For decades, The HSUS has fought puppy mills on all fronts. From conducting investigations to strengthening laws, we won't stop until dogs are not suffering in puppy mills any longer. Join us in the fight—with your help, we can win.

http://stoppuppymills.org/

Puppy mills are nothing new. These mass dog-breeding operations have been around for decades. They continue to thrive because they prey on unwitting consumers who are smitten by too-cute-for-words puppies in pet store windows and on fancy websites.

But behind the friendly facade of the local pet shop, the pastoral scenes on a "breeder's" website, or the neighborhood newspaper ad, there often lies a puppy mill. These canine breeding facilities house dogs in shockingly poor conditions.

Life is particularly bad for "breeding stock," dogs who live their entire lives in cages and are continually bred for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever becoming part of a family. These dogs receive little or no veterinary care and never see a bed, a treat or a toy. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems.


Several hundred thousand puppies are shipped cross-country to be sold in pet shops, but many are sold via newspaper classifieds or Internet sites and are often accompanied by false claims such as, "We'd never sell puppies from a puppy mill" or promises that the puppies are "home raised," farm raised," or "raised with kids/grandkids." The ploys of the puppy mill are designed to dupe a well-intentioned family into buying a puppy and keeping the engine of cruelty working overtime.


Many years ago, people knew that a puppy mill was a substandard kennel where unhealthy, overbred dog, dogs with no or minimal vet care were kept in the most horrible conditions.

Female dogs are made to have litters twice a year the minute they come into their first heat, which could be as early as 6-7 months old, they by the time they reach 4-5 years old they are discarded, killed or given to rescue groups. When they do come into rescue, they need the most medical care. Rescue organizations have taken in dogs with broken legs that never received medical care and now the leg needs to be re-broke, they have taken in dogs with bullets in their little bodies, with tumors that are usually malignant, blind and much more.

So, when you ask why do I pay an adoption fee this is why.
Rescue Groups vet bills are huge, they also must pay for transport, because the phone calls they get to save mill dogs is usually right before the puppy miller says, "If you do not come by tomorrow, I am killing these dogs."


Puppy mills put dogs down left and right, we get phone calls as late at 1am to save dogs the next day.



Many groups have volunteer transporters but they cannot always do transports at the drop of a hat, so that is when we pay transporters to go and save these dogs.

Puppy mill dogs come into rescues shy and scared, they have never been touched or cuddled or hugged, so they must be worked with them to get them to TRUST. Some come to ready for adoption and want to be held and cuddled, all they want is love and affection.


At mills, they do not get quality food, so usually they come to us not knowing what dog food is, in mills they sometimes only eat feces, they do not always have fresh water and they live in cages with chicken wire bottoms or in wooden boxes.



Usually the cages the dogs are in are cramped, dirty. Many times these cages are stacked on top of each other with nothing to separate one cage from the other.



Diseases are ignored, so usually if one dog is sick then all dogs get sick.

Most of the time millers will only visit the dog cages to remove the puppies from the mother.


Roughly 98% of puppies from mills go to pet stores, there are some pet stores that have adoption centers instead in their stores. Pet stores sell their dogs for profit. They buy the dogs from $50-$150 and then re-sell to you for $1000-$2000, that is some profit.

Puppies come to pets stores by the truckload, having been taken away from their mothers before even being weaned and sold to stores around the country. They fit as many as they can in crates. Often when pet shops get dogs they are dehydrated and ill. Some puppies even arrive dead. It is up to the store owner to get these dogs to a vet and some never see one until you purchase them.

Some puppies do not get purchased and stay in the store longer and those come out with behavioral problems and then that causes heartbreak for the person who bought the dog and must give him up to a rescue/shelter.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

DO NOT PURCHASE A PET FROM A STORE.

DO NOT PURCHASE MORE THEN ONE PUP AT ONCE, IT IS LIKE HAVING 2 TWO YEAR OLDS IN THE HOUSE, A LOT OF WORK.

DO NOT PURCHASE A DOG LIKE IF YOU WERE BUYING A CANDY BAR, THEY NEED A LOT OF CARE AND WORK, AND THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IS HUGE.

Good breeders do not sell their pups to pet shops, pet shops are in it for the money just like the mills. Rescue and shelters go into puppy mills to rescue dogs that have been in deplorable conditions.

THE COMMITMENT FOR A DOG IS 15+ YEARS. IT IS A LIFETIME COMMITTMENT especially for these puppies who have already had such a miserable beginning.

 

Originally posted on http://doodlerescuecollective.com January, 2009

Lynne Fowler