Is anyone else against puppy mills?

Question

What can be done to stop the inhumane, horrible and unsanitary practices of these mills? I would like to see all of them shut down and the people punished. Anyone agree?

Answer 1

I absolutely agree. I think it is the responsibility of all neighbors, that if you notice what you think may be a puppy mill or dog fight breeder, to contact the local ASPCA. I am an advocate of dogs; they add so much value to our lives.

I often take my Shar-Pei to the assisted living/senior communities as a therapy dog. You should see the smiles on their faces!!!!!

Answer 2

The only way to shut them down is to keep educating people about what they are...too many people still want the convenience of buying a dog like they buy groceries or a car: just 'pick one up at the store'. And now many puppy mills sell directly to the public on line. Check how many are out of Kansas City & Pennsylvania - the 2 biggest puppy mill areas of the country. They make individual kennel names & individual websites per breed & make beautiful, cutesy pages with the same worthless guarantees they have at the pet shops: 24 hour vet check (or few days/week) & no cash refund - only a replacement pup. As if the replacement would be any healthier!

Education is the key: until the general public realizes & quits buying from these sources, they are getting all they care about: MONEY. When I worked for vets, one news program (I believe 20/20) had an expose of puppy mills & that next couple of weeks, we actually had clients come in with dogs they bought from pet stores in the mistaken belief they were 'saving these poor pups' - not understanding all they really did was support puppy mills by giving them money. This is a long, hard road to make people get it.

Answer 3

A few years ago I answered an add for a double dapple dachshund. We went to pick this dog up and walked into a metal building,..........I wanted to fall down and cry right there. The smell was so bad, it was so hot, and from floor to CEILING were cage after cage after cage of mommies and babies, all four sides and then rows down the middle. I didn't even know places like this exsisted!!! We did take our dog who ended up with a lot of problems. I was so shocked I did not even know what to do? I do have a dog I breed out, but only to people where I live at. We breed them and sell them because we all require herders for our trades. We don't have puppy mills though. At the most the people I stud my dog out to have two females at a time, they don't let the females have but two sometimes three litters, then they too either stay on the farms, or become house pets for someone else. I'm sure some of you might still not like that idea, but our dogs are required for a certain kinds of living and we are very responsible about it. If you think we even come close to a puppy mill, then you have never even come close to encountering what I did that day in that nasty nightmarish building.

Answer 4

Just keep in mind that there IS a difference between a RESPONSIBLE pure bred breeder and a puppy mill. If you come to my house for a puppy, you will not go into a metal building and you will definately be given a 48 hour NO FAULT full refund guarantee and a lifetime genetic guarantee. My puppies are born in my house, in my bedroom. They are raised in my home and in my specially designed backyard that has an open grassy field for playing, some woods for exploring, toys and agility equipment. I bake home made treats for them, they have hand made quilts for their beds, and all are loved dearly. Each have had all shots, genetic testing, are in the process of earning titles depending on what they enjoy doing - conformation, rally, agility, herding, flyball, disk, etc.
Until people understand that just because you are a breeder, you are NOT a puppy mill, there is a difference, then we will never be able to crack down on the ones who do this for money and not purely for the love of the breed - like a RESPONSIBLE breeder does.

Answer 5

As long as people buy dogs from pet stores there will be puppy mills. If more people bought from reputable breeders or did their homework to see where their puppy came from, or BETTER YET, ADOPTED a poor puppy that needed to be rescued there might be some impact on the puppy mills that do not care about the puppies, just the bottom line.

Look at all the cute puppies on Petfinder!

http://www.petfinder.com/

Answer 6

The only way to shut down puppy mills is to get people to stop buying dogs from them. I don't think people truely understand the ramifications of buying a dog from an irresponcible breeder. They are sick, unsocialized and all around not good pets. I have seen the conditions that dogs in puppy mills are kept in. The breeding dogs are kept in tiny pens with contaminated food and water. The owners of puppy mills do not breed for consistancy they don't breed out problems like cancer prone and hip problems. they breed any male with any female with undesired results. These people are EVIL< BAD< WRONG!!!!! The worst thing in the world is losing a dog because of irresponcible breeders.

Answer 7

i agree with you 100%. i feel that all these mills should be shut down and the owners should get jail time and also fined for what they are doing and putting these animals in danger. the terrible thing is that these people don't tell the owners about any health issues and then the new owners have to face a difficult decsion when they find out that their new dog is gravly ill.
the bad thing is that these people don't care about the animals they just think about the money they can make off all these dogs they are breeding. most of the time these breeders don't vaccinate the dogs right and that is why they end up sick and that is the reason they have to be put down when they are picked up and cared for the right way. it is a sad thing to hear about but all we can do is report them every time we hear about it happening.

Answer 8

As long as the AKC remains the primary and " gold standard" of registration organizations they are going to continually lobby for things that help their bottom line. Its a sad state of affairs that many akc registered dogs can no longer perform the function for which the breed was developed. The conformation ring is the primary focus for most breeders and even here repeatedly you see people ask if a dog has been "shown to its championship", which means its concidered breeding stock based on less then 4 minutes of evaluation in a show ring where it must stand still. walk and jog.. it has nothing to do with if a herding dogs herds, a terrier goes to ground or a retriever can actually find the bird its been sent after. that being said.. The Humane society.. who wrote that article is no gathering of angels either. Haveing worked at a HSUS shelter, i've seen some insane things. Like 4 cats being euthanized to allow a small dog to have the 3 x 3 foot cat kennels they occupied. Dogs who are obviously beyond redemption behaviorally kept for months in the hopes some rescue will take them. Meanwhile perfectly freindly dogs who would make lovely pets were euthanized to make kennel space to keep more bully breed dogs, the reason I was given was " bullys get a bad wrap and we need to help them" ... personally any dog in a shelter needs help.. not just pits, or staffs. When I contacted the HSUS about a woman who abandoned over 30 cats at her house, not only did they refuse to help, they told me the harsh winter should take care of some of the problem as long as neighbors didnt feed them. Talk about calouse? But yet they can go on tv and ask for donations? honestly its a case of the lesser of two evils and I dont know which is which

Answer 9

i totally agree with you. puppy mills are so inhumane and cruel. i think it's ok if someone wants to breed their dogs, but they have to be responsible and realistic. it's such a sin that people support these horrible mills, when they can go to a shelter and adopt a puppy or dog saved from a bad situation like that.

Answer 10

Anyone who wouldn't agree would be an idiot. Unfortunately, its all those idiots that would purchase a dog from a puppy mill that keep them all in business. So your point is lost on those of us who love and care for our pets, and check where they come from. We are not buying from the puppy mills. When I went to get another Italian Greyhound, I checked EVERY home/mill they came from. I walked away from one crying all the way home, feeling I had left the animal in such poor conditions, but I knew better than to bring it and its problems home. I contacted a local breeder that the girl had bragged she sold to and found out that the breeder had left some of her dogs in this girls care. When I told her what the conditions were and what I had seen, she contacted the authorities and put an end to it. Turned out she was the local go to girl for rescued IG's and a number of breeders had used her services and even had sold to her. NO ONE, I repeat NO ONE had actually gone to see the animals and where they were being cared for. How unfortunate, as a number had skin conditions, alapicia, glucoma, and worse. And unsuspecting people were only seeing the dogs in her Mom's house. I asked to see the dogs I heard barking in the back, just to see. She, surprisingly, showed me. It was appalling! I couldn't beat a path out of there fast enough. So, what can you do? Not buy puppies from people who won't meet you at their home, don't buy puppies from anyone you can't check out carefully AND completely, buy only from reputable breeders or from the local shelters, and if an owner won't show you any area of there home/farm/whatever, take a pass. Because as someone who saw one and walked away, walking away is a heartbreaking experience, but one should not enrich the pockets that prefer to propagate unhealthy, unhappy animals in outrageous conditions and should report those you do come across to the proper authorities. For those who have gone ahead and bought the animal to "save" it, I feel sorry for not only you, but for the enrichment you handed to the profitteers of this vile puppy mill industry. They preyed upon your emotions and desire to "save" the animal. But worse, they stayed in business.