In this day and age with all the designer-breed dogs that are so popular, puppy mills have started cranking out massive volumes of dogs to sell. Puppy mills are no new thing, though; they've been around for decades, but it really hasn't been until recently that much attention has been called to them. Want to know the worst thing about puppy mills? For the most part, they aren't even illegal, so if anything's going to be done to stop them from operating, people are going to have to start writing and calling their state's politicians to urge them to fight for changes in the laws that allow these puppy mills to operate.
But what happens in these puppy mills? Why are they so horrible? In thousands of puppy mills across the country, dogs are kept for years and impregnated over and over until they reach the point that they don't produce anymore and have no value to the breeder. At this point, they are often killed although sometimes they are sold to other breeders. Many of these dogs spend their entire lives in small cages, never experiencing what it's like to run around outside and enjoy rolling in the grass and chasing after birds. They don't get to snuggle up with affectionate owners and receive treats when they've been good. Instead, they're often deprived of their basic needs and treated like puppy-making machines. Dogs are sensitive and respond to affection and praise, two things dogs used for breeding in puppy mills never get to experience. They live such sad lives it literally makes me emotional and upset just thinking about it.
Puppies who are purchased from mills are often sickly and even mentally impaired from incestuous breeding activities. I've heard so many stories about people who have purchased puppies who were terrified to walk on the grass because they'd been in cages since birth and had no idea how to function on solid ground. As happy as I am that these puppies are purchased and saved from the hell they were being put through living in a puppy mill, that's just more money being pumped into the mills, giving them the breath of air they need to live. Without people spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on dogs from these puppy mills, they couldn't function. Instead of spending a small fortune on that perfect designer dog or tiny teacup puppy, people need to start looking at their local animal shelters and adopting rescue dogs. My next blog post will be focused on animal shelters in particular.
If you have any interest in helping the fight against puppy mills, go to The Humane Society to find out how you can donate your time and/or money to rescuing dogs from these awful conditions and helping them lead new lives where they have a family to love and take care of them. Take a look at these videos from the Humane Society and see for yourself the conditions these dogs live in, and then tell me it's not important to do what we can to help save them from their hell.
