Puppy Mills

Oprah did an important show about the horrible business of puppy mills, which are “dog factories,” where female dogs are caged for their entire lives in order to churn out litter after litter, which are then sold at pet stores. It is an awful and cruel (not to mention disgusting and inhumane) practice. I am glad that Oprah shed some light on this situation, which has been going on for decades without anyone being able to stop it, even though animal rights activists have been protesting the entire time.

Puppy mills are horrible and should be illegal! Purebreds are available all the time at animal shelters, and can be adopted as puppies or older. As an old dog mother of three shelter babies myself, I think it is most rewarding to adopt an older dog, and it is also a lot easier. Puppies are so cute, but can be a tremendous amount of work, and they don’t stay little for that long. Older dogs are great – what you see is what you get! Even if you have your heart set on a purebred puppy, if you do a bit of searching, especially if you go to specific breed rescue groups, you can adopt one without a lot of hassle. I think shelters are the way to go though, because people discard their pets tragically all the time, or they don’t spay or neuter and wind up with litters that nobody wants. Animal shelters are full of squirming puppies who desperately need homes and you never know, your baby could be in there just waiting for you to come pick him or her up!

Please adopt pets from animal shelters or rescue organizations. You will not be sorry!

16 thoughts on “Puppy Mills

  1. You are so right! I have always adopted abused and abandoned animals including a gray wolf, three horses, and many dogs and cats. It’s shocking how inhumane many humans are.

    It’s immoral to buy a dog from a breeder when you can save one who is languishing on death row. Dogs are not stupid. They know when their number is up and in most cases, it’s because someone was too self-involved or cheap to neuter an animal, resulting in litters that nobody wants.

    We are by far the most dangerous of all species.

  2. right on man, my dad breeds shitzus and he takes good care of them, letting them have the entire back yard instead of confined to pens. everytime i visit him i’m amazed at how much the new pups love it there and are almost sad to move on to buyers.

    but yes i agree, always go to shelter first, it’s not only cheaper but also provides a new life for dogs that may otherwise have to be put down. and now i will step off my peta shopbox (joke!).

  3. One of the biggest issues with shelters is the price of the animal, its amazing how it seems cheaper for the shelters to put unwanted pets to sleep rather than give them to someone for a fraction of the displayed take-home cost.

  4. I jut adopted a cute little Affenpincher Brussels Griffon mix and he’s the most lovable sweet little dog ever. IT was important to my partner and I to adopt a dog from a shelter. There were a lot of dogs and quite a few puppies. I was surprised at the number of pups. A big thing around here has been as homes are foreclosed on people are giving up their animals.

    My partner and I were able to afford the adoption fee, and will probably now regularly give but it was more expensive than expected.

    When I told some of my friends and coworkers about adopting the dog a lot of them made comments about “problem”dogs, the truth is the only time a dog is a real problem is when the owners make him/her one….

    I’m off my soap box.

  5. Of course, no mention of the billions of cows, chickens, pigs, rabbits, and other animals that spend short miserable lives in cages with little to no social interaction. They may never feel the sun on their faces or anything but wire under their feet.

    It’s really interesting to follow people’s thought processes and watch them do huge intellectual leaps over the obvious so they can save themselves the moral introspection.

    But puppies are cute!

  6. Puppy mills are so horrible. Our little shar pei was a mom in one of those puppy mills – it looks like she had 2 or 3 litters and then her eyes got so bad the breeder dumped her on the side of the road. We came across her on PetFinder.com and adopted her through a terrific local shar pei rescue group. She is sweet and hilarious. She doesn’t like men much but hey, we’re lesbians, so that all works out!

  7. Re: Oprah did an important show about the horrible business of puppy mills, which are “dog factories,” where female dogs are caged for their entire lives in order to churn out litter after litter, which are then sold at pet stores. It is an awful and cruel (not to mention disgusting and inhumane) practice.—

    In light of recent news about the raid on the Texas compound of the FLDS and the young girls given to old men in marriage, expected to have many children for the cause, I couldn’t help but be struck by how much the above statement resembles their activities.

    I don’t think either animals or people should be treated this way!

  8. i saw the commercial for Oprah’s puppy mill show and there’s no way i could watch it. i’m glad she did it, but man, i could barely watch the promo. i’d be sad for weeks. No- really.

  9. I am glad she did the show, too. The part where they showed the bodies of the dogs that were euthanized being dumped in the landfill made me cry. I just wish we had the room for another dog.

    After the show, I wanted to go on Oprah’s website and ask her to do a show on fur farms. They are exactly like the puppy mills, except all of the animals are killed, whereas with a puppy mill, at least some of the offspring go to good homes. But I don’t have $10,000 for a billboard on Oprah’s route to work, so I don’t know if I would get through to her.

  10. My oldest baby, Marley, is a 5 year old beagle/corgi mix who I adopted from a shelter in Pittsburgh two and a half years ago. He is the love of my life…and to think that he was abandoned by his previous owners breaks my heart…he’s my baby now, and gets all the love and spoiling he rightfully deserves…

    One day, while shopping in a Petland store here in Pittsburgh (to get my baby some rawhide), my partner spotted a 12-week-old beagle/boston terrier mix that weighed less than 5 lbs being attacked by the mongrel she was crated with…my partner, after watching a family with bratty kids ogle over the same poor pup, quickly asked the nearest sales associate to see the pup…she came to life once she was out of that crate and offered some affection…

    Sadie is now a healthy, 9 month old ball of energy and love…her doctor said she’s lucky, as she most likely came from a puppy mill, and is in fantastic health. She’s keeping her big brother young, and keeps her mommies sane when things are stressful by offering exfoliating face kisses…she’s a fabulous baby…and I’m glad we were able to save her…I wish every pup was so lucky…and I wish I had the means to adopt them all…

    Thank you for adding another voice to this worthy cause…

  11. Not just puppy mills ; My neighbor overbreeds & inbreeds her chihuahuas….I just found out it just had yet another litter the other day, when a new neighbor told me. This new person has 2 chihuahuas herself, and is a big fan of that breed. She said she wanted to see the new pups and I warned her that everyone I know that bought pups from this woman in the past ended up with severely ill dogs and had to spend thousands of dollars on medical care, not to mention their heartbreak.
    After I explained this to the new neighbor, she looked blankly at me, and then replied “But I just LOVE chihuahuas and can’t wait to see the puppies!” Her friend said “me too!”.
    I have the feeling my warnings went in one ear and out the other. When you have a breed that is popular, and money can be made, lowlifes have no heart or morals.
    Disgusting!
    Please, dog lovers out there….investigate who you are buying from, and do not buy from local people who maybe offer “a good price” and have no regard for the health of the puppies or the mommie dogs. Yes, you might save a few bucks than if you went to a reputable dealer, but in the long run, you have NO IDEA how much you might have to shell out due to disease and defects.
    Another person brought up the issue of foreclosure: I saw a Great Dane on the news last week because the authorities found him at least 30 days after he was abandoned by his “people” because they moved when their house went into foreclosure. He had no food or water for 30 days, at least. The worst part is, the news says this is a new, but VERY COMMON thing happening with foreclosures. If you lose your house and can’t keep your pet, PLEASE give it away to someone or a shelter at least.
    What is wrong with people????

  12. We can stop puppy mills! The snowball of information and energy has started – it is up to us to keep it up!

    Start your own personal boycott of any store that sells dogs, do not buy from the Internet and adopt or volunteer at your local shelter.

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