@torchsong:
She-Ra was a Petstore Basenji. However, I didn't go into the purchase completely blind. I knew about the dangers of petstore dogs, but had also researched the breed quite a bit (some neighbors had one when I was a kid and I'd always been fascinated with the quiet dog with the curly tail! 
), so I knew some of what to expect.
She was $600, which sounds a bit closer to the mark for normal prices. The salespeople put us in an isolated room for about an hour with her to see if there was any kind of rapport with her. While we were getting to know her they provided her AKC (not ACC) papers and an updated list of the medications (vaccinations she'd already had and the ones she still needed as a puppy). In addition, they've maintained contact with us to see if the puppy is working out and what questions/issues we've had since taking ownership. They helped us get her microchipped and signed up to put our names on her AKC papers (I'm not planning to breed her so the latter part really wasn't that important to me).
Our family vet checked her over and said we must have gotten lucky, because (knock wood) she's in great health for her age. In no way would I suggest our pet store was one in a million, and I'm sure there's bad to go along with the good, but perhaps some actually do take steps to care for the animals in their charge?
In any event, she's my baby and I love her even when she chews up my books!
Sounds like you got really lucky, and it also sounds like your pet store is a little better than average! But the fact remains that dogs in pet stores come from puppy mills. And people who breed dogs for puppy mills don't do any genetic or physical health or temperament screening of the parents. So the health problems that *may occur wouldn't necessarily show up in the offspring for many years, as most Basenji diseases are late onset.
The other issue, as Diane pointed out, is that by paying for a pet store puppy, you are supporting an industry that is very, VERY cruel to dogs. Just ask Vegas (a regular poster here)….or go back to the thread about the puppymill rescue dogs here within the last six months or so. Sires and dams of pet store puppies are bred, and bred, and bred, with no regard for their physical health..they live in pens with the bare minimum needed for survival.
I am glad that your story is a happy one. And I KNOW you love your puppy very much, as you should, of course. But we can't, as dog loving people turn a blind eye to the cruelty and unacceptability of the pet store-puppymill situation.
When we know better, we do better
She had worms and an eye infection but we didnt care, we got her to a vet and everything cleared up, and she is our sweet one, and our felakuti is our big boy. 
