PASCO -- The Humane Society of the United States went public with an eight-month investigation into Petland stores Thursday. They visited 21 stores across the country and accuse the chain of selling nearly 17,000 animals from illegal puppy mills.

It's important to note, the local Pasco store was not part of this investigation.

Earlier this year two dogs from our local Petland died from Parvo, but this was unrelated to the puppy mill.

So we wanted to know, how safe are the puppies at our local Petland?

"There is a darker side to this story," Michael Markarian said, Executive Vice President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

It's hard to watch: videos of dogs caged in their own filth. The Humane Society of the United States claims they were born into puppy mills and sold at Petland.

"We found that many Petland stores are marketing puppy mill puppies to unsuspecting shoppers," Markarian said.

The HSUS said it traced nearly 17,000 dogs back to puppy mills after an investigation into 21 Petland stores and 35 breeders and brokers.

Could there be any truth to that?

"Absolutely not," Pasco Petland Owner Dan Miner said. "This a 42-year old company. TheY couldn't do business that way. You just can't."

Miner attests to top-of-the line breeding standards, hand-picked pups and thorough inspections by the USDA.

"Do the math. How do I put a three-year warranty on a puppy-mill puppy?" Miner said. "I wouldn't have the right data, I wouldn't have the backup."

"Our puppies are hand-picked from those breeders and so are those breeders are inspected quite regularly," Kennel Manager Sunshine Lyndsey said.

Despite the claims, the Pasco Petland store assured Action News that their dogs come from good breeders. And they showed me the paperwork to prove it.

"This is the warranty sheet, you can see a 14-day puppy warranty," Lyndsey showed me the documents for a pug.

I asked for all the documents, the breeders name, locations... all of it looks legit. But the HSUS argues, the paper trail is not proof.

How how can people know whether or not our local Petland is buying from puppy mills?

"The problem is that it's hard for consumer's to tell," Markarian said. "So when you go to buy that cute, little puppy in the window, it's mom is suffering a life of cruelty."

Animal-lovers agree there's only one sure way: visit the breeder yourself. But that won't work with the Pasco Petland. They get all of their animals from out of state.

"Nobody in our area is qualified so I have to go out of state," Miner said.

Dan stands by the quality of his store and all other Petland's around the country. And to prove it, he says, come see for yourself.

"I encourage folks to come down and take a look at the dogs, get a real eye-opening, see the truth," Miner said.

Petland corporate did send out a statement to their franchises denying the the accusations. Petland said they were never consulted by the HSUS and call the investigation "sensationalism at best."

They said Petland does not "support sub-standard breeding facilities."

To clarify, the local humane society shares the same name, but the Benton-Franklin Humane Society is not affiliated with the national organization.

To read more about the Petland investigation, check out the HSUS website at http://www.hsus.org/

To find out more about Petland, see their website at http://www.petland.com/