What is a puppy mill? You have probably heard the term but do you know just what it means? Puppy mills were started by the Agriculture Department years ago when the midwest farmers were having trouble "making ends meet." Their suggestion was to breed dogs the same way that cattle is. This means that many dogs live their entire miserable lives in cages, sometimes stacked several high, in the heat and cold. Often the puppy millers or backyard breeders will have as many as 50 to 100 dogs that are bred 2 or 3 times a year and have their puppies removed at 4 or 5 weeks of age. These puppies are sold at flea markets, on the internet, some pet stores, in the newspaper, and sometimes on the side of the road. If you purchase your puppy this way, please think of the breeder dogs that never experience the feel of grass, good food, vetting and human affection. If the entire process is for money only, the parent dogs are very frequently interbred, not given healthy food, or socialized. When they can no longer support a litter they are discarded or killed.This results in many puppies having major medical problems at an early stage in their life. By this time, you are in love with your puppy and will often have high medical bills trying to fix what occurred with this type of irresponsible breeding. If you cannot visit the parent dogs, see the living conditions, or see the site where the breeder has their dogs, you are probably dealing with a puppy miller. Anytime you see a seller of dogs that has quite a few and different types near the same age, think of how many breeder dogs they must have to produce those litters. If you cannot connect with the emotion of what these dogs go through, then think of the probability of major vet bills you will most assuredly have buying from a human being who does this for profit only. Many people have purchased their new friend only to try and get their money back when the puppy developes health issues to find that the person has moved on or will not return their money. Shelters and rescues often have puppies, and if you want a pure bred dog, the Human Society says that approximately one third of the dogs in shelters are pure bred. Each non-profit rescue usually deals with one or two types of dog, so look on the internet for a non profit rescue that has the particular dog of your choice. We have these "rescues" in our homes and can certainly tell you all about their personality, health issues if any, and they are fostered with lots of love. We try to educate people as well as rescue the dog, so if you wish to make a donation, please designate it as an "education donation" for the newspaper articles we publish about this problem. Thank you for caring! For more information on puppy mills, go to the Humane Society web sites.
