Before you go and get this cute puppy from a pet store, PLEASE,read!!!!
Pet store employees will tell you anything to sell a puppy at their inflated prices. But they won't tell you that a lot of these dogs:
- Are MOST if not ALL of them come from a "pupy mill"
- Carry falsified AKC registration papers or some pet registry papers
- Do NOT meet the breed standard
- Carry preventable genetic defects
By buying a dog from a pet shop, you are sentencing its parents to a life in the hell of a puppy mill. Pet shop workers will tell you "the dogs come from private breeders." This is true, since any person who combines a male and female dog can be called a "private breeder."
Don't just take our word for it! Go to your local mall pet store or some of the other pet store chains that sell dogs and ask to see the papers where the parents came from. You'll find that most dogs come from the same "breeder." Think about it. What kind of moral person would produce litters upon litters of various breeds of puppies solely for profit? Only a puppy miller would.
Look up USDA inspection reports online, find out just how many dogs are bred by that individual. Prove it to yourself that the pet stores are supplied by puppy mills. It's very easy to do!
Like almost everything in life, puppy mills come in all varieties: the not-so-bad, bad, and really bad. Dogs are confined to cages or runs for their entire lives with only one purpose--breeding. These dogs are never kindly touched by a human, and many never see grass, blankets, or toys. The food provided is of the lowest quality (cheapest). Shelter from the elements is often minimal, and these dogs have obviously never seen the inside of a house. The saddest thing is that much of this is licensed and approved by the Department of Agriculture. This department is also responsible for inspections, and violations are rarely enforced. Why? There are over one thousand puppy mills licensed in Missouri. Inspecting each one takes a bit of effort and manpower, which the overworked department lacks in Missouri! Then consider the illegal, unlicensed puppy mills that the Department doesn't even know about.
So, when a pet store tells you that their puppies only come from licensed and inspected breeders, they are technically correct! These places are still puppy mills, no question about it!
Puppies are taken from their mother when they are 5 to 6 weeks old and sold to brokers who pack them in crates for resale to pet stores all over the country. Almost half of the puppies do not survive the trip. Puppy mills and pet stores maximize their profits by not spending money on proper food, housing, or veterinary care. It is very common for a mill dog's teeth to be completely rotten out at six years of age! Once the breeding female's body is so run down she cannot produce live puppies anymore, she is of no more use to the miller. The mill owner will then dispose of the dog (dumping, gunshot, drowning, etc), since she is no longer an “effective producer.”
Money is the puppy millers' only concern! It's their livelihood!
Any dog that can reproduce is worth money and WILL be bred. These people will breed dogs that are missing legs, teeth, eyes, and ears. Sick dogs are bred, even if the disease will be genetically or directly passed to the puppies.
This is a business, and all that matters is that the dogs can produce live puppies to be sold.
Pet shops are supplied by puppy mills, no matter what they say! Any ethical breeder will NOT sell to a pet shop. Period.
If you answer any newspaper ads, be cautious! If there are many breeds offered, it is a “backyard breeder,” a small-scale version of a puppy mill, often unlicensed and ILLEGAL. Do not support these individuals by buying from them! They are simply unlicensed puppy mills, and the dogs suffer just as much, if not more! Truly conscientious breeders are very rare, so always be skeptical of anyone trying to make a buck by advertising AKC registered puppies in the paper.
Breeding dogs should not be for profit!
What can you do to help stop this cruelty?
Your most powerful weapon is your voice—tell people about this atrocity!
The message must get out! It is only because of the public’s unawareness that this sick business has been permitted to continue!
Tell your friends: Boycott any store that sells puppies!!!
If the pet shop goes out of business, the puppy mill will have one less place to sell their dogs, and will go out of business eventually too!
http://www.barkrescue.net/puppymills.htm
