Joliet City Council votes to allow pet stores to buy from licensed breeders

JOLIET – The Joliet City Council voted, 7-1, Tuesday for an ordinance that will allow pet stores to continue to buy dogs from breeders as long as they are licensed.

The Joliet ordinance mimics a new state law that bars stores from buying from unlicensed breeders.

But it does not go as far as animal advocates wanted.

The new city law on dog sales has been one of the most extensively debated topics the council has dealt with in years, although it only affects one pet store – Furry Babies.

The store in the Louis Joliet Mall is the only one in Joliet that still sells puppies.

Store owner Ana Soskic said after the vote that it set “higher standards” for dog sales in Joliet.

“We are proud to be in this community, and we couldn’t be more happy that they voted for stricter regulations,” Soskic said.

Over the course of two meetings – Monday and Tuesday – 25 people spoke out about the new pet store regulations.

Most of them advocated for stricter rules modeled after a Chicago ordinance that bans any buying from breeders and requires that pet stores get dogs from animal control centers, rescue groups or shelters.

Soskic said such a law would put her store out of business.

The Joliet issue also brought out Furry Babies President Roger Trolinger, who said the state law helps crack down on puppy mills.

“At the end of the day, guys, I hate puppy mills more than the people on my left,” Trolinger told the council, alluding to the large group of advocates for the tougher restrictions.

The people on his left included Tracy Ross of La Salle, who said she quit her job at a Furry Babies store in Peru because of the way dogs were treated and the condition of dogs coming in from breeders.

Ross said Trolinger would come to the store from trips to breeders bringing “dogs dirty and covered with feces.”

“There were countless numbers of dogs with kennel cough – sometimes all the dogs in the store,” Ross said.

After the vote, Morgan Drdak, founder of Safe Pets for Joliet, told the council that she was “disappointed but not surprised” by the vote.

The group had been pushing for the breeder ban since 2015. But the proposal was put on hold until a similar ordinance in Chicago was tested in court.

Once the Chicago law was upheld by an appellate court, city staff came up with the ordinance based on the state law as an alternative option.

Several council members thanked staff for coming up with the alternative ordinance before voting for it.

But council member Jan Quillman, the only no vote, said she was “very disappointed,” adding, “It’s been a long fight for both sides.”