| Puppy Mills - How Dogs Are Kept Against Their Will |
| Written by Melissa Jackson Williams | ||||||||
| Friday, 19 June 2009 | ||||||||
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Puppy mills have become an area of great concern for those who legitimately breed puppies and for animal rights activists all over the United States and beyond. Puppy mills basically seek to "mass-produce" puppies from relatively few purebred studs and mothers. This is wrong for a number of reasons. First of all, mothers themselves are "overbred" to the point of exhaustion, and then often put down because they can't produce any more. The puppies produced in these places are often kept in deplorable conditions, with overcrowded cages, and too little food or water, as well as inadequate access to veterinary care and grooming.
Puppy mills have become an area of great concern for those who legitimately breed puppies and for animal rights activists all over the United States and beyond. Puppy mills basically seek to "mass-produce" puppies from relatively few purebred studs and mothers. This is wrong for a number of reasons. First of all, mothers themselves are "overbred" to the point of exhaustion, and then often put down because they can't produce any more. The puppies produced in these places are often kept in deplorable conditions, with overcrowded cages, and too little food or water, as well as inadequate access to veterinary care and grooming. Human contact is sparse to none in these mills, and many puppies don't make it. While life is only like this temporarily for those dogs that are sold, those that are there for breeding are stuck in such conditions, until they are deemed unfit for further breeding. At this point they are often killed or sold to another breeding facility. In essence, a puppy mill is a puppy factory. Any animal lover would think these conditions are horrible, of course, and most people buy puppies from puppy mills because they aren't aware of the horrid conditions therein. Nonetheless, it happens far more often than you might think, and prospective owners looking for a "good deal" may look the other way and purchase a puppy from a puppy mill, thus keeping these deplorable facilities in business. Literally hundreds of thousands of puppies are "manufactured" in this way, and sold at generally lower prices than legitimate breeders can charge (with their humane and therefore more expensive practices); this means that puppy mills are unfairly competitive with legitimate breeders simply based on price. Depending on where you purchase your dog, you may actually have a "puppy mill" puppy in your own house, too. Puppy mill puppies are sold to the public through a variety of avenues. Many of them are sold in pet shops. They are those adorable, fluffy young dogs that you see in pet store windows. Many of them are also sold with the help of classified ads on the internet or specialized breeder websites online. Unfortunately, you can't tell from the ads or the websites, often, that in fact what you are actually buying from is a puppy mill. The ads will say that the puppies have been raised on a farm or with the family, in the fresh open air, with puppies frolicking on the grass or some such thing. Unfortunately, you can't often prove where these puppies actually come from, and any photographs or other such "documentation" may be fake. So even though you yourself may want to stop puppy mills, you may unwittingly help them keep going if you buy from one of these sources. Everybody can do their part to stop puppy mills. Legislation is always in circulation that seeks to put laws in place that would end puppy mills, but the line between legitimate breeding operations with lots of dogs and actual puppy mills has been blurred. Many legitimate breeders are wrongly accused, and many puppy mills slip through the cracks. Those who want to do their part in putting puppy mills to a stop can do so in several ways. First off, don't buy dogs (or cats, for that matter) from a pet store. There are plenty of legitimate shelters and rescue agencies that have great pets for adoption, those that really need homes. There are even young dogs and puppies for those who want to bring a baby home. Also, don't buy dogs from newspaper ads or online, and advise your friends not to do so, as well. Simply put, puppy mills are among the worst things an animal can experience. No loving creature deserves to live in these types of conditions, but they aren't going to go away unless profits from these cruel endeavors cease. About the Author: M.J. Williams is an avid dog fan, and encourages those who've bought a lemon puppy to take legal recourse. Learn more about the Puppy Lemon Law and receive more information on your pet recourse options by clicking here. Find out more about Pet Lemon Laws also by visiting: www.lemon-law-types.com/the-pet-lemon-law.html Views: 265
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