Puppy Mills

Puppy mills are horrible places. Most stores that sell puppies and dogs get them from puppy mills. Do not unwillingly contribute to animal abuse! You have to be sure when you adopt a dog that he comes from a reputable breeder or a humane society or pound.

Once stores can't get people to buy pets from them, puppy mills will cease to exist. Don't know what they are?

They are mass-breeding facilities that produce large numbers of puppies under inhumane conditions. The breeding dogs often spend their entire lives in cramped cages with little or no personal attention or quality of life. Can you imagine? Horrifying, isn't it?

When you treat an animal that way, it's criminal. People who do this are monsters. To have so little regard for an innocent animal is deplorable and unforgivable.

If I can do nothing else, I hope to make more people aware of the atrocity of puppy mills.

Luckily, as word of this inhumane way of raising puppies has become more well-known in society, there has been a growing movement away from buying animals in stores to supporting animal adoption agencies.

In 2008, The Humane Society of the United States introduced the Puppy Friendly Pet Store Pledge initiative whereby pet stores can sign a pledge declaring that they will discontinue selling puppies in their stores, or "make official" a current policy of not selling puppies.

Each store that signs the pledge receives a poster to place in their window and free materials for their customers on how to adopt a dog or find a responsible breeder.

Facts about puppy mills from the Humane Society of the United States:

Approximately one-third of the nation's 9,000 independent pet stores sell puppies.

The HSUS estimates that 2 million to 4 million puppy mill puppies are sold each year in the United States.

Puppy mill puppies often have health problems, genetic defects and behavioral issues.

Documented puppy mill conditions include over-breeding, inbreeding, minimal veterinary care, poor food and shelter, crowded cages and lack of socialization.

Dogs kept for breeding in puppy mills suffer for years in continual confinement. They are bred as often as possible and then destroyed or discarded once they can no longer produce puppies.

Pet stores and puppy mills often use attractive websites to hide the truth and to dupe the public into thinking that they are dealing with a small, reputable breeder.

Reputable breeders never sell puppies over the Internet or through a pet store and will insist on meeting the family who will be purchasing the dog.

Puppy mills contribute to the pet overpopulation problem which results in millions of unwanted dogs euthanized at shelters every year.