Puppy Mills

Just yesterday on our podcast, Animal Talk Naturally, my co-host Jeannie and I talked about the awful inhumanity of humankind to to animals through factory farming and puppy mills. Since this is a Dog Topic I'll focus here a bit on puppy mills.

I was perusing some sites this morning really encouraging us to not support puppy mills through our purchases. By purchasing puppies from puppy mills, newspaper ads and yes the ever present existence of puppy millers online, WE the buyers are the ones who are supporting this horrid practice. Us and the USDA in many cases in fact. I won't go there because there isn't enough space in one short blog post about all I'd like to say about how our government not only supports these commercial breeders but obviously keeps them in business with our tax dollars.

I digress and I'll just get angrier the more I go on about that particular subject. At any rate we can do a lot by just not purchasing dogs -or any animals for that matter -from pet stores or online. There is just no knowing what horrible condition the parents are existing in. By buying these puppies we are condemning more dogs to a horrible existence inside a puppy mill, namely the parents who are bred until they can no longer breed or produce. Females typically wear out by age 5 since they are bred over and over from their first heat. When a female can't produce anymore she is "dealt" with in several ways:

1. She could be sold at auction to an upstart puppy mill subjecting her to further torture and misery. Her own neglected existence makes her very unfit to be able to nuture and train a puppy to be able to live in human society. Her life is one of mere survival at best.

2. She can be left to starve to death. No sense feeding an unproducing dog after all, right?

3. She can be beaten to death, shot, or even sometimes in a rare humane case euthanized by a qualified veterinarian. Howver, this rarely is the case since it costs money for the puppy miller to give any dog any care above and beyond junk dog food and water.

Disease and health problems abound within these horrid puppy mill colonies. The breeding stock are not cared for other than a little food and water at best in most cases.

Does this sound like something you'd want to support? Not me. The puppies are no guarantees either. They are randomly bred with no aforethought to genetics, temperament or any of the other things that reputable breeders provide for the soundness of their chosen breed. Most often you will pay exceedingly high prices for a puppy mill bred dog only to gain a puppy that will cost you high vet bills and loads of heartache eventually.

We can all be part of the solution by choosing to NOT purchase puppies from pet stores, internet sites, and newspaper ads wanting cash for their "for sale" puppies and dogs. I'd rather wait for a reputably bred dog or get a rescue or shelter dog. That's how I choose to make a difference: by being part of the solution.

Have a tail waggin' day!