Inside the Puppy Mills

I have a rescue-dog, Harley, a Chinese Crested who came to my home about 3 mo. ago. He is approx. 7 yrs. old, and has been living in a crate for most of his life. When I met him, Harly did'nt know how to walk with his legs straight. His legs were curled up under him, and he had no muscle-mass to hold his weight for long periods. He is so timid, and frightened of his own shadow, literally. He is recovering from a skin infection, and his left eye has been lacerated across the cornea. He was hit by an auto during the rescue effort, but has no broken bones, thankfully. Every day I can see a small improvement in his social skills with my other 2 dogs, but with people he is very fearful. He wouldn't hurt a flea, and when I saw him in the shelter, it was love at first sight. With daily attention, he has gained 3 lbs, and has recovered some vision in his left eye. His skin infection is improved markedly, since his nutritional status improves. He now walks upright, with some confidence, wags his tail, and licked my hand this evening. This experience for me has been an eye opener. No life should be treated so indifferently, or tortured so inhumanely, as animals such as my Harley. Such a waste of life this is! I hope other people will read these comments and try to make a life more meaningful, as I've tried to do for this dog. We can all help to give these tortured lives a time of happiness in their last days. They deserve more than they have been given so far in their lifetime. Please contact a shelter in your area to see if you can give some happiness to these tortured ones. Through no fault of their own, they have been in a hell we can not even imagine.

I bought a puppy from Petland. I regret doing it. I didn't know where she came from. They told me they only buy from reputable breeders. Ignorance is bliss I guess. My eyes have opened. I was stupid enough to believe them. She is super smart, super sweet little girl but she is VERY sick. The vets are stuped, cannot firgure what is wrong. with her. When I bought her she had coccidia, an umbilical hernia and 2 days after I brought her home she started coughing. Funny thing is Petland showed my papers saying she had no problems until after I paid and signed for her. Then "oh, look what I found in the back, they must have been set to the side when we gave her a bath." These papers were from the vet saying that she had coccidia and the hernia. So knowing ly Petland sold me an unbreedable and sick dog. I never would breed her but still how devious could they be? So now we are still trying to figure what is causing the cough. after 4 months and 7 different antibiotics nothing has worked. THe specialist thinks it mey be some parasitic infection. She said those typically never go away. Great! I paid all this money for a sick dog. Petland refuses to pay anymore vet bills. We have already hit the max with their contracted vet. Doing detective work I got the "breeders" phone number, called and was told that they have "38 stock dogs" and that the kennel next door to them has 12 different breeds with minimum of 6 adult females of each. She also has respiratory infections running rampid through that kennel. Here's the kicker..... The USDA approves these "breeders". All 4712 of them. There are 4712 puppy mills in the United States all licensed by the USDA. HHHMMMMMMM.
PS dies anyone have an idea of what I can do to make my baby better?

I bought a puppy from Petland. I regret doing it. I didn't know where she came from. They told me they only buy from reputable breeders. Ignorance is bliss I guess. My eyes have opened. I was stupid enough to believe them. She is super smart, super sweet little girl but she is VERY sick. The vets are stuped, cannot firgure what is wrong. with her. When I bought her she had coccidia, an umbilical hernia and 2 days after I brought her home she started coughing. Funny thing is Petland showed my papers saying she had no problems until after I paid and signed for her. Then "oh, look what I found in the back, they must have been set to the side when we gave her a bath." These papers were from the vet saying that she had coccidia and the hernia. So knowing ly Petland sold me an unbreedable and sick dog. I never would breed her but still how devious could they be? So now we are still trying to figure what is causing the cough. after 4 months and 7 different antibiotics nothing has worked. THe specialist thinks it mey be some parasitic infection. She said those typically never go away. Great! I paid all this money for a sick dog. Petland refuses to pay anymore vet bills. We have already hit the max with their contracted vet. Doing detective work I got the "breeders" phone number, called and was told that they have "38 stock dogs" and that the kennel next door to them has 12 different breeds with minimum of 6 adult females of each. She also has respiratory infections running rampid through that kennel. Here's the kicker..... The USDA approves these "breeders". All 4712 of them. There are 4712 puppy mills in the United States all licensed by the USDA. HHHMMMMMMM.
PS dies anyone have an idea of what I can do to make my baby better?

There appears to be a very important lesson to be learned from all this... each of us should do our part to check out each place we might be considering buying or adopting a pet from. Don't buy the first cute pet you see, check the breeder, store, or yes even shelter out first. I hear many bad things about breeders, but there are many very responsible, very loving breeders. On the other hand I hear wonderful things about shelters, however have seen first hand 2 local shelters (one has since been shut down) that had unclean, starving, and neglected pets. It is extremely important that each person check out the source, no matter what that source may be BEFORE getting their next pet.

I have a rescue dog named Harley, about 3 mo. ago, from a shelter. He was found in a house with 72 other animals, 62 of them dogs. Most of them, including Harley, lived in crates all the time, and the owner had run out of money for food for them. Harley is a chinese Crested, and couldn't stand or walk properly when I brought him home. He had a skin infection, a lacerated cornea, and had beed hit by an auto during the rescue effort. He is so timid, still, but is coming around socially, a little every day. He has given me a new look into the tortured lives these helpless animals have lived , in puppy mills and dog peddlers. What a tragic waste of lives, and of life itself. The people who do these things to animals have no pride, and no shame for their actions. Maybe in the next world they will be the victims, instead...THAT would be justice!

I adopted a dog from a puppy mill and he was so sick all the time. When we brought him home he was on medication for a so called "cough" that never went away. He always had infections in his ears and some sort of cold/flu that required medicine. We also believe that he was removed from his litter too early because he never properly socialized with other dogs/people. When he was a year old he started having seizures. We loved this dog so much and were glad that we were the ones who adopted him because the thought of our sick baby being with a family who had less patience made us sick. We had to put our sick little baby down when he was only 3 1/2 because he was in so much pain all the time (he cried all day). It has almost been a year and it still infuriates me because I feel like none of this ever should have happened. I just wonder how many other Jakes there are that aren't being cared for. PUPPY MILLS NEED TO BE STOPPED!!!!!!

I am a dog lover to the bone, and for the life of my cannot understand why people would do this thing just to make a buck. If you want to be a puppy breader, that's fine i understand it, but let the dog's live in GOOD liveable conditions with proper care, and feeding. If you yourself would not live there, then the dog doens't need to. Each and every dog is a life that needs to be treated with respect. While YES you may make a certin amount per dog, but jeezus HAVE A HEART! People who do this piss me off to no end, very little in life REALLY upsets me, but THIS DOES.

I am a dog lover to the bone, and for the life of my cannot understand why people would do this thing just to make a buck. If you want to be a puppy breader, that's fine i understand it, but let the dog's live in GOOD liveable conditions with proper care, and feeding. If you yourself would not live there, then the dog doens't need to. Each and every dog is a life that needs to be treated with respect. While YES you may make a certin amount per dog, but jeezus HAVE A HEART! People who do this piss me off to no end, very little in life REALLY upsets me, but THIS DOES.

people are saving pups where ever thay buy them.off the stret or at the mill

bunnynell is correct. I run a no kill shelter for dogs that no one wants. It hurts everytime I see an ad for puppys, knowing that as soon as they are no longer cute they will end up in a shelter or even killed or worse yet just turned loose in the streets or in the country where they have to fend for themselves. I work with our local pound and am full almost constantly with these wonderful, sweet pets.

My husband and I are disabled but these dogs are cared for out of our own pocket. The vet bills are paid for by us. I have even gotten a part time job just to pay expenses for these unwanted dogs. There are just not enough homes to go around and people keep breeding more.

Before you decide to breed puppys PLEASE check out your local shelter and see all of the wonderful pets you will be killing or leaving to live their lives out in the shelter. A shelter is a temporary home not a forever home.

P.S one more thing, both my pets are rescues from our local shelters here in New Orelans- we as well have a non-profit shelter teh website is www.arno.org, I volunteer weekly, it's non-profit, also we have many animals up for adoption at our Jefferson and Orleans Parish shleters, please understand pets are a HUGE responsibility- they are not to be adopted and thrown in the backyard as a guard dog, once you adopt they are part of the family, and should be treated humanely and with kindness.

i think breeding dogs or cats is a waste when there are so many animals out there in desperate need of good homes. and i agree with bunnynell...breeding DOES contribute to pet overpopulation. i just adopted 2 kitties from a local humane organization yesterday. it cost me only $100 and they are both fixed and vaccinated. you get so much more when you adopt from a local huamne shelter and your helping an organization that does truly love and care for the animals and want nothing more than to get them into good homes. they also take much better care of the animals too. i always notice how much healthier the animals are and the cages are always well kept at Petsmart's adoption facilities. much more so than the pet stores in the mall...what a world of difference! i never really understood why people want to pay $500 and up for a pure breed animal...when you can get just as much and more from an animal from a local shelter and you know you're helping out a good organization.