The Puppy Mill Industry: the Truth Behind This Cruel Business

You just went to a pet store and saw some adorable puppies for sale, not realizing that if you were to buy one, you were contributing to the cruel practices that still occur in the puppy mill industry. Whether it's a puppy or kitten mill, the methods of breeding puppies or kittens are the same.

The puppy mill business is not new as it's been around for decades and I certainly was aware of them for years, yet I didn't realize the true horror that goes behind this industry. Just recently, as I'm a member of The Humane Society of the United States, I got an action alert email from them to sign a petition to bring about the end of the puppy mill industry, and I hope that in the near future, actions are taken against kitten mills as well. On their website there are several informative and graphic videos of exactly what goes on in the puppy mill business, and it's not a pretty sight.

The average puppy that is for sale, not only in pet stores but on-line as well, most likely came from one of these puppy mills. One will be able to verify this fact, if the pet store or the person selling a puppy on-line has no documented papers from a certified breeder authenticating not only the breed of dog, but it's health. All puppies that come from reliable breeders will be able to supply this information to the pet store, if not then you are dealing with a puppy from one of these mills.

Puppies that come from these mills have been breed by the thousands. The people who run such a business, usually get their young dogs at auctions who have reached their breeding age, most likely when they have demonstrated their very first heat when they are only a year or so old. The Humane Society caught such auctions at various locations in the United States with an undercover camera. One sees hundreds of dogs each one caged in small, cramped steel cages. They are kept without food or water provisions all day, while one by one, they are auctioned off like slaves. And yes, to my mind, these dogs do become slaves for their owner, for the breeder the only one who benefits and profits from the continual breeding of their dogs.

The conditions of puppy mills themselves are no better than how the dogs were kept during these auctions, in fact they're usually worse. Once again, the dog will be confined to a small, crowded cages with its mating partner. Some of these caged conditions are so crammed that often the dogs and their offspring develop psychological and behavioral problems. They may be more nervous, and agitated than the normal dog, and often acquire the condition of cage madness, where the dogs spend most of their days, spinning around in circles uncontrollably. Sadly, once these puppies are shipped out to pet shops and are bought by the unsuspecting person, the new owner will then wonder why their cute cuddly puppy has behavior problems and can't properly train them, so either the puppy is returned to the pet store, dumped off at a shelter, or just simply dumped in the streets.

Neither the parents dogs nor their offspring receive proper veterinary care or attention. They usually have inadequate food supplies given to them, and in one part of the video, it showed how the food supply at one puppy mill was filled with crawling maggots. Worse yet, none of these dogs ever receive any sense of love or kindness from their human owners. They exist solely and only for the owner to simply to breed out of control and make a profit to the breeder. Since none of these dogs receive proper care, many quickly become sickly, producing puppies that are just as sickly. It's not unusual that when someone does buy that cute puppy at the pet store or on-line, they wonder why the puppy develops further complications of health problems and despite any veterinary care it may receive by its owner often my die only a few weeks or months after it was bought.

All adult dogs are forced to breed litter upon litter of puppies until the dog can no longer produce anymore litters, usually when they are only five years old. This is not old by any means for a dog but because these dogs are forced to breed continually, their breeding capabilities are shortened. Once that happens, the dog is no longer considered useful or profitable and is usually disposed of. The Humane Society in yet another video, says that ideally the dog is euthanized...but that is the ideal situation. Sadly however, most often the dog is either allowed to starve to death, or even beaten to death.

According to The Humane Society they, as well as other animal rights organizations, are now taking aggressive actions to stop this puppy mill industry once and for all. On their website, The Humane Society has a petition one can sign to help stop this cruel practice of the puppy mill, hopefully, in the future they may take action against the kitten mill industry as well.

Besides signing such a petition, what further actions can the average person take? One is to write to their governments officials to pass bills to outlaw and make illegal any and all puppy mill industries. Here in New York, for instance, Assemblyman Gregory R. Ball has proposed two such bills to make the puppy mill industry a thing of the past in this state; sadly these proposed bills are just for New York. However, by writing to one's political leaders in their own state, one can put pressure to have similar bills proposed that would make this "industry" made illegal, and one day we may see the end of this cruel business nationwide.

Also, the potential pet owner looking for a puppy should pass up buying it at a pet store or on-line. To do so only encourages another puppy to take its place in the store, therefore, creating the demand for puppies to be breed at these mills. Instead, one should go to their local shelter, where hundreds of unwanted puppies and dogs are adoptable and eagerly waiting to have a new home. To do so will save a life of an animal who may otherwise be euthanized due to lack of space in the shelter.

Sources of information :

http://www.stoppuppymills.org/

http://www.stoppuppymills.org/inside_a_puppy_mill.html