Searching to add a new member to the family, people stroll down the street and glance at adorable puppies in the window of a store. The family goes in and the seller makes a profit off of them although they know nothing about their new pet besides the fact that it is too cute to pass up. With time, the family realizes that their new member doesn’t seem behave normal or socialize with other dogs that it comes into contact with and may act scared. The reason is that they unknowingly gave their money to a criminal that abuses dogs in a way that they never thought anybody would do, a person who only cares about the money that rolls in instead of the care and health of the dog.
Puppy mills are spread out all over the United States, but exist mostly in the Midwest with about 1500 unlicensed stores in Missouri alone. Dogs are treated poorly by being cramped in a cage and being underfed with dog food that doesn’t nourish their bodies (“Peta”). The cages are stacked on top of one another letting the waste from one cage drop down to the next causing disease and multiple viruses. The dogs are often put in wire cages that cut their paws open, which leads to infection (Barnosky). Once the puppies arrive at a pet store, they may tend to develop poor behaviors that include barking a lot. They may also become unsociable because of the attention and love that they are not receiving (“Peta”). The dogs don’t live a normal life until they get lucky with a family adopting them. Although they may be in a cozy home with people that give them the attention and love they need, they still remember what they experienced and they have the chance of never living a normal life. After escaping the horrors of the puppy mills, a dog may end up in an abusive home where it is unwanted and neglected by its owner. Puppy mills not only hurt the sanctity of the animal, but the females are forced to give birth to a litter, one after another, until they can no longer produce. Once this happens, they are either put down in a humane fashion or killed in an unethical manner by the puppy mill owner (Barnosky).
Kennel inspections are on the bottom of the priority list, and because of this, there are many places that make profit from dogs that are being treated in a horrible manner. There are more than 8,800 places that are supposed to be inspected once a year with only 70 inspectors to do the job (“Peta”). This makes it impossible for all the inspections to be held, in which the puppy mills get away with the horrible activities. If more people knew and cared about what is happening to innocent animals behind the walls of the store, we might be able to make a change. Hiring more inspectors to evaluate the living conditions of the dogs may help shut down the illegal stores and save the lives of many dogs. Although it may cost more to have more inspectors on the pay roll, it could help put the criminals behind bars, and people may value the dog more with more respect and love.
Many people buy a puppy without knowing its background because it is cute and needs a new home. What some individuals don’t realize is that once they buy a puppy from a puppy mill, they are giving the owner more money to keep the business going and continuing to abuse and mistreat the dogs. If people are against puppy mills, they should stop buying the cute puppies from inside the store window without knowing where they came from. When a person buys a dog, they should see the owner in person and get to see both the parents of the puppy before making the purchase. If a person buys a dog over the phone or online, they risk purchasing an animal from a criminal and letting them be in control. Once the puppy mills are inspected and are shutting down, the inspectors can call the local humane society in which they can organize an adoption for the dogs. The fees can be wavered in which a person has to pay a small fee to adopt a puppy.
All dogs need the love and attention from the people that raise them, but the puppy mills need to be off the street so the abusing of the animal stops. Walking down the street, peering inside a store window and seeing an adorable creature can make a person stop and take another quick glance. Most of the time, many people can’t leave unless they purchase something that they think they can’t live without. Even though it is hard to pass up an adorable puppy, it’s what needs to take place in order to shut down the puppy mills that hurt the animal that many people adore and love.