A large, hostile looking building, thousands of dogs lined up in rows packed in small, wire cages; sometimes with three dogs to a cage. The bottoms of the cages are filthy with the animals waste. The quality of food and water is appalling, and the dogs receive no positive human socialization. They never see a treat, toy, or a bed. This is the average life for a dog living in a puppy mill. For the time being puppy mills are completely legal, though there are many who fight against them like the Humane Society of the United States. These mills continue to operate in ways that are emotionally and physically damaging to the animals. An individual pet would never be permitted to suffer such horrid conditions.

Breeding stock dogs live their whole lives in small, wire cages and are continually bred for years. Their cages are often raised up off the ground so that most of their waste will run to the ground, but not all of it. During the winter the dogs freeze and in the summer they overheat. These prisoners live their whole lives without human companionship or compassion and have barely any hope of ever becoming part of a family. The dogs get little to no veterinary care, and inbreeding and over breeding cause behavior and/or health problems. When breeding animals lose their fertility they are generally killed, abandoned, or sold to another mill.

Puppy mills are considered a business, and are designed wholly for profit and not for the well-being of the dogs. Breeding kennels can legally keep hundreds of dogs in cages for their entire lives, as long as they receive food, water, and shelter no matter how disgusting it may be. There are laws to provide minimum care standards, however enforcement of these laws are poor and there are countless loopholes. Numerous USDA-licensed breeders get away with repeated violations of the laws because they are never fined or have their licenses suspended; they are permitted to continually renew their license. And while these animals suffer, the owners prosper. The commercial pet industry has a lobbying force with substantial financial resources and it consistently fights against measures that would provide improved animal care standards. These owners have worked relentlessly to prevent even the tiniest and reasonable improvements from being signed into law.

It is up to you, the citizens of America, to put an end to this ruthless business. Even the smallest things you do to help can change the lives of these powerless animals; you can help to save their lives. Adopt an animal from your local shelter instead of from a pet store, the internet, or newspaper ad. Most of these animals come from puppy mills; although we want to save these animals, we can’t keep feeding into their business or it will keep growing. Legislation is the key to ensuring a permanent change for these animals. However, it is difficult to bring a bill into a law and it is an exceedingly slow and lengthy process. Until this can happen we must take a stand and fight against these mill owners; we must fight for these animals that cannot fight for themselves.