Hi Everybody,
Thank you so much for your letters, calls, and notes regarding Premier’s changes and whether SitStay.com should continue to carry their products now that they are also owned by Radio Systems. I’ve spent several days worrying over this, I’m not a worrier by nature so it was extremely unpleasant for me and I’m tired. You know from The Dish by Darcy that I tend to draw a hard line when it comes to the welfare of dogs, I don’t have much gray area where they are concerned.
I’ve listened to your advice and all but a few of you want us to continue with Premier products. I’ll act on the wishes of the majority and we’ll give Premier the year or so that they have asked us for to make some huge humane additions to their line of products. Note that I personally voted with the minority, again that hard line of mine that I tend to take. That particular hard line is what makes SitStay what it is, a place where you can shop without worry. I’m so proud of SitStay, it’s one of the only dog supply stores left that doesn’t carry metal and shock collars and instead promotes solid, no harm and positive training.
Kent and Premier believe that the money infused into Premier to make more humane dog products will entice Radio Systems to turn away from what I consider the dark side of dog training. It could happen. If Premier can make a splash onto the world scene with better ways to train than with shock collars, it’s possible that the parent company will turn to where the new money is.
This is SitStay’s decision. For now, SitStay.com will stay the course with Premier.
I wish Premier could have used someone else to help them get to this end they want but they didn’t and now here we are. I’ve enjoyed Premier products for years and have encouraged the use of them over metal chains and prong collars. Thousands of dogs have personally written me letters of thanks. I’m sure a person was writing but the letters came to me as if they were written by dogs. My favorite was from Butch. Butch “wrote”, ” Dear Darcy, I’m writing to thank you for asking my person to take off the chains and put a soft collar on me and get the book “My Dog Pulls“. I’m a much better behaved boy and my neck doesn’t hurt any more. Now I know what the heck she wants me to do and I get to go walking all the time. Your best friend. Butch. Arf arf!”
SitStay.com is not just Kent’s and my store, it’s yours, too. You are the reason that we get to do what we love to do. You shop with us because we don’t carry harmful products, we test and try everything. We’ve always listened to you and taken your advice and so far, you’ve not steered us wrong. We’re going to take your advice again and I have high hopes for the future of Premier.
Thank you, Everyone, for your input, your prayers, and your loyalty to both Premier Pet Products and SitStay.com. For the few no votes, I hope they prove us wrong.
I think I’ll take the rest of the day off and go a hug a dog or something. – Darcy
(This post comes from The Dish by Darcy.)
Thank you, Darcy and SitStay for keeping the Premier products. I know someone else mentioned this in a previous blog and I have to agree that the Break Away Collar is the BEST safety invention for dogs. I haven’t heard of another brand with the same type of collar. This collar alone would be a very sad loss for the SitStay inventory. I have three large dogs who like to stand along the back fence to watch the neighbors and birds. I always feared that a collar would get hooked on the fence and my dog would be trapped. I was thrilled to find the Break Away Collars. One afternoon, my biggest dog came in the house with no collar. I went in search and found it hooked on the fence. The dogs weren’t out that long and I never leave them without watching out the window every few minutes, but would I have looked up in time? I don’t like to think about it.
I hope Premier lives up to all of our expectations. Keep up the great work, SitStay!
Darcy, I know this was a tough decision so I understand why you decided to continue carrying Premier’s products. Personally, my vote was with dropping them. I hope you will continue to search for other alternatives so that if the company doesn’t move in the direction of more humane training you can still drop them. I am appalled every time I look in the “training” section of the pet product catalogs I receive and they are full of shock collars, muzzles, strangulation collars and the like. That’s why I am now buying as much as I can from SitStay. I really respect and appreciate your commitment to dogs over dollars. Keep it up! I don’t usually get involved with commenting on-line but I felt like you need to hear more from those of us who support you. Jill
Dear Jill, I received a dog supply magazine in the mail last week, they are a newer company. As I was thumbing through it I started feeling really good about the company and I started to smile, hey they carry many of the same products we do, good for their customer’s dogs….then I turned the page and saw the shock collars. Ouch. Smile was gone. Thank you for taking the time to write to me, it means so much. Please continue to spread the word about SitStay.com. Together, all of the people who love SitStay.com for what she stands for and you and I can make a serious dent of happy in the lives of dogs. – Darcy