Puppy Mills

Puppies! Puppies, puppies, puppies, puppies, puppies, puppies! Who doesn't love puppies right? They're cute little balls of fluff that can destroy your house within and hour and you'll still love them anyway. You'll hear most little kids begging their parents for one of these little bundles of mayhem and joy, and let's face it, you would too if you could afford it. SO what happens when you do decide to add a furry addition to your family? Well usually you go to a pet store right? Well I'm here to tell you: DON'T.

Most puppies that you get from your local pet stores usually are from a puppy mill. What is a puppy mill you ask? Well let's ask Wikipiedia:

A puppy mill, sometimes known as a puppy farm,^[1] is a commercial dog breeding facility that is operated with an emphasis on profits over the welfare of the dogs bred, with substandard conditions of care often the norm.^[2] Similar types of operations exist for other animals most commonly kept as pets or used as feed for other animals.

So how you like them apples? If you haven't gotten your furry best friend from a shelter (oftentimes even if you did) there's a very high chance that dear Fido or Fluffy came from one of these animal Holocaust resembling farms:

Looks just a little cramped in there doesn't it? The bright side, your dear pup was able to get out of there and into your arms through the power of legal animal trafficking. Good for them right? Well if you assume that your dog has no trauma from his less than optimal puppy-hood days, and has no leftover diseases from his cramped dorm life then fine, he's living a better life in the (hopefully) loving arms of his new family. But what about the family he left behind? What about dear old mum?

Well have fun explaining this to your kids folks, but Mama Dog is still working hard at the mill, a living legal baby making problem machine! 

Yep, the demands for purebreds are so great, that mama is dealing out litter after litter, with often no human contact, just food. And who are the biggest benefactors of these puppy farms? Well believe it or not people, it's actually the Amish? Yep, dear old Jebidah and peace loving Peggy (I don't know any Amish women names) are the biggest runners of puppy mills in the United States. Congratulations you dear people, I'm sure your God is just beaming with pride right now. 

Am I condemning all of the Amish peoples? Hell.....I mean, heck No! I'm just condemning the ones who think that puppies are as just as capable to be made and sold as their stuffed counterparts in Toys-R-Us. 

There has been movements throughout the US to end this terrible practice. You see The Humane society, the Puppy Mills Project, and the National Mill Dog Rescue all rescuing dogs from these hazardous conditions and trying to shut down these mills. Let me just mention that there aren't just puppy mills, but kitty, and bunny mills too. Many of which are USDA (U.S Department of Agricultural) licensed. Good job America!

 Wanna stop this practice? Don't wanna actually have to work with these great companies to stop it? Do you still want a little puppy of your own? Well fine, awesome idea, don't buy a $500-$1000 (not neutered, sometimes disease ridden: yay!) puppy from the store, ADOPT one for  around $50-$200 (vaccinations, neuter/spayed, and often microchips included). Come on people, it's not that hard to do. A mutt is just as capable of loving you as a purebred, don't be a species-ist!