Petland Inc. recently hosted a conference and breeder tour for Petland consulting veterinarians around the country. More than 100 people were in attendance for the two-day event in Indianapolis.

“It was very productive to get store consulting veterinarians from around the country in one room to talk about what Petland does and to take them to visit breeders,” Petland Vice President of Animal Welfare Brian Winslow said. “There’s nothing more important than having them see for themselves the standards of care we expect.”

The first day of the conference was dedicated to presentations by federal and state veterinarians and inspectors. Purdue University’s Dr. Candace Croney also spoke about the new Canine Care Certified voluntary standards program, developed by the Center for Animal Welfare Science at the university. The program establishes rigorous standards of care to be followed by professional dog breeders and is combined with third-party, independent audits of breeder operations.

The second day of the conference was devoted to tours of breeder facilities.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the tremendous turnout from Petland owners and their veterinarians where we were able to share some extremely helpful information about health care for puppies in this unique national forum,” said Georgia veterinarian Dr. Michael Akins. “I was also very happy to see Purdue’s Canine Care Certification process honor it’s first recipient, as well as hearing from the state veterinarian, USDA personnel, AKC officials and some fabulous kennels on our Breeder Tour. It was a great opportunity to once again see how hard Petland works.”