Inspections show Florida Puppies Online meets standards, shutting down hit piece claims
NAPLES, Fla. (FLV) – Documents show Florida Puppies Online, a family owned pet store, met the highest ratings in recent inspections, despite a recent hit piece that attempted to discredit the Naples store.
The outlet, daily dot, reported that the pet store, which is a Florida’s Voice sponsor, has a “spotty track record,” citing the network’s Ohio-based location for an alleged 2021 violation.
The news outlet also noted a 2020 Humane Society report, but failed to provide the facts on the county’s inspections of the store, which provided high ratings.
However, the Collier County Domestic Animal Services Team completes annual inspections, in which Florida Puppies Online passed and received commendable feedback.
“Left wing activists posed as journalists are trying their hardest to discredit the work of my team at Florida’s Voice because we’re effective. They wrote a whole sob story implying we’re funded by puppy mills,” Florida’s Voice Founder Brendon Leslie said.
“They broke every single ethical code a real journalist should follow and only reported propaganda that meets their narrative. If they are real reporters, why didn’t they ask me for comment?”
The daily dot reporter gave Leslie 56 minutes to respond to the news story before publishing.
Reports from 2023 and 2022 showed the pet store received the highest marks in all of the nearly 30 inspection questions.
Those inspection questions included inquiries about sanitation, pet conditions, supplies and nutrition.
For example, the inspector pulled random records to “verify that the dogs getting grooming had current rabies vaccines,” and gave a green light for the Grooming Salon.
Other inspection notes include that the business was “clean and free of odor” and that there were not any puppies “neglected or lacking care.”
Additional 2021 and 2022 documents from the American Kennel Club Compliance Report showed the pet store was in compliance.
“Why didn’t they include Florida Puppies Online’s recent inspection they passed with flying colors? Why didn’t they include the countless hours and money I’ve spent rescuing abandoned dogs from the Southern Border?” Leslie questioned.
“They didn’t do any of this because their goal is smear and lie. Unlike them, Florida’s Voice brings the receipts.”
With regards to the 2020 Humane Society report, Florida Puppies Online said at that time they were added to the list in order to “create negative attention towards us when the Pet Sell Ban did not pass in Collier County.”
“We have been operating in Collier for nearly 5 years and have inspection reports from Domestic Animal Services (DAS) of Collier County showing we have never had a single violation,” the statement said.
