In hopes of preventing a pet sale ban passage (and future bans), APPA, along with three other leading industry organizations, have joined together to support a pending lawsuit that challenges the prohibition of the sale of dogs and cats by pet stores in Phoenix, AZ.

APPA, the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC), the Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA) and the World Pet Association (WPA) have collectively donated $125,000 to support a lawsuit brought in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix on behalf of Phoenix pet store Puppies ‘N Love. The lawsuit challenges the ban on several grounds; specifically that it violates both the Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Currently there are 48 cities throughout the U.S. that have passed ordinances banning the sale of dogs and cats by pet stores. In addition to Phoenix, major cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago and Cook County, IL have enacted bans.

Representatives of the organizations involved agree the issue of substandard breeders and stores is serious and challenging but maintain that passing bans is not a proper solution. Instead they look to establish industry-wide standards that protect dogs and cats while at the same time ensuring that people who choose to purchase a pet have a reliable and humane source for obtaining them and that responsible breeders and stores are granted their constitutional right to do business providing pets to those prospective owners.

Puppies ‘N Love was granted a preliminary injunction on April 2, 2014, which stays enforcement of the ordinance until the litigation is concluded. The trial will take place sometime in late 2014 or early 2015.

We will continue to keep you updated as new information becomes available!

Everyone has to do it at some point in his or her life…yes, we’re talking about public speaking.  And sometimes public can mean 3.5 million viewers listening to you while you’re representing an entire company or perhaps even an entire industry.  No matter how often or rarely you speak with the media, it’s important to never take it for granted.  Even the best have bad days, bad interviews, and things they’d take back in a do-over, but there are things you can always consider before an interview to help make it as successful as possible.  Here are our top 5 tips:

1. Practice- ask others to conduct mock interviews with you. Start with simple questions like ‘what do you do, what does your company do?’  Sometimes we prepare too much that we forget to have answers for the obvious questions.  Ask them to pay attention to your body language, nervous ticks, words such as ‘um’ ‘uh,’ or ‘like’ spoken too often.  Control the speed of your responses, speak clearly and concisely and at appropriate volume.

2. Do your research- familiarize yourself with the host and the news outlet first.  Are they going to ask tough questions? Are they casual? Who is the audience? Is the interview going to be live or pre-taped? Do you know exactly what they intend to discuss with you?  Ask for example questions.

3. Know your purpose- prepare two to three key messages and essential points you want to get across during your interview.  The interview can always go in a different direction, but as long as you always remember why you wanted to take the opportunity to speak with the media in the first place, you can accomplish your goal.

4. Know how to bridge- when the interview starts going in a direction you’re not comfortable with, is off topic, or is taking up too much time, know how to redirect with a few simple phrases:

• I don’t know on that one, let me get back to you
• Before we get off topic, I wanted to mention…
• It’s important to remember that…

5. Drive home key points- narrow the focus and plan the points you want the reporter and the audience to take away from the interview.  Even if things got sketchy in the middle, take the opportunity at the end to make the listeners remember you the way you want to be remembered.