GrapeNut Cereal...no grapes, no nuts

We all know the word play brands and businesses play with the general public such as GrapeNut Cereal, but I just found another one that isn't quite as obvious: PetSmart. It turns out, they're not big on all pets, nor does it appear that they are very smart.

I read a posting a group from a lady in Arkansas saying she walked into her local PetSmart and found a sign stating "As of Sept. 27, 2007, no pit bull or pit bulls breeds are allowed". She wanted to know if this was a national thing. A few replies came in and no one else could find such a sign at their own local Petsmart. Apparently this was a local issue, but I still wanted to look into it.

Turns out that North Little Rock, Arkansas, home of this particular PetSmart does have local breed specific legislation that they passed recently making it illegal to own a pit bull or pit bull-like breed. However, if you chose not to relocate your family or execute your beloved pet, you could have the dog registered officially, tattooed as being registered, and pay a $500 registration fee (I don't even think sex offenders have to pay $500 when they officially register). All of that alone is quite ridiculous, but that's not the subject of this blog. Point is, I could understand they would adhere to the local ordinance and simply not allow non-registered dogs in. Then I could only blame their government. However, the madness didn't end there.

I went to the main PetSmart corporate page. They have not banned pit bull breeds from their store but here's their policy on who can attend their "Doggie Day Camp":

Dogs who have been socialized with other dogs but are not of the "bully breed" classification† or wolves/wolf hybrids

†Dogs in the "bully breed" classification (e.g. American Pit Bull Terriers, Miniature Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Bull Dogs, Bull Terriers or mixed breeds that have the appearance or characteristics of one of these breeds). For the safety of all animals and associates, and at the discretion of PetSmart, some pets may not be permitted.

Well isn't that interesting? So although it isn't widely publicized, Petsmart has actually caved into this deranged fear that has been perpetrated by the media--which is odd, since I have seen ads and posters of pit bull adoptions at PetSmart's around the country. And corporate PetSmart even has PetSmart charities, helping many rescues that help out pit bull breeds. So there is some strange discrepancy going on. It does say it is at the discretion of a PetSmart location, so perhaps some local businesses are still as intelligent as their business name implies. I can only believe that it must be for legal reasons that the corporate office says no pit bulls are allowed into their Day Camp.

But now let's just think about this a moment. If you were someone who bred vicious dogs for fighting, would you be spending your money bringing them to "doggie day camp"? I would think that would ruin the dog completely and make him a wuss, wouldn't you? And as for bringing a pit bull into PetSmart, if you were engaged in dog fighting activity, would you be taking Fluffy to PetSmart for a new stuffed animal cuddle toy? No, I don't think so. I think you'd be in your back shed forging a toy from nails and barbed wire.

So why the rules? I mean seriously, any owner of any breed of animal that takes that animal into PetSmart and pays premium price for dog food, toys, and a manicure, is probably not the owner of a junkyard dog. The pit bulls that walk through the automated doors of PetSmart are the well-bred, intelligent, gentle animals whose genes come from the dogs who made the American Pit Bull Terrier the most popular dog in America in the 1920's. That's right--this breed the public is terrified of was the most popular family dog eighty years ago, and was all over the media as mascot to businesses and even was a member of The Little Rascals. But things change. People change. And a bunch of losers from our human race decided that they would take these family dogs and breed them to make them mean, vicious, and slightly off their rocker. There are psycho dogs of any breed—I do believe that. Every now again, you run into a dog who is just plain nuts. But I can say the same about people. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that statistically, there probably are far more crazy people to sane people than there are psycho dogs to sane dogs. Unfortunately, we can't outlaw the crazy people because that would be discrimination.

I believe in a business' right to make their own rules. That's the great thing about America--freedom of speech and freedom to form your own elitist clubs to shut the rest of the world out. I have no issue with that. And it is apparent that some management at some PetSmart's do have brains and know better than to put up such asinine restrictions on who can buy their products. And they even go so far as to hold events specifically for pit bulls breeds, trying to help change the public's view of the breed. So I'm not writing this to get people to boycott PetSmart. I'm writing this to simply get it off my chest--and maybe somebody over at corporate PetSmart will realize that not only are they not being pet friendly, but they aren't being very bright. Afterall, if they aren't smart, people will simply go "where the pets go"--to PetCo.