Puppy Mill
Pet Shops are a Bad Place to buy Your New Puppy
The general public is greatly uninformed about how to find a healthy puppy to bring into their families. Too often they head to a local pet store. That cute little ball of fluff jumping around in the pet store window with a red bow around its neck is the picture of health, or is it? So Joe Q. Public confidently slaps down a credit card and gathers little Fluffy in his arms and takes him home to see his happy kids play with adorable Fluffy. Sadly, Fluffy’s wet nose turns into a deep wheeze, a cough, and a fever. In less than a week’s time, Fluffy dies. What Joe did not know was the dismal beginning of this little mill bred puppy (USA Today, 2007). Experts estimate that puppy mills provide some 90% of total puppies available from pet stores (Lamb, Rachel, Prisoners for Profit, 1999).
Puppy Mills breed the much desired pure bred dogs. Kim Thornton reminds the public that the breeders in these mills are in the puppy business for the money.
If you 're looking to get a new dog, recent headlines no doubt have warned you against buying an animal from illegal "puppy mills" run by unlicensed breeders. But don 't be fooled into thinking that legal, licensed, breeders and those with registration papers are a guarantee of a healthy puppy either (Thornton, Kim, Buying a dog? Beware of breeder, Health, msnbc.com, 2007).
Investigators of thousands of these mills describe the living conditions of the animals as deplorable. Tiny wire cages stuffed with unsocialized, frightened dogs that have no place to lie down, sitting in their own filth, often injured or ill. Pet stores contract with brokers and are not even aware of where their supply comes from. The health and medical history of the puppy are an unknown quantity. Puppies are loaded in delivery vehicles and delivered to pet stores across the country. The buyer does not know how many times the puppy’s mother has been bred, her living conditions or anything about her health
The general public is greatly uninformed about how to find a healthy puppy to bring into their families. Too often they head to a local pet store. That cute little ball of fluff jumping around in the pet store window with a red bow around its neck is the picture of health, or is it? So Joe Q. Public confidently slaps down a credit card and gathers little Fluffy in his arms and takes him home to see his happy kids play with adorable Fluffy. Sadly, Fluffy’s wet nose turns into a deep wheeze, a cough, and a fever. In less than a week’s time, Fluffy dies. What Joe did not know was the dismal beginning of this little mill bred puppy (USA Today, 2007). Experts estimate that puppy mills provide some 90% of total puppies available from pet stores (Lamb, Rachel, Prisoners for Profit, 1999).
Puppy Mills breed the much desired pure bred dogs. Kim Thornton reminds the public that the breeders in these mills are in the puppy business for the money.
If you 're looking to get a new dog, recent headlines no doubt have warned you against buying an animal from illegal "puppy mills" run by unlicensed breeders. But don 't be fooled into thinking that legal, licensed, breeders and those with registration papers are a guarantee of a healthy puppy either (Thornton, Kim, Buying a dog? Beware of breeder, Health, msnbc.com, 2007).
Investigators of thousands of these mills describe the living conditions of the animals as deplorable. Tiny wire cages stuffed with unsocialized, frightened dogs that have no place to lie down, sitting in their own filth, often injured or ill. Pet stores contract with brokers and are not even aware of where their supply comes from. The health and medical history of the puppy are an unknown quantity. Puppies are loaded in delivery vehicles and delivered to pet stores across the country. The buyer does not know how many times the puppy’s mother has been bred, her living conditions or anything about her health
References: "Beware of doggie in window.(NEWS)(puppy mill shadowy operations)(Editorial)." USA Today. (Nov 30, 2007): 14A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Grand Canyon University. 19 Nov. 2008