Explanation:
It is fine to write your legislator, but the only sure way to stop the puppy mill owners is to dry up their market! If no one buys from the pet stores than the pet stores won�t buy puppies from the puppy mills. The puppy mill scabs will go on to some other abominable way of making a living � like selling drugs to kindergartners.
Good breeders don�t sell to pet stores and they don�t advertise as a rule. They want to place each of their puppies personally to make sure it is going to a good home. They are not in the hobby to make money. They do it for the love of the breed.
Please do your part to end this tragedy. Find a reputable breeder by contacting the American Kennel Club or any of the breed clubs. (See �Purchasing�)
What is a puppy mill?
They are strictly money-making endeavors. Usually, but not always, they are in a rural setting. They�re usually full of cages packed with every breed that is popular and will sell. The dogs are kept in filth and under-fed & watered, never groomed and never let out of the cages. They get no veterinary care and the bitches are bred as fast as possible. The average breeding life of bitches in a puppy mill is 4 or 5 years and then they are disposed of. I am sure if they can�t sell them they are knocked in the head or shot. In the February, 1999 �Reader�s Digest� there is an article about puppy mills. The author toured around 53 puppy mills and what she saw she said broke her heart. Animals in filthy, rat infested cages stacked on top of each other, eliminating on each other with no human contact and no exercise. She even describes seeing a dead, decomposing terrier in a top cage dripping body fluids on a live poodle beneath.
On top of all the appalling conditions, the buyer needs to know that these dogs are bred neither for temperament or health. Many congenital diseases and temperament problems will not show up until after you are already attached to little Mugsy, then you will be forced to put to sleep a beloved pet that is hopelessly ill or insane.
The next problem you have to worry about is the fact that many of these dogs are not purebred, which would not matter for a pet except for the fact that you paid an inflated price at the pet store for a mutt you could�ve gotten at the pound for $30 or $40.
Please read the section I wrote on �Purchasing� before you buy a puppy so you will be able to recognize a puppy mill. Some of these people are very sneaky about showing a freshly shampooed pup in the living room never mentioning the horror & suffering out behind the barn.
S T O P P U P P Y M I L L S N O W
END THE SUFFERING OF OUR BEST FRIENDS
BUY PUPPIES ONLY FROM REPUTABLE BREEDERS
