Stop Puppy Mills

As you may know Pancake is an ex.puppy mill dog.  She spent the first six, seven, eight (no idea) years of her life in a cage giving birth to puppies over and over again.

According to the ASPCA there are over 10,000 puppy mills in the US alone.  About 5,000 of these are regulated by the USDA according to the Animal Welfare Act (which insists that basic minimal care must be provided to the animals.  What about shutting down the puppy mills?).  The sad part is that while this act tries to help the puppy mills there is a loop hole.  The law only regulates puppy mills that sell to pet stores but breeders who sell online or to individuals are not regulated at all!  They do not even have to have a license.  They can get away with barely feeding the animals, not cleaning them and definitely not giving them any veterinary care.

The dogs in the puppy mills are forced to breed again and again normally ending up like Pancake did with their little bodies full of tumors, cancer and cysts.  They will never see life outside of the puppy mill and if they do they may be thrown out on the street, killed or if they feel nice, dropped off at a shelter.  In addition to the diseases of the mother, many of the puppies have genetic diseases as well.

Please think before you add a dog to your family.  There are lots of terrific animals to drop at your local shelter or you can look at petfinder.org for dogs in your area.  Please do not adopt an animal from a pet store as they have come from puppy mills.  We need to stop puppy mills from being an operative business.

If you are considering adopting from a breeder, please go visit them, check them out, and make sure they are not running a puppy mill before you move forward.

Additional Resources
Puppy Mill Information from ASPCA
Join the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade
ASPCA Take Action Center
Sign the Humane Society Pledge
Stop Puppy Mills on Humane Society site
Find Puppy Friendly Pet Stores (do not support puppy mills)
Humane Society's What You Can Do
Humane Society Campaign Gear
Write your Senator
Write your Representative