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Originally Posted by yorkiegal719 To me it's the conditions that they live in and how they are taken care of, and the amount of litters produced. They have to have free access to exercise and be kept clean and up to day on all their vet appointments and vaccines. Anything/anyone to me, that doesn't treat them as members of the family  are puppymills, sorry that's the way I feel... |
Hmm...I don't know if I agree with that.
My first dog (a poodle) was bought from a breeder who kept the dogs and puppies in the house with her. They were treated as pets. But in hindsight they were not very well taken care of. Our puppy had worms and fleas when we brought her home. The food we were given to feed her was adult food instead of puppy food. She was not completely up to date with her shots. Luckily after we took care of the fleas, worms and the shots, she was a healthy happy dog who lived to the ripe old age of 17 before she died of old age. Obviously the neglect of the breeder had no lasting effects.
Sydney was purchased from a breeder that I personally know. She has many dogs (4 yorkies and 2 chi's). The 2 breeding mother dogs are kept in the garage (heated) and the non-breeding dogs are kept in the house. The 2 yorkies that are non-breeding dogs used to be breeding dogs but are now too old and have been spayed, and they now live in the house. I think that she does this partially because of the mess of them going into heat, and partially becuase they act strangly when they become pregnant and have injured her other "pet" dogs in the past if not seperated. Sydney was 100% healthy when I brought her home...no fleas, or worms and she was up on her shots. My breeder had taken both the mother and the puppies to the vet many times during and after the pregnancy at the appropriate times. Both of the mothers that she owns and the stud that she uses are from very good bloodlines. Sydney has strong back and hips, and the vet forsees no back or hip problems in her future. Obviously my breeder played with and loved the puppies because Sydney practically wets herself with excitement every time we run into the breeder at the petstore.
Anyway...now that I have written a book here...my point is that I don't think that just because the breeding dogs are not kept in the home like pets, that the breeder is running a puppy mill.