You gaze into the sad eyes of the puppy in the pet store window, and you want to "rescue" the lonely pooch…
You read the ad in the newspaper, and the couple seems so trustworthy, with their decades of experience breeding dogs…
You find a website with photos of green hills and beautiful puppies that insists the "little darlings" and "bundles of joy" will only be sold to "loving families"…
Beware! A cruel, mass dog-breeding facility could hide behind each of these scenarios. Most likely, you've heard about them. The Humane Society of the United States calls them puppy mills, and for good reason.
Puppy mills frequently house dogs in shockingly poor conditions, particularly for the "breeding stock" animals who are caged and continually bred for years, without human companionship, and then killed, abandoned or sold to another "miller" after their fertility wanes. These adult dogs are bred repeatedly to produce litter after litter—without hope of ever becoming part of a family. The result is hundreds of thousands of puppies churned out each year for sale at pet stores, over the Internet, and through newspaper ads. This practice will end only when people stop buying these puppy mill puppies.
Buyer Beware!
If you want a dog in your life, please don't buy a puppy mill puppy. Pet store clerks and other sellers will never admit their dogs come from puppy mills. How do you separate fact from fiction? The facts:
Pet stores cater to impulsive buyers and consumers seeking convenient transactions.These stores don't interview prospective buyers to ensure responsible, lifelong homes for the pets they sell, and the stores may be staffed by employees with limited knowledge about pets and pet care.
A "USDA-inspected" breeder does not mean a "good" breeder. Be wary of claims by pet store staff that they sell animals only from breeders who are "USDA-inspected." The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) enforces the federal law called the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which regulates commercial breeding operations. But the act doesn't require all commercial breeders to be licensed, and the USDA establishes only minimum-care standards in enforcing this law. Breeders are required to provide food, water, and shelter—but not love, socialization, or freedom from confining cages. Many USDA-licensed and inspected puppy mills operate under squalid conditions with known violations of the AWA.
Many disreputable "breeders" sell their dogs directly to the public over the Internet and through newspaper ads. They often sell several breeds of dogs, but may advertise each breed in a separate place and not in one large advertisement or website. These breeders are not required to be inspected by any federal agency and, in many states, are not inspected at all.
Reputable breeders care where their puppies go and interview hopeful adopters. They don't ever sell through pet stores or to families they haven't thoroughly checked out.
Purebred "papers" do not guarantee the quality of the breeder or the dog. Even the American Kennel Club (AKC) readily admits that it "cannot guarantee the quality or health of dogs in its registry."
Please don't buy from a pet store, and be very wary of websites and newspaper ads. Above all, don't ever buy a dog if you can't physically visit every area of the home or breeding facility where the dogs are kept. Puppy mills will continue to operate until people stop buying their dogs. We urge you to visit your local shelter, where you are likely to find dozens of healthy, well-socialized puppies and adult dogs—including purebreds—just waiting for that special home—yours.
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The following story was written by a
Keeshond owner but could be anyone's story. Permission to crosspost was granted
by her. If you print or crosspost, be certain to include the author's name and
copyright information. The Other Victims of Puppy Mills Puppies are not the
only victims of puppy mills, my story.
G. Kerry
I fell in love with a beautiful little teddy bear of a puppy the instant I set
eyes on her and she let me know that the feelings were mutual. I knew nothing
about puppies, the Keeshond breed or puppy mills. I only knew I had to have this
adorable little bundle. She became the joy of my life and a delight to my soul
and somehow we both survived her puppy hood. We were inseparable and the bond
between us deepened each day. I soon learned that a Keeshond is a thinking being
with a keen sense of humor and fair play.
The first time I tossed a ball for her to chase she ran after it and brought it back to me, also the second time. But the third time she didn't give me the ball, she just looked me in the eye, gave her head a toss throwing the ball across the yard then looked at me expectantly. I understood the message and dutifully ran, laughing all the way across the yard to retrieve the ball. I guess that was my first "obedience lesson" in taking turns and fair play. I must have passed the test because I got a great big laughing Keesie grin and some tender licks as my reward. I would play little jokes on her and she would play little jokes on me, often amazing me with the uniqueness of the things she would think up. She never ceased to amaze me and I could never look at her without thinking, how beautiful and intelligent she was. The very sight of her lifted my spirits and inspired me. We ate together and slept together, when I showered she would come nosing in through the curtain and join me, when I soaked in a tub full of bubbles she couldn't resist jumping in. When we hiked through the woods and streams together she would never let me out of her sight. At the ocean we would chase seagulls and splash in the water together. She was always happy to help me dig holes in the garden and I would help her chase lizards and other critters and dig in the gopher holes. We had such wonderfully happy times together and I loved her with all my heart and soul.
Little did I know she was a ticking time bomb of sorrow, pain and anguish for
the both of us, through no fault of her own or mine. She had been born to suffer
and bring grief by an insensitive, greedy puppy miller whose only concern was
mass producing puppies for profit. These degenerates don't care if they
reproduce puppies with genetic disorders, heart and immune system disorders,
allergy and skin problems or any other inherited defect. They don't care about
the future health of the puppies or the devastation they will cause in the lives
of the people who love them. They over breed indiscriminately, as often as they
can with as little cash output as possible for food and housing, in unimaginable
filthy conditions and without veterinary care or loving attention.
My little partner began with allergies, then skin problems, heart problems
followed. I sold my antique bellows organ to pay the vet bill and buy her
prescriptions. There were times she would seem to get better, then she would get
worse and I would have to lift her up and carry her outside to go for a ride or
make a puddle. Her liver and kidneys began to function poorly, she retained
water and couldn't make a puddle. Back to the vet, more tests, more medication.
I sold my piano to pay for it all, to buy her a little more time. I called
university research centers and talked to some very kindly researchers who
shared any new information they had with me on her problems and I tried it all.
It was hell, she was suffering and I was doing all that I could find out to do
and it wasn't enough. I sold my wedding rings to pay the vet and prescriptions
and buy a special concentrated diet that I had to put down her throat with a
syringe when she stopped eating. After three years of nursing and caring for
her, of hoping and praying for a miracle I finally realized it was time, time to
make "that terrible decision". She couldn't eat or drink, she couldn't walk, run
or play. She couldn't do any of the fun things she so dearly loved to do, she
was suffering and she had lost her wonderful laughing Keesie grin. I was
physically, emotionally and financially exhausted. With my heart breaking,
sobbing uncontrollably, I called the vet and made the appointment for three days
later in the afternoon just before closing. For the next three days I would
carry her out to the truck and lay her on a cushion where she could see out of
the window. I would drive up the dirt roads through the woods at 5 miles per
hour all day, to all the places where we had shared so many happy hours
together. She rested her chin on the open window sill and watched intently as we
drove. She had always enjoyed riding along like this, woofing at deer and
squirrels when we saw them. She seemed to enjoy the scenery now but only pricked
up her ears at the sight of a squirrel with no woofing request to stop and let
her chase it up a tree. On the last day, my face streaming with tears, I told
her about my own near death experience, how beautiful and wonderful it was on
the other side where she would be a puppy again without any pain or suffering.
When we arrived at the veterinary office I apologized for my selfishness in not
letting her go sooner asked her to forgive me and wait for me on the other side.
She looked at me with the most intense look of understanding, gave me a tender
lick and laid her face in my hand.
Tell me puppy millers,
was your $25 profit worth it?
G Kerry (c) 9/19/2000
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