Puppy mill is the term for a deplorable breeding practice used by individuals and groups who think breeding a sentient animal should be a money-making endeavor. Frequently, puppy mills produce many, many breeds of dogs at extremely high volume, keeping them in horrid conditions. Often the bitches are bred from the first heat and every heat thereafter, never given the opportunity to rest and recuperate from the stress of giving birth.

These dogs are often kept in cages stacked on top of one another, which are rarely if ever cleaned, leading to the easy spread of disease and ill-health. The dogs are not given proper exercise or nutrition, and frequently suffer from neurotic problems due to being kept in a small cage for the majority of their lives.

Puppy millers very often practice fraud on their registered dogs, because many times there is no reliable way to know who the father (or fathers) of a particular litter is. Bitches are bred to many dogs during a heat, sometimes even to dogs of a different breed! Don't let "AKC registered" fool you into thinking you're getting a healthy or even purebred dog. A pedigree is just a piece of paper unless you trust the person who gives it to you. There are also deceptive breeders who create pedigrees on their home computers and print them out for the unsuspecting buyer. The almighty dollar is the bottom line for these people. They don't care about the dogs, and they don't care about you.

Many people may feel that by purchasing a dog from a pet store or puppy mill that they are rescuing that dog, but the sad truth is they are only opening another space for another dog to suffer. This is a vicious cycle with no easy answers. All we can do as responsible pet owners and buyers and breeders is to continue to try and educate ourselves and others about the true horror that these dogs live through. And to understand that only by stopping the demand for these unfortunate dogs do we stand a chance at protecting and saving their lives. Questions or comments? Please e-mail me.

WARNING: some of the following links are very hard to read and even harder to view. But education is the only way to make people aware of the true price of those pet store pups.