Puppy Mills

The discussion started to come up on the prejudices topic, and since I'm the one who brought it up, I thought that so I don't wreck the other topic, I decided to make this topic be about puppy mills.

No, it's not about grinding up dogs for bread or dog meat, at least I'm pretty sure the puppy mills in the US don't sell the dogs for food. Here's an article on them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_mills

As I said on the prejudices topic, the reason I hate them is not only because I care about dogs, but also because I think they harm the people who buy these dogs from pet stores, not knowing where they came from. I think if someone wants to take care of a dog with special health or behavior needs, then one should go to a shelter, as there are plenty of dogs with special needs at those places. However, what happens in this situation is that sickly dogs are sold at pet stores, in fact ALL pet store dogs come from puppy mills because no reputable breeder would sell a dog without meeting the dog's new "pack" first (and at a pet store you get the dog from the store not the breeder). People who buy dogs who were born in puppy mills often end up with sickly dogs who might not even live very long because they often have things like parvo virus and even if they're not sickly they're likely to have behavior problems from not being socialized with people and living in their poop means that they are VERY hard to potty train, if not impossible (because the dogs think it's natural to just poop in their crate instead of outside).

The way to stop puppy mills is to basically NOT buy dogs from pet stores. That is the simplest way, and yet possibly the hardest because sometimes people think they're saving a dog from the pet store because it looks pitiful there. While that helps that one specific dog, another one is guaranteed to take its place and the puppy mill gets a profit. That's not getting into how sickly the parents usually are, too.

If the dog is fed and given water then I couldn't care beyond that and I will buy an animal wherever I like.

edited 13th Apr '11 1:02:19 PM by izumoshep

I agree with OP

There's not even a need to go to a shelter.

Hell, some people forget to spay their dogs, or are too lazy. Odds are people are giving accidental puppies away (of all shapes and sizes) on a 30 mile radius.

Yeah. I just got two Doberman because the bitch rejected em.

Puppy mills are wretched. I feel ashamed to live in Missouri sometimes since one of the lovely nicknames we've acquired is the puppy mill capital of the United States. Come to Missouri! We've got puppies and meth!

Both of our dogs are purebreds, because my parents are old-fashioned like that, but one comes from farmdog stock and the other was supposed to be a showdog but she got knocked around by a truck (her back legs now hop a bit like a bird's) so the owners sold her.

It's deplorable practices like puppy mills which are why my wife and I encourage anyone who's interested in getting a dog to adopt from a shelter or rescue group. They rescue dogs from the streets and abusive situations, and at least here in the U.S. with the number of dogs that need a home you'll almost always find one that suits your needs through these adoption services. That goes for cats too.

They should be banned. It should be legally required to have very high standard conditions. Extensive screening should be required for buyers. And not neutering should be illegal except for registered breeders.

and

I miss my cat.

edited 13th Apr '11 5:01:21 PM by LoveHappiness

If I ever get another Pomeranian (and I'd like to, I don't want Luna to be my last Pom friend ever) I'm going to adopt one from a shelter. Petfinder is a good one, it lets you find shelters close to your home town and lets you specify dog breed, age and special needs like if you have young children in the house or other dogs. There are purebred dogs on there who look just like the show dogs who are shelters if that's something that matters, even (at least with the Poms because that's what I've looked at mostly).

The reason I haven't done that yet is basically that until I after I got Luna, I didn't know much about shelters and didn't know about Petfinder until even more recently. I didn't buy any of my dogs from a pet store, though, since my parents knew that wasn't a good idea because of the puppy mill issues.

edited 13th Apr '11 2:49:44 PM by Rainbow

My dog came from a pet store, but we got her before we knew what puppy mills were, and I was like seven when we got her. Sometimes I worry about where she came from, but she doesn't have any problems or special needs or anything. A few years ago she had puppies and we gave away one of them to a family who was going to buy from a pet store instead. I hate puppy mills though, especially since I love my dogs so much. I think that pet stores should stop buying from them and at least check out the place they are getting the dogs from. And since you mentioned parvo, two of my dog's puppies died from it, and one of them was hospitalized for it. It was sad. :/

Too bad I couldn't adopt from a shelter. At least i didn't buy from a pet store. I recently got a cockapoo puppy from a breeder and i love him so much! But yeah, i'm doing a powerpoint project on puppy mills for school and it's pretty nasty stuff.

Well it's bad, but I think that the 'baby mills' in the US are a bit more more pressing...

I have no idea what baby mills are.

Ummm... how to describe it? They are a lot like puppy mills but with babies?

edited 15th Apr '11 5:21:25 PM by joeyjojo

Articles/links?

Part of the problem with puppy mills is they tend to make quite a bit of money. Some are even supported by the breeders/kennel clubs.

Are you sure they don't make baby meal like a corn mill does with corn?

@Tuefel: That's where educating people on not buying dogs from pet stores helps, because that's where they get most of their revenue from. If people boycotted pet stores that sell dogs and cats, then the puppy mills would lose at least a big part of their revenue. Another idea is to try to educate the AKC on the abuses some of the breeders do. It's an idealistic dream, but it's one I think is worth pursuing. I try my part by attempting to educate anyone who is planning on getting a new dog/cat about puppy/kitty mills and how to avoid giving them money.

I think part of the complicated issues with this is also that I heard that breeding dogs was an easy income for farmers in the 1940s-1950s, hence there being a lot of puppy mills in rural areas. Unfortunately, if one were to ban those farmers from breeding dogs for money, substitute "crops" would have to be found for them, probably on an individual basis. It's a complicated issue, although educating people is probably the first step.

edited 15th Apr '11 6:31:02 PM by Rainbow

Still let them breed just not on puppy mill scales.

The problem is the AKC already knows all about the issues. Add in the questionable ethics of breeding methods to achieve looks over health doesn't help.

Yeah, a lot of the arbitrary standards breeds have are incredibly bad for the animals' health. If I remember correctly, the predisposition german shepherds have to hip problems is due to the fact that some breeding organisation decided that sheperds should have a back that sloped down from their shoulders.

Not to mention all the pugs and related breeds with pushed-in faces. They're adorable and everything, but is it really worth the health issues we've created?

Also Dachtsunds, Bulldogs, Rhodesian Ridge Backs. etc. The Puppy mills are also major contributors to poor breeding on top of the breeding standards problems.

I was surprised when I learned that's it's illegal to breed certain types of dogs, It's like some thing the nazis would do.

edited 15th Apr '11 9:35:23 PM by joeyjojo

I'm sorry, what, Joeyjojo?

You think setting out to deliberately create defects in animals through breeding is something people ought to have the right to do?

Well it just seems like the state is over reaching it's scope if it's trying to dictate such matter.

Who cares about about humping dogs?

edited 15th Apr '11 9:54:42 PM by joeyjojo

...obviously, a lot of people, or we wouldn't have laws regarding the welfare of animals, animal rights organizations, et cetera.

edited 15th Apr '11 9:55:08 PM by Karkadinn

True.... but it seems weird to have blanket bans on letting dog breed x have puppies with dog breed y.