Beware of Puppy Mills and Uncontrolled Dog Selling

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A puppy mill is a mass breeding that produces a lot of puppies for sale and with only one goal – profit. Profit is put above the welfare of dogs. It is important to produce and sell as many puppies as possible and the health and well-being of these puppies and their mothers are not important.

Puppy mills - animal cruelty

Puppy mills kennels usually are just small, overcrowded, dirty cages or crates where the dogs are kept until „the breeder“ cannot use them anymore. Puppies that are being bred in these conditions often suffer from malnutrition and exposure. Many puppies die of the parvovirus, or of a flea and tick infestation. Breeding at puppy mills is performed without consideration of genetic quality and inbreeding is a common occurrence so the puppies are often born with genetic diseases and abnormalities. Also, dogs live in unsanitary conditions and are often exposed to other dog’s feces so infections are common problems. The only thing on puppy mill breeder's mind is profit so he/she saves money by spending little on poor quality food, shelter (puppy mills dogs are kept outside, whether it is cold, harsh winter or it is a hundred degrees), and veterinary care (if there is any). Female dogs are forced to breed constantly and are kept alive only while they can still produce puppies. These female dogs, which are kept in puppy mills their entire lives, are called “brood bitches” and they are being killed at five or six years of age.

Using the breed’s popularity

We all love watching movies and reading books that have or star dogs in them. There are some very famous works of art that have dogs as main characters such as the famous cartoon called Scooby-Doo (Scooby is a Great Dane), Lassie from “Lassie come home” (Lassie is a Collie), a famous German TV show called “Inspector Rex” (Rex is a German Shepherd), Clifford the big red dog, Marley from the movie “Marley and me” (Marley is a Labrador Retriever). Disney also made a lot of cartoons and films and some of them are “101 Dalmatians” and “Lady and the Tramp” that feature specific dog breeds.

These movies are heartwarming and we all enjoyed watching them especially when we were kids. The unintentional downside to these movies is the extreme rise of the popularity of the breed that is in that movie.

The puppy mill breeders are very well aware of that and since the demand for those dogs is on the rise, they try to take advantage of the situation and start mass breedings of the highly demanded dog breed. The problem isn’t the quantity, it is the quality of the dogs bred. These so-called breeders don’t think about the future characters of the puppies. They don’t account for inbreeding or the quality of the parents, hereditary diseases, and many more things. Their only goal is to produce as many as possible new dogs and earn as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

Puppy mills - breeding

The puppy mill breeder will sell a puppy before the puppy is even ready to depart from his mother just to make room for new puppies. Because they are taken away from their mother too early, they may suffer from serious behavior problems.

Often people, even when they know about the puppy mill situation and the conditions dogs are kept and bred in, decide to buy a dog from a puppy mill in order to “save” a poor animal and give him warm, nurturing, and loving forever home. But, they don’t realize that, by doing a good deed for one puppy, by purchasing a puppy from a puppy mill they feed money into the puppy mill industry, encourage mass production and thus the vicious cycle keeps ongoing.

The puppy mill problem impacts all of us and until governments around the world realize that laws against puppy mills must be passed and high penalties prescribed, the best solution is awareness. 

How to find a good dog breeders

When getting a dog, always consider adoption. If you are interested in a certain breed and want your dog to be a purebred take your time and find a responsible dog breeder. Responsible breeders won’t have a problem with you asking him questions about the puppies and their parents and their health clearances. He won’t hesitate to show you the conditions in which the puppies spend their first months. Never buy a dog from a breeder who doesn’t want to show you the entire premises on which animals are being bred and kept. Irresponsible, puppy mills breeders show a general lack of transparency and won’t give you references from other customers.

Puppy mills often sell their dogs in the pet stores. Roughly 90% of puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills so remember that when you pass by a pet store and want to buy a puppy. 

Diseases

As said before, puppies from a puppy mill often get sick and develop health problems that will make you a fortune to cure (if it is even possible). Responsible breeders test the health of their breeding dogs prior to mating to ensure the good health of their puppies. This won’t guarantee that the puppy will be born healthy and won’t ever get sick, but it is the best you can get.

That is why we highly recommend you use the World Dog Finder website if you are searching for the dog. It will maybe take a while to find one, or maybe there are no litters available at the time you wanted to buy your dog, but searching and waiting will eventually pay off. World Dog Finder is a website whose main idea is to eradicate puppy mills, uncontrolled selling or even trafficking of dogs and also to warn people about sub-par conditions in kennels that put profit above the welfare of dogs. World Dog Finder works only with authorized and responsible dog breeders and regularly checks all data to reduce the possibility of any unauthorized breeder signing into the World Dog Finder website. 

World Dog Finder team