Puppy mills have become an area of great concern for those who legitimately breed puppies and for animal rights activists all over the United States and beyond. Puppy mills basically seek to “mass-produce” puppies from relatively few purebred studs and mothers. This is wrong for a number of reasons. First of all, mothers themselves are “overbred” to the point of exhaustion, and then often put down because they can’t produce any more. The puppies produced in these places are often kept in deplorable conditions, with overcrowded cages, and too little food or water, as well as inadequate access to veterinary care and grooming.
Even worse, humans come in to little to no contact with these dogs, and many puppies die because of the conditions. And while it’s true that if puppies do survive the puppy mill environment to be sold to a loving owner, their lives improve, dogs who are simply used as breeders are stuck in heinous conditions for the rest of their breeding lives, until they can breed no more. And it doesn’t get better after that, usually; once their breeding days are over, these dogs are either killed or sold to other facilities where their lives are still as deplorable as ever. Therefore, when you buy from a puppy mill, you buy from a puppy factory where conditions are horrid and even abusive.
Any animal lover would think these conditions are horrible, of course, and most people buy puppies from puppy mills because they aren’t aware of the horrid conditions therein. Nonetheless, it happens far more often than you might think, and prospective owners looking for a “good deal” may look the other way and purchase a puppy from a puppy mill, thus keeping these deplorable facilities in business. Literally hundreds of thousands of puppies are “manufactured” in this way, and sold at generally lower prices than legitimate breeders can charge (with their humane and therefore more expensive practices); this means that puppy mills are unfairly competitive with legitimate breeders simply based on price. Depending on where you purchase your dog, you may actually have a “puppy mill” puppy in your own house, too.
Puppy mill puppies are sold to the public through a variety of avenues. Many of them are sold in pet shops. They are those adorable, fluffy young dogs that you see in pet store windows. Many of them are also sold with the help of classified ads on the internet or specialized breeder websites online.
Unfortunately, you can’t tell from the ads or the websites, often, that in fact what you are actually buying from is a puppy mill. The ads will say that the puppies have been raised on a farm or with the family, in the fresh open air, with puppies frolicking on the grass or some such thing. Unfortunately, you can’t often prove where these puppies actually come from, and any photographs or other such “documentation” may be fake. So even though you yourself may want to stop puppy mills, you may unwittingly help them keep going if you buy from one of these sources.
Simply put, you can’t prove that many of these websites or ads actually are based on puppy mills (or not), but you can still do your part to stop this.
If you want to put a stop to puppy mills yourself, you can do so in a couple of ways. Don’t buy dogs or cats from pet stores. Pet stores are notorious for buying their puppies (and kittens) from puppy mills.
There are plenty of legitimate shelters and rescue agencies that have great pets for adoption, those that really need homes. There are even young dogs and puppies for those who want to bring a baby home. Also, don’t buy dogs from newspaper ads or online, and advise your friends not to do so, as well.
Puppy mills are an animal lover’s worst nightmare. No dog deserves to live in such conditions, but the issue can never end if these businesses continue to profit from their cruel endeavors.
