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Originally Posted by Yorkiesatwork  Thank you for your post... I don't hold a popular opinion... and I don't support puppy mills -- my God, I think they are so horrible... but I do think we need to get the best minds focused on this problem. It can't be that hard to locate puppy mills these days... Google earth can show street level views of any address. Why can't we shut these things down when we find them? There are NO pet stores in my area that sell dogs or cats. They only have rescue days. Where are these dogs comming from? Has the Internet facilitated anonomous pass thru sales? |
One of the problems is that there are not strict enough laws concerning the breeding of dogs. Every time bills go forth by state law makers to try to regulate this abusive industry someone will object to them and start a letter writing and email campaign against it. The bill either disappears or is so watered down that it does no good. I used to be mystified by how this could happen. I wondered why the puppy mill people would have so much power to lobby against these laws. Sadly in many cases it is the AKC that comes out against these laws. Many people in the AKC are very paranoid about these attempts to put constraints on the breeding of and even the conditions that the animals are kept in. They object to the bills raised by their state legislators and they have enough clout to stop them. So the abuse continues.
There is a puppy mill about 40 miles from me. They raise most of the small breeds. They are mixing them also in order to supply the "designer" puppies. They are located outside the city limits. They keep the dogs in outdoor kennels and they have hundreds of them. They sell to the local pet stores and they also have people who truck the puppies around the country. This is located in central NY. There is not a huge demand for small dogs in this area so most of the puppies are trucked out to other states. So they are supplying the "demand" for small dogs.
For those who support this kind of breeding I would suggest you look at the intake of small breed dogs in the NYC area shelters. I receive an email from an agency that keeps track of dogs that go into those shelters weekly. It is so sad to see these dogs. Many are "designer" dogs that did not turn out to be the tiny purse sized dog the "demander" requested. Many are purebred but also did not turn out as expected. They are matted and a sad mess.
Yes, there is a demand for the small dogs but this is a trendy thing. As capt_noonie said not everyone who wants a dog should have one. The puppy mills are bad but many of those who buy from them are not good care takers either. Many of them have never owned a dog and have no idea how to care for any kind of dog much less a tiny one. But so many people are used to having what they want when they want it so they throw all common sense out the window and buy that cute pet store puppy or go to that backyard breeder. Some end up with a puppy with no apparent problem and so they promote this type of purchase. However, for every one puppy that survives there are many that never make it alive to the pet store, many that carry diseases and genetic disorders and many mother and father dogs that are still sitting in a filthy cage for the entire length of their short painful lives.
A responsible pet owner will take their time to find a breeder that knows what they are doing. The breeding of healthy dogs that fit the breed standard is not so simple as putting two nice looking dogs together. It requires a good working knowledge of genetics. It requires some good medical knowledge concerning the health and welfare of the dogs and it requires the ability to provide clean well equipped housing for the animals.
Many of the people here on YT have purchased from backyard breeders and others that would not fit the qualifications that others on YT would approve of. They love their babies as they should. I don't fault them for what they did. Most people just do not know or understand what is going on in the dog breeding industry. At this point in time we are stalled in attempts to eliminate puppy mills. As long as those who could help refuse to care about the health and welfare of all dogs that suffer nothing is going to change. It takes action to stop this suffering. Nothing is to stop these greedy abusers by just talking about it. The public needs to be educated and those who are responsible breeders also need to help stop this abuse of animals.