WHAT IS A PUPPY MILL

WHAT IS A PUPPY MILL

BY: DANIELLE HEAGY
AGE: 16

Have you ever walked into a pet store and looked at all those sad-faced little puppies through the glass, and thought, “What a cute little puppy! I have to buy it because it’s so sad”? Well, you thought wrong. If you are not even ready to buy a puppy, and you walk into a pet store, you will want to buy it, and this will mean that you have just bought yourself a really big responsibility. Unless you are ready to buy a puppy, DON’T buy one! If you know that you are ready to buy a puppy or dog, make sure you go to a shelter or to a reputable breeder.

A reputable breeder is a breeder that breeds a kind of dog for the love of the breed. They will never take their puppies to a pet store, and will always make sure that the home that their puppies are going to is a good home. If you were to go to a pet store and buy a puppy, chances are this cute little puppy will be more of a problem than a pleasure. See, all those puppies have to come from somewhere, and since a reputable breeder would never take their puppies there, then where do they come from? The answer is a puppy mill.

A puppy mill is one of the worlds’ worst places. Dogs are bred every time they are in heat, and are very, very malnourished. They are rarely fed – just enough to keep them alive – and the conditions they live in are terrible. Most times, they live in wire cages, sometimes all stacked on top of each other, which for the dogs in the top cage is very convenient, considering that when they go to the bathroom, none is falling on them. However, for the dogs below, it is a rotten, filthy mess. Dogs who live in the bottom cages usually become blind from all the ammonia in the urine from the other dogs. Sometimes, even their puppies are born blind. These cages are never cooled and never heated. In the summer, the dogs have to bear the heat, and in the winter, they have to live in the cold. A lot of times when these dogs are bred, it’s with a brother, sister, cousin, etc. So many times the puppies have defects when they are born.

Now when the puppies are about 5 weeks old, maybe sooner, they are taken from their mother, which is way, way, WAY too early. They need to be with their mother until they are 7 or 8 weeks old so they can become strong enough to be on their own. Anyway, the puppy miller (the “breeder”) sells the puppies to a broker, who then will take these puppies to a pet store and sells them. Most of the time, puppies die on the way to the store because of harsh conditions, or because of being taken from their mother too early. The puppies are then set in little cages, to be admired and wanted. Depending on the pet store they are taken to, the conditions of the life of this puppy will vary. Sometimes they are taken well care of; others are abused and never taken care of. People will walk in and see these puppies and buy them on impulse, not knowing anything about this poor dogs’ past. They take them home and the puppy gets sick for no reason at all. Sometimes the owner will be so devoted that they will spend thousands of dollars to make this dog healthy. Other times, the owner doesn’t want to be bothered with the responsibility and will take it to a shelter.

Everyone needs to understand what these helpless animals go through every day. Dogs are put to sleep every day because of careless breeding and irresponsible owners. If we put puppy mills out of business, dogs would be able to live more fulfilled lives. In puppy mills, some dogs are not even fortunate to ever be out of their cages. They live their whole lives in a cage, open to heat and cold, with just enough food to stay alive, and never once a loving hand or soothing voice to say that everything will be alright. They never know love, and so they live heartless.

People will think, after reading this, that going into the pet store and buying a puppy will help. Yeah, it might help the one dog that you are buying, but every time someone buys a puppy from a pet store, they are opening that cage to more puppies, and giving the puppy millers a reason to keep breeding. Go to a shelter and buy a puppy. They will always love you because you have saved them.

Please send this to everyone you know so we can all stand up and fight for man’s best friend. If you love dogs like I do, you will want to inform everyone you know (please), for the dogs, please help them, cause we are all they have.

More information regarding pet stores and puppy mills can be found at: http://www.critterhaven.net

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