Inside the Puppy Mills

Such a tragic injuctice to the dogs, as I was with Sis picking up her dog from a groomer where they had a puppy mill on side of building, which my Sis did not know about. The owner came in said here hold this dog while I get your Sisters dog. I said sure. Well the dog sighed in my chest. The owner said well we cant breed her any longer so we are putting her down. My reaction was shear terror for the poor do who smelled horrible that i firmly kept next to me. The woman asked if I wanted her? Well you will have to knock me out to get her out of my arms. My Sister said ok how much do you want for her and was ready to purchase the dog for me. The owner said here are her papers you can have her. She does not know her name. How sad I thought but the smell of her took a few weeks to get rid of as they never had cleaned her anal sacks which a good groomer would know how to do. Had to my local vet because she was so scared that it was a week before she felt comfortable enough to make a whining noise. I was so afraid they had cut her vocal cords yes they do that. Had her home safely then reported to my Sis what was going on and she better find a new groomer. Reported them and they are now closed down but proably reopened in another location. The dog I brought home runs with my fixed male and gets around beautifully within the home. She now has a bed close to mine healthy made a wonderful pet. The other dog taught her how to beg, how to go in and out of the house waits for her to do her business and litterally watches out for her. They eat together, go to groomers together and to vets for chechups and we are so blessed to have them booth. A dog lover and vol for local humane society

I recently purchased a pure breed poddle - My wife and I visited the breeders location in Ohio, we spent over 5 hours walking throught the operation before we picked one. We have been in contact with the breeder since our purchase, and our very pleased with our choice of breeder and puppy. People need to take the time to study what and where they are buying from.

I wish someone would really investigate where Petco in South Dakoto gets their puppies. I made the mistake of getting a puppie from them, I did not know about puppie mills at the time and I think they use one. The paper work we got with our puppy said he tested negitive for all disease. Two days latter the our vet found a very contageious infection that his paper work that came with him said he dident have. We had a cat and another dog at home. We had to treat all three of them. The pet store would only repay us for the pupies antibiotics. They would not pay us back for the stool test or the treatment of our other two animals, who were healthy before we brought this puppie home, The same puppie also turned out to have luxating pettlias in both back kness before age one. We lost money on this puppie, still loved him and fixed his knees. We finally had to find a home for him where he would be the only indoor dog, which broke my heart. But we had to do this so he would not reinjure his knees playing rough with our other dog. I think that their should be a law against any pet store from selling puppies or kittens. They don't take care of them all in the name of profite. For the one who wears your ASPCA Law Enforcement shirt and go's into local pet stores keep it up. I think you should do this espechially around the holiday's like Christmas Eve when they sell the most puppies and kittens.

When I was in England I read a book that said the solution is simply to go direct to the breeder, never buy from a pet store. Alwyas insist on looking at the parent dogs so then you know what the true conditions are. If people would bother to do this there would be no puppy mills.

I do rescue, and all the animal rights people are totally discouraging people from buying puppies, at all. There is nothing wrong with buying a puppy from someone who cared enough to do it right. We all should be supporting THOSE BREEDERS, because 99.9% of the dogs that I get in rescue came from a pet store. They still deserve a second chance, but if the public wasn't supporting pet stores, it would put a HUGE dent in the puppies produced in substandard facilities, because the demand would decrease.

Hello,good morning, I want to say please please please change the bad petshop place and make all the puppies can have rest, joy, and all they need can fulfill. I just bought a puppy from petshop, I love this puppy so much. His a male andso cute and make me laugh all the time. But the bad his always but maybe the teeth want to grow, now his 2 months and always ear dogfood, I hope all the dogfood is good ingredients for him, it's expensivwe and made in USA, so investigators and many pet lovers around the world love all u'r animal and the petshop and the breeder make the puppy comfort and happy always becoz they loves u,too.

The AKC actually supports puppy mills by buying full size cover ads in the Kennel Magazine, one of the industry publications.

Don't you find it interesting that even with all the denial of what puppy mills are and whether or not they are really a problem, that just on these postings there have been numerous people who have themselves adopted former mill dogs and can attest to their neglect and treatment. People need to hear from all of us who have encountered these dogs and know first hand what they have gone through and we all need to contact pet stores in our area and voice our opinions and objections. We need to write our representatives and officials and encourage them to pass and enforce laws against such treatment of animals. We need to take a stand and use our voices and report ANY suspicious activities to anyone and everyone who will listen.
If WE as "the people" will become involved, we can help close mills, lessen animal cruelty and neglect, dog fighting and who knows what else. Support the GOOD breeders and let the world know about the others. The truth is, that is why this whole article is good. It sheds light on puppy mills and most people honestly don't even have a clue what they are or that they even exist.

Like a few have mentioned, I'm thrilled to see an article written about puppy mills. Yes, they do still exist. Unfortunately, when they are mentioned in the news, the passion that they bring about usually only lasts for a week or two at the most. Then, for many folks, it is on to the next whatever news story. And I'm also talking about the news magazines, news channels, and newspapers. I'd LOVE to see a newspaper, or Newsweek, or somebody FOLLOW for a year or two and give, perhaps, a quarterly update to this abuse. What IS being done? Are laws being changed? Are these mills being investigated AND shut down? And so on.....

And what about educating the public on how to help make changes. It is one thing to tell folks to not purchase a dog from a pet store. But what about informing them of how to get involved in organizations (money, time, some kind of support) that are looking and working toward making a change? Here in Seattle, in fact in all of the state of Washington, pet stores are not allowed (by law) to sell dogs or cats. They can support and advertise shelters (such as petfinder), but they cannot sell animals within their stores. How about we work first toward getting this law passed in EACH AND EVERY state. That would be an initial HUGE hit to these puppy mills. May not shut them down immediately, but it would shut some of them down.

Please don't lose interest after a week or two of reading this article. Take a little bit of your time and investigate this further and TAKE ACTION.

Thanks, Sue

It REALLY is the responsbility of the pet buyer to research the breed, and where the particular dog they want is coming from. No good breeder is going to hand their puppies over to a third party (pet store or sell blindly over the Internet). They place their puppies themselves, and do their best to make sure their puppies go to homes that are a good match for them, one that is well informed about the breed and understands that dogs can easily be a 14+ year commitment.

Not all people who are raising puppies in their backyards are forcing those dogs to live in terrible conditions. I know of one in my town who actually has several types of small dogs. These dogs have air-conditioning(the owner does not have it in their own house) and heating for the winter. The dogs and puppies are played with by all members of the family, the only difference is that te dogs live outside instead of in the house. I belive that if you want to buy a puppy you really need to visit the breeders pens and see their dogs. This is the only way to avoid the trap of the puppy mills. Don't put down all private breeders, investigate first.

Did no one notice that HSUS is listed as an animal welfare group, when they are an animal rights group? I don't want any animals raised is substandard conditions, but HSUS makes big noise about this, and takes everyone's money, but they don't operate any shelters! All the donations go for is propaganda. HSUS and Wayne Pacelle and all animal rights people/groups want to end your ability to own pets.

Two years ago, I adopted a miniature Doxie female, 7 years old, the very day that a puppy mill had surrendered her to a Kansas veterinary clinic, because she had a big hernia and couldn't make the "mill's" owners any more puppy money. The fears I've helped this dog work through just broke my heart. She was horrified of everything and everybody, with a real flight instinct of screaming and running from just about any noise or fast movement. With love and patience, she has become a sweet, loving lap dog, but will never be "normal" in the sense of a dog that was raised in a loving environment. Watching her learn to love sleeping on a bed, riding in the car and going for walks has been incredibly gratifying. But each time I look in her submissive, often worried eyes, it breaks my heart to think of what she went through when she was in that awful puppy mill, where the 65 female dogs barked 24/7 and lived in cages even in sub-zero weather.

I wear my ASPCA Law Enforcement shirt and go into the local pet stores --I am not a welcome customer but the owners always are ready to explain to me their animals do not come from puppy mills - when I ask where they come from the answer is "reputable breeders - when I ask for "reputable breeder names" they cannot reveal that information ----if a customer in the store sees me and notices my shirt they will inevtiably follow me out and ask questions and I feel free to give my "opinion" - as long as I am not in the store giving my "opinion" the owners cannot do anything - I never represent myself as an officer - I simply support to ASPCA and wear the shirt!!!!
meandu1@ntelos.net

that is the most appalling thing that could happen to a pet. I wish there was something we people could do to get rid of puppy mills. there has to be something cities can do, I feel so helpless, I love animals very much, I plan to have a sanctuary of some kind on a farm out in the country when I retire, shortly. and i am so excited that "vick" got time in prison for his inhumane treatment of those precious animals, I do believe that people who are mean to animals will go straight to HELL. God loved animal, garden of eden had animals, do did Noah's ark.

I have only been to one pet store, a petland in alpharetta that sells real humanely raised pups, they are all excellently cared for and the owner crossed paths with Hunte and the othere's only once due to her franchise agreement, but went against them and her franchise for the sake of the animals and only buys pups from breeders her vet knows are safely raised. great dogs and cats are out there, support those stores that care.

I have only been to one pet store, a petland in alpharetta that sells real humanely raised pups, they are all excellently cared for and the owner crossed paths with Hunte and the othere's only once due to her franchise agreement, but went against them and her franchise for the sake of the animals and only buys pups from breeders her vet knows are safely raised. great dogs and cats are out there, support those stores that care.

I have only been to one pet store, a petland in alpharetta that sells real humanely raised pups, they are all excellently cared for and the owner crossed paths with Hunte and the othere's only once due to her franchise agreement, but went against them and her franchise for the sake of the animals and only buys pups from breeders her vet knows are safely raised. great dogs and cats are out there, support those stores that care.