Puppy Mills

"Puppy mills have been around for decades. They continue to thrive because they prey on unwitting consumers who are smitten by too-cute-for-words puppies in pet store windows and on legitimate-seeming websites. Puppy mills house dogs in shockingly poor conditions. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are often killed, abandoned or sold cheaply to another mill to try and get "one more litter" out of the dog. The annual result of all this breeding is millions of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems." - Humane Society Puppy Mills Article

Photo By: CameliaTWU

The quote above is talking about puppies just like the one shown here. The cute, precious, innocent puppies you see in pet stores are coming from horrible places where no one loves them or cares for them humanely. Many times if someone buys a puppy online or from a pet store they are helping fund puppy mills across the country. These animals are raised in horrendous conditions. They stay in cages their entire lives if they are being used as breeders and if they are to be sold they still stay in a cage with no exercise or walks or any outside time to be a happy dog. As stated by a rescuer above the animals kept to breed will breed non stop until they can no longer and then they are either killed or abandoned or sent somewhere else where they might be able to force one more litter out of them. This is so unbelievably cruel. The living conditions inside their cages are disgusting to say the least. Because they are never allowed to get out the animals are forced to live in their own feces and urine which is not only the main contributor to the smell that surrounds the mills making the air unbreathable, but also unsanitary so that it causes all kinds of infections and diseases. The puppies and breeders are not cleaned or groomed which only makes their skin more irritated and prone to wounds. Matted hair can be painful for dogs and I'm not sure people realize this. These poor animals can be spared this pain and mistreatment if people stop buying from online sites selling dogs or buying from pet stores with litters of puppies. These stores and sites are experts at convincing people that they don't contribute to puppy mills but more often than not they are lying. There are hundreds of animal shelters where abandoned animals are taken and are just as deserving as "pure-breds" of love and nurturing. This shouldn't be an issue at all. If you aren't the type of person who likes having pets around then you can at least spread the word about puppy mills and tell all the animal lovers out there what they can do to help.

Photo By: Life Lenses

http://video.humanesociety.org/video/629262638001/Channels/602022756001/Latest-Videos/1268618368001/Puppy-Mills-Supplying-NY-Pet-Stores/