Puppy Mill? More like Torture House!

By: Bryn L.

       Did you know that 90% of the puppies in pet stores across the United States are from puppy mills? Well, it’s true! All those puppies have been poorly treated and harmed. Millions of puppies are brutally tortured, and many of them die.

       The scared dog was harshly dragged out of his cramped and filthy cage and worthlessly tossed into a bucket along with some dead dogs. He was left to die a long and painful death. Luckily, a worker nearby noticed he was still breathing. The worker pulled him out and gave him medical attention. Then the dog got his picture taken. The dog was a father to hundreds of puppies. The dog had heart disease, a fused spine, a broken tail, gnarled toes, and deformed legs. Also, the dog had a missing eye because he was in his cage while it was getting power-washed. 

       Rudi Taylor, the dog’s new owner, knew that the dog, Harley, was meant to be with her. Rudi drove a few states over to pick up Harley. Rudi wanted to give Harley a loving home for his final days. The vet had said that he would live for about three more months. Rudi gave Harley a soft bed, good food, and clean water, but most importantly, Rudi gave Harley love, something that Harley hadn’t gotten since the day he was born.

       There are approximately 10,000 puppy mills in the United States. In each of those puppy mills, there are around 200,000 dogs. That means that there are two billion dogs held in puppy mills across the United States. Out of that two billion, two million of them are dying each year.

       Breeding started during the Great Depression as a way to make money. Nowadays, the situation has gotten worse. Multiple dogs are held in small, makeshift kennels. Usually made of wire mesh, wood, tractor-trailer cabs, or just chains tied to trees, sometimes they’re even put in cramped cages, stacked seven rows high. The feces from the dogs on top fall on the dogs below. Dogs receive little to no veterinary care, even when they are ill. Most of the time, dogs are left outside in their cages through the roughest weather: harsh winters, rainy springs, scorching summers, and foggy falls.

       There are usually only two or three caretakers taking care of all the puppies in one puppy mill. Female dogs are bred until they can't anymore. Then they’re auctioned off or killed. Litters are ripped out of their mothers’ care as soon as they’re eight weeks old. Mothers and their litters lack proper nutrition from small quantities of poorly made food. They are given small dishes of water and are usually left thirsty and dehydrated. This leads to most of the illnesses that the dogs in puppy mills have. The dogs in puppy mills suffer from health conditions that include crusty, oozing eyes, red scabs all over their skin, raging ear infections, and abscessed feet due to bad floors. The dogs also suffer from severe genetic defects like physical problems and personality disorders that make people not want them.

       Every time you buy a puppy from a pet shop, you’re promoting puppy mills to just keep on torturing more and more dogs. Puppy mills are cruel places that harm the puppies that are held there. The only way to stop these heartless puppy mills is to stop supporting them. One way you can do this is by not buying puppies from pet shops but instead adopting them from an animal shelter. It’s been 94 years since breeding started in the 1930s; don’t you think it’s time for a change?