GREENWICH VILLAGE — A puppy store that refused to sell animals to drunk customers has been bombarded by messages of support — and opposition — from around the country.
Staff at Le Petite Puppy at 18 Christopher Street, in Greenwich Village, have received dozens of emails, phone calls and letters thanking them for banning inebriated customers. DNAinfo reported the anti-drunk policy last week.
“It was amazing,” said Dana Derraugh, the 53-year-old manager who was interviewed by numerous newspapers, and T.V and radio stations following DNAinfo's story.
Derraugh said "thank you" emails flooded in from as far away as Texas.
One woman from Delaware, who described herself as an “animal lover,” thanked Derraugh in an email for caring about the “well being of an animal, and not a dollar.”
A sales associate at the store, Andrea Crocitto, 26, also took numerous phone calls.
“A man from Texas called just to say 'Kudos,'” she said.
Not all feedback was positive. Derraugh said some accused the store of supporting puppy mills — large-scale commercial dog breeding operations.
Derraugh, a vegetarian, said she visits all her breeders to ensure her puppies are coming from happy homes.
“It’s like telling people to stop having babies and only to adopt,” Derraugh said, rebuffing the idea that puppies should only be taken from animal shelters and not bred for sale in stores.
“It’s just extreme,” she said.
The store, among with others around the city, implemented the drunk customer ban for the safety of the animals.
Fernanda Moritz, another manager at Le Petite Puppy, told DNAinfo she once had a woman return a half-dead Chihuahua after buying it apparently under the influence the previous night. Moritz said they took the dog to the animal hospital and pumped its stomach — finding five pills inside.
After a few days in the media spotlight, Deraugh said she felt some empathy for her celebrity clients, such as Kelsey Grammer from "Frasier" who comes in regularly to play with the puppies. He bought a dog from the store a few years ago.
“I said to him, ‘I understand what your life looks like with the paparazzi chasing you.’ It was one [phone call] after another,” she said.
