddling practice.

Couch, whose ZooQuatic store moved from downtown Blacksburg to Christiansburg's Northgate Village Shopping Center in May, said the business, formerly The Hobby Shop, has been in his family for 26 years. Since assuming ownership three years ago, Couch said he came to realize that people want puppies.

"The first question was always, 'Do you sell dogs?' " Couch explained. "Our first inclination was to send them to shelters and rescuers. ... It became clear quickly that their interest was not in adopting someone else's dog."

Couch found himself referring customers to three Roanoke pet stores -- Petland, Pet City and Nature's Emporium -- where they could procure pups.

"Most of those people ended up in a store in Roanoke and probably bought a puppy there," he said. "Every decision I have to make has to be a business decision."

So Couch said his store will start selling puppies "on a small scale" in the coming weeks. He left last week for a trip to Missouri -- where 37 percent of all pet shop puppies are bred -- to check out what he calls "puppy distributors" who buy from breeders.

ZooQuatic's critics call them "puppy mills," places they say puppies are inhumanely mass-produced by individuals motivated by greed.

And these critics are howling mad.

An emotional issue

Among the critics is Lila Borge Wills, president of the Virginia Partnership for Animal Welfare and Support, a local animal welfare organization.

"Of course, only a puppy mill would sell puppies to a pet store," Wills insisted. "A responsible breeder will never sell to pet stores. They're for the betterment of the breed, not about making money. They keep track of every one of their puppies. They want to know what kind of home the puppies are going in."

Wills said local groups are banding together in protest and she and others will petition and boycott ZooQuatic.

"We're not talking about 10 people. We're talking about hundreds in our area.

Even PETA -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- has weighed in on a national level. The group's Web site (www.peta.org) is encouraging people to contact Couch and urge him to reconsider his decision.

"The sad thing about it is that ZooQuatic has been so rescue-friendly," Wills said. "For them to make this decision with all the information out there is irresponsible."

"I hate upsetting people," Couch said, "but we feel overall this is the best decision for our business. I feel we're going forward in a way that is ethical and responsible. ... We had a good relationship with the shelters and rescue groups around here. They chose to break this relationship."

The pet advocacy groups point out that animal shelters are overpopulated and euthanasia is commonplace. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimates that 25 percent of dogs entering shelters are purebred.

"I agree that there are too many unplaced animals," Couch said, then added, "I feel like it's OK to give people the choice." Couch said he would like to continue helping shelters and rescue groups place adoptable pets.

In Roanoke, Petland manager Gary Landry said puppies are his most popular commodity.

"Absolutely," Landry said. "It's the biggest percentage of the business as far as live animals go. There are a lot of folks who have an objection to it. For every one of those, we have a lot more people who appreciate the opportunity to find the pet they're looking for."

Couch points out that distributors selling puppies to pet stores must be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects kennels to make sure they meet various standards, including having a minimum amount of space for each dog.

Animal rights activists, however, point to the word "minimum" and say inspections are a joke.

"They admit they don't have enough inspectors," said Debi Smith, who heads up the local Dalmatian Rescue of Southwest Virginia. "They can call it whatever they want to. It's a puppy mill."

Industry or travesty?

Even Missouri's newly elected U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who served as the state auditor from 1999 to 2006, called the program that regulated licensed commercial dog breeders in her state "ineffective."

In a 2001 audit, McCaskill identified "spotty state inspections with few sanctions, appearance of conflicts of interest of top management, state inspections less thorough than federal inspections and lax program performance measures."

In a follow-up audit in 2004, McCaskill reported that "most of the problems previously reported still exist."

Out of the hundreds of commercial breeders in Missouri -- with names ranging from Maw & Paws Puppies to Gotalotofpets to Dirty Shame Ranch Kennel -- not all scrape by by providing minimal canine care. Many specialize in certain breeds and exceed standards set by the government.

In The Dog Owner's Guide, a popular online magazine for pet and show dog owners, editor and writer Norma Bennett Woolf noted that "20 years ago, people knew that a 'puppy mill' was a substandard kennel where unhealthy, overbred dogs were kept in horrendous conditions. Today it's not so easy. In the last decade of the 20th century, activist groups began to broaden the term to cover just about any kennel that they didn't like."

Couch said he will not buy from true puppy mills.

"To me, a puppy mill is an irresponsible large-scale breeder that takes poor care of their animals," he said. "It's to everybody's best interest to find a reputable large-scale breeder. Nobody wants puppies treated inhumanely, least of all a pet store."

What's in a guarantee?

Couch said he will guarantee the health of the puppies he sells in his store and will start by selling only small breeds. Local veterinarians at Town & Country Veterinary Clinic, he noted, will check the puppies and work with his store to provide low-cost spay and neuter services for puppies bought at ZooQuatic.

But Wills said all that is meaningless.

"What does he mean by guarantee? Does that mean three months, a year, a lifetime? That needs to be defined. There are no spay-neuter contracts so that means more dogs with no guarantee of them being sterilized."

At least 1,584 people in the New River Valley and beyond share Wills' concerns. That's the number who signed an online petition against ZooQuatic's planned puppy sale as of Monday afternoon.

Mike Anderson of Blacksburg was petitioner No. 1,130.

"I will stop shopping at ZooQuatic Pet Center if they sell puppies," Anderson wrote on the Web site.

"I've always been against puppy mills," the Virginia Tech Web applications developer said when reached by phone. With three rescued dogs of his own, Anderson said he usually spends between $50 and $100 per month on dog food and treats at ZooQuatic.

He said he wishes ZooQuatic would partner with local breeders to find puppies for customers who want them.

But Smith said ZooQuatic's puppy customers will be "people who see these cute little puppies in the pet store and buy them on impulse.

"People who've done their research know to buy dogs from a reputable dealer," she said.

Andy Harre, owner of Friends of the Family pet shop in Radford, agreed.

"Dogs aren't apples. They don't grow on trees," he said. "People should be more inquisitive to see where their pets come from.

"It's kind of neat to see puppies, but I think it will hurt ZooQuatic's business," Harre said.

Although ZooQuatic will be the only pet store in the New River Valley offering puppies, Couch said he doesn't know yet if he's barking up the wrong tree.

"We always try to look out for the animals. We're doing this on such a small scale to begin with," he said. "If it doesn't work out, we won't do it anymore."