About Puppy Mills
Where Pet Store and Internet Puppies Come From
Puppy mills are mass breeding facilities for dogs. Picture rows of cages filled with dogs and puppies, stacked two or three high. Puppy mills are also known as commercial, USDA-licensed, or professional dog breeders. Puppy mills can be poorly maintained, filthy places, or they can be fairly clean and well-organized.
Some puppy mills are worse than others, but all have more dogs than anyone would keep as pets, and the dogs don't live as companion animals. They live in cages in barns and sheds, more like livestock than pets.
The purpose of a puppy mill is to make a profit, and in order to do this, dogs are housed and puppies are raised in a high-volume, profit-motivated way. Puppy mill dogs are kept in cages all the time with just the minimum legal space allowed: six inches larger than the dog on all sides. Females are bred as often as possible, and when they are no longer able to "produce" they are discarded. It is no life for man's best friend.
Puppy millers are different from responsible "hobby breeders," who have a fondness and respect for a particular breed that they want to maintain and share. Responsible breeders take care not to add to the pet overpopulation problem; they only raise a small number of puppies, and put the utmost care and planning into every litter. Responsible breeders treat their breeding dogs and puppies like pets; they live in the house, they are socialized from a young age. There are several ways to tell the difference between a responsible breeder and a puppy mill.
Puppy mills:
- Are businesses, not "hobby" breeders or dog fanciers
- Are often USDA-licensed so they can sell puppies to pet stores
- Usually have several breeds of dogs for sale at the same time
- Often offer to ship dogs to new owners
- Usually do not allow customers to view their kennel property
- Keep dogs in cages all the time; they are solely there for breeding, not as pets
- The goal is to breed and sell as many dogs as possible
- Keep 50 to over 1,000 dogs
- Breed females every time they come into heat
- Do not typically screen dogs for genetic defects (eye, joint, hip and other congenital problems that can be painful and expensive to treat, if treatment is even possible).
Though cruel and inhumane, puppy mills are legal and regulated by the federal government and some state governments as well. Government regulations, however, do not ensure a humane life for dogs; they do little more than require food, water and shelter. There are nearly 6,000 federally licensed commercial kennels in the country, and all exist to supply the nation's pet stores with a constant supply of cute puppies.
Humane Alternatives to buying from a pet store
About 4 million dogs are bred in puppy mills each year while nearly 5 million animals are killed in shelters each year. More than 20 percent of dogs in shelters are purebred. You can choose not to support the puppy mill industry by adopting your next pet instead of going to the pet store or buying a puppy online. It's easy to find your perfect rescued puppy or dog by visiting the local shelter, or try Best Friends online at http://adoptions.bestfriends.org. Other adoption sites include http://www.petfinder.com, http://www.adoptapet.com or http://www.pets911.com.
You can also contact local breed rescue organizations by searching Google, entering a city or state, the breed you are looking for, and the word "rescue."
**A note of caution: Breeders have caught on that more people are choosing to adopt instead of buy. If a person is "adopting out" several litters of purebred puppies, has "more on the way," and doesn't seem to have adult animals in need as well, then proceed with caution. This may be a breeder rather than a rescue.