Staci asked: In America, the desire to own a pet is common amongst many families. There is just something about a new puppy that brings happiness to a home. There are many places to purchase a puppy, pet stores being a popular choice. When we go to the pet store, we always seem to fall in love with that one little fur ball behind the window. But does anyone ever wonder where these puppies came from? They certainly weren’t born here at the corner pet shop. Do we ever get to see the parents of these puppies? Do we ever wonder if the puppies were born in the best of conditions? Did they receive the proper care, shelter, food, water, and exercise from their breeders? It would be a wake up call if only every family in America knew the answers to these questions.
The over crowded and unsanitary conditions of puppy mills have been an ever growing problem for decades. The breeding facilities are often filthy and appalling. The smell of urine overpowers these facilities. Stagnant water sits in a bowl that no dog will go near. In cages lay piles of dog feces that have been there for too long. It is not uncommon for a dead puppy to lay there to rot for days. Does this sound like the place you want to buy your puppy from? Several dogs spend most of their lives behind the bars of a cage. Inside these tiny cages they start to develop mental issues that make them stir-crazy, causing them to run around in circles until they fall down. They do not get to run around or play and some may never get to be part of a family. These dogs never even see a hair brush, which results in fur so matted some cannot even open their eyes, let alone walk around without the constant tugging of hair from all the knots. Often time’s teeth become so rotten that the dogs tongue hangs out of his or her mouth all of the time. These dogs are bread constantly and when they are no longer of use to the breeders due to the loss of fertility, they are given away, left out on the streets somewhere, or killed.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed due to the purchases of sick puppies from pet stores. At first it just seems that the dogs are very shy or tired, but the truth is they are suffering. People end up buying them and usually start seeing signs that the dog is sick. If they don’t notice the signs right away and take the puppy to a vet, the puppy will usually die from whatever sickness it had. After learning of the conditions of puppy mills, it does not surprise me that these puppies are sick. It all comes back to the fact that we need to know where the puppy we are going to buy is coming from. We need to see their parents and meet the breeders. If anyone had gone to the puppy mill itself to buy a puppy, there is no way they would leave with a smile. A sick puppy would be an automatic guarantee.
Every year, an estimated 5 million dogs and cats are euthanized in animal shelters. This means that roughly 7,000 dogs are euthanized every day. Now, imagine if 7,000 people buy a puppy from a pet store every day. They are fueling the cycle of puppy mills because pet stores are usually supplied by them. If those people redirected their source and adopted a dog from an animal shelter, they would be sparing the life of 7,000 dogs. But as long as puppy mills keep going strong, we are never going to break this cycle. The only way that puppy mills may possibly shut down is if they can no longer make a profit. The other possibility is that more strict laws are set in for puppy breeding facilities, but we all know that there are ways around the law.
We cannot possibly count the amount of stray dogs roaming the streets, so keep that in mind as well. Sometimes people take strays in, but in most cases they just turn a blind eye. In some cases, people take the problem of strays into their own hands and kill the dog themselves. There have been cases like this reported, so we can add this unknown amount to the growing list of dogs dying every year.
With this in mind, I believe that the only way we can break the cycle is to stop supporting puppy mills. Either people are unaware of this terrible cycle or they just don’t care. The best way to stop this viscous cycle is to adopt from an animal shelter or buy from a trusted, reputable breeder. Can we possibly resist going into a pet store and buying a cute puppy on impulse? Can we set our own desires aside to save thousands of dog’s lives? It sounds so simple, but nothing seems to be changing.
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