A Dog 's Best Friend

Puppy mills have been notorious for keeping the puppy trade industry alive and as big as it is today. With thousands of puppy mills, both known and under the radar, they provide easy access and cheap puppies to sell at pet stores at inflated prices. While they do keep the business booming and keep pure breeds that may specialize in important roles, they continue to put countless numbers of dogs through terrifying pain. To stop the agonizing torture the lovable pups go through, stricter rules must be applied to these puppy mills, a new license regulation must be used, regular inspections, and awareness of alternative options must be made.

Puppy Mills have had a huge impact on puppy abuse in this country something that the government has to act on until it’s to late. Many have argue Puppy mills are unfit for the puppy’s in Marley and Me by John Grogan. They have agreed also that puppy mills are just a commercial breeding operation. When John and Jenny seen on the newspaper ad it said “Lab puppy yellow AKC pure breed”(John 3) they made sure that the place was not a puppy mill. John and Jenny had read a lot about puppy mills to steer away from them.

Puppy mills are a worldwide commercial breeding operation. The most common places that you will run into a puppy mill is by buying a dog from a pet store, newspaper ad, online, or even in a public area including a flea market. Puppy mills began after World War II because of the horrific war. When the farmers crops became a failure and were not bringing profit to the town. People started to worry and decided to breed pure bred dogs and sell them as they would of called it the new cash crops.

They don’t get medical attention if they are sick, they live in tiny cages that they hardly fit in, the mothers are in constant labor, the list could go on and on. So, first of all, the puppies are put in cages only a bit bigger than the puppies themselves. The puppies basically live there until there are sent off to pet stores and other places. The puppies have a tiny food bowl and a tiny water bowl, and the food and water has a high chance of being contaminated with bugs or disease. Dogs at puppy mills are starved right down to the bone, while they try to make the puppies look healthy, as if to hide the fact that the puppy was from a puppy mill. That is one of the worst things about it. Approximately 2.11 million puppies are shipped to pet stores from puppy mills each year! What is worse is about 3 million are killed, starved, died from disease,

“Puppy mills create misery for dogs and pain for the unwitting purchasers of the animal, and they indirectly deny suitable homes for animals in need.”- Wayne Pacelle (President of the Humane Society of the United States)

Puppy mills usually house dogs in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate veterinary care, food, water or socialization. In order to maximize profits, female dogs are bred at every opportunity with little-to-no recovery time between litters. Puppy mill puppies, often as young as eight weeks of age, are sold to pet shops or directly to the public over the Internet, through newspaper ads and at swap meets and flea markets.

A poll conducted by the ASPCA revealed that 94% of Americans believe that production animals, specifically those raised for food, deserve to live a comfortable life free of cruelty and neglect. Despite this belief, many factory farm animals are abused and neglected in such ways that, if witnessed by consumers, would not be accepted. Over 99% of the United State’s farm animals live on factory farms that use them for means of profit, many of them violating the Animal Welfare Act and other laws put in place to protect the humane treatment of animals (ASPCA). This abuse is not limited to any specific type of farm animal. Although different animals are used for different purposes, they all share a common suffering and a need for humane care.

Even more disturbing, most of these puppies do not receive the correct attention or affection from the very things they love the most; us. They don’t get to run around and exercise the way dogs were meant to. Their well-being is not important to the facilities. Increasing the profit is the sole focus and goal. Because of this, puppies are repeatedly born sick and their life expectancy is decreased. As terrible as this is, these are the very real and disturbing circumstances for puppies living in puppy mills; if you’d even want to call it that. They should be shut down completely, and banned by the government throughout the nation.

Puppies are taken away from their mothers too early which can cause illnesses or behavioral problems. Dogs raised at puppy mills are sold in two main places. They either go to pet stores or are sold over the internet. When dogs are shipped out to pet stores they can sometimes go up to many hours without food or water and are tightly squeezed in cages. Many pet stores sell the dogs without telling the buyer where they have come from. Not just are the dogs treated unkindly and in unhealthy ways but there is also a psychological affect on them as well.

One of the most disturbing problems out of many, in puppy farming, is the nightmarish conditions in which the dogs are kept. These innocent animals are kept in constant confinement, packed together in ridiculously small cages. As well as living in cramped conditions, they are also neglected by their “caring” breeders, and have almost no human contact until they leave the farm. A lack of human contact can lead to many problems, such as aggressive behaviour, and extreme antisocial behaviour. In a recent news article, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) shut down a puppy farm in Carlow, Ireland. Inspectors described the scene as “appalling and horrific”. The ISPCA also reported that “dead animals were strewn around the premises,” and the animals that were not dead were in urgent need of attention. This harrowing report sickens me and highlights the exact reason why puppy farming

Some of diseases are epilepsy, heart diseases, kidney disorder, muscular disorder, deafness, and blindness. The most common defects and health problems found in puppy mill dogs are kennel cough, pneumonia, mange, fleas, ticks, intestinal parasites, heartworm, and chronic diarrhea. All of these terrible and dreadful illnesses could have been avoided if the breeders could be a little more mindful of their conditions. More space, food, water, and activity could save these innocent dogs from inheriting or picking up viruses and deformities. Some dogs that are rescued from puppy mills are found with their fur so matted that it must all be shaved off. These diseases are not appealing to people and families looking for a playful friend for their kids and themselves. Sometimes, it is even so bad that the people selling the dogs from the pet stores do not tell the new puppy owners and they are then forced to pay very expensive vet bills. A more sad and common thing that the owners do is they abandon or neglect the dog because they were unprepared for the high payments. Many owners buy dogs that have such bad behavioral problems that they cry for hours and hours having to decide whether or not to euthanize the dog or to keep it alive and

A: Pet mills put money and profit, before the health of the animals they are breeding. Animals from these mills are usually living in disgusting conditions, and not getting the medical care that they need (Sheeter, n.d.). Because of this, the animals can get very prone to sickness, and have behavioural problems. They are left in small crates, squished together, have terrible diets, and dirty water (Sheeter, n.d.). A lot of dogs have been neglected or abused and have had little attention, interaction with humans or other animals, or obedience trainings. They were not treated with any sort or respect or appreciation or care, and they deserve that. The mums of the puppies are caged and constantly bred until they no longer can, they do not get

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) describes puppy mills situation to be overcrowded, unsanitary, without adequate food, water, and veterinary health care. Female dogs are even bred at every opportunity without a rest to maximize profit (“Puppy Mills”). Dogs are kept locked up in wired cages, stacked on top one another and sometimes their excrements are not properly monitored. Thus, this leads to unknown genetic disorders and poor genetic quality which makes it difficult for the dogs to live for a long time. In the end, it will cause a lot of stress and problems for the family down the road due to the dogs’ health. Many people who are unaware of these living conditions often tend to overlook their puppies neglect and suffering. When purchasing a new pet from a pet store, many people do not wonder where their pet may have come from, instead, they are more engulf in their excitement to bring home a new family

Definition of a puppy mill: “Puppy mills are commercial dog breeding facilities that are operated with an emphasis on profits, not animal welfare” (Reiter, 2010)

- Puppy mills are large factory-style breeding facilities where profit is prioritized over the well-being of animals.