Puppy Mills
The person who raises puppies from his breeding stock is not knowingly a cruel person. However, he may be your neighbor, your cousin, or the person sitting next to you at church. But he has no concept of dogs as “pets”. To him (or her) dogs are commodities used as a “source of income." He is not bothered by the fact that the human’s closest companion is giving birth in unsanitary and totally inhumane conditions. He will seldom provide veterinary care, vaccinations, warm beds, or baths and haircuts which would cut into his profits. These things cost money, and to these type people, animals are “put on this earth to help people” and not to be financial liabilities.
A Rural Setting
The setting of a “for-profit” dog-raising business in the South is usually rural, and often in the country type setting. Most dogs are kept outside in small pens, cages, or many are tethered. Barrels, buckets, or no shelter at all typically serve as the shelter for many dogs. Other animals may wander in and out of the areas where dogs are kept. In most cases, these backyard breeders and/or puppy millers will not allow someone onto the property to keep potential buyers from seeing the inhumane conditions in which the breeder dogs live. In these type situations, breeder dogs typically do not receive adequate food or even water, and will seldom ever receive necessary medical attention. In many cases, puppies born in these operations either freeze to death or die from heat stroke.
Top photos - inside a Calhoun County Puppy Mill in North MS - December 2008; bottom photos - dogs rescued from the same Calhoun County Puppy Mill.
Reputable Kennels
Certainly every commercial kennel is not a “puppy mill.” Conditions at reputable kennels differ from what you see on our puppy mill page. Animals are kept in comfortable housing, have constant access to water, are fed according to health guidelines, and are given medical attention at regular times and at times of illness or injury. Positive human interaction and training begins at birth, and puppies are kept with the mother for 8 to 12 weeks. Buyers of puppies are invited to see the parents of the pup, and they are given guidelines for health and training. They usually sign a contract saying that the pup must be returned to the breeder if the owner cannot keep him/her. Few, if any, of these policies are followed at the puppy mill.
Ways to make Puppy Mills a Thing of the Past
1. Do Not Buy Your Puppy From a Pet Store
2. Make Adoption From a Shelter Your First Option
3. Know How to Recognize a Responsible Breeder
4. See Where Your Puppy Was Born and Bred
5. Internet Buyers, Beware!
6. Share Your Puppy Mill Story
7. Speak Out!
8. Tell Your Friends the Horrors Behind Puppy Mills
9. Help Stop Puppy Mills Beginning in your Own Community
Help us in our mission to make animal cruelty/neglect to cats and dogs a felony!
Rescued from living a long life of misery in a puppy mill, he is now a beloved family pet.
Rescued three years ago, this beauty still displays fears from the life she once lived with a hoarder.
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