Puppy Mills - Gigi's Page

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Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.

— Mark Twain

What is a puppy mill?

In the well-known story of Cain and Able, the mark of Cain is nothing superficial that is visible at a distance. It is his answer to the question "Where is thy brother?" By the same token, the mark of a puppy mill is nothing superficial. So, one cannot say that all puppy mills look like death camps or that all are big operations or that all are in the Midwest. Nor can one say that no responsible breeder makes a profit. Such superficial definitions backfire, because they just tell puppy-millers and puppy-brokers how to disguise themselves. Thus, many people get tricked into buying puppy-mill puppies from sources made to seem like responsible breeders. So, an ounce of understanding is worth a pound of prejudice.

The name "puppy mill" tells you what one is: it is a factory to manufacture puppies for sale. It's a business, and the mission is to make money, as much money as possible. Likewise, the name "responsible breeder" tells you what one is: he or she breeds a particular type of dog and usually keeps and shows the best offspring in competition. That is a vocation. And, while stud services and selling puppies brings in money, it's rarely enough to make a profit, and it doesn't subvert the mission, which is to produce the best puppies possible.

What's wrong with selling puppies for profit?

Nothing is inherently wrong with the profit motive, but it corrupts any business not regulated to protect the consumer and the work force. It's also incongruous with certain endeavors, endeavors in which "the bottom line" must not be the mission. The risk is greatest in businesses not subject to fierce competition for each client and in businesses where the average client is not knowledgeable enough to see through facades.

For example, most would agree that religious institutions should not be for profit. If they are, then profitability determines what doctrine that religion "sells." Another example is education. In for-profit education, the mission is not to provide the best education possible, it is to make as much money as possible. Therefore the emphasis is on sell rather than on quality control: Much is spent on window dressing that may be useless or obsolete, while profits are maximized by spending the bare minimum on what really affects the quality of the product (education).

Breeding puppies is another endeavor in which the for-profit motive leads to wrongdoing. That is because it is impossible to breed puppies the right way for profit, except for a few big, very well known operations.

Puppy-mill breeders are concerned with the bottom line. They may offer a one-year health guarantee, because it sells. But they know that most inbred problems will not show up till later in the dog's life, and they know that people do not return a dog they have come to love. So puppy-millers can and do dodge their responsibility: they are concerned only with what shows at the moment of sale. They don't care what pain and suffering may come to that puppy or you because of the way they manufactured it.

That is, they don't carefully match the dogs and bitches they breed, and the result is offspring with serious health and temperament problems. responsible breeders, on the other hand, love the breed and want to perpetuate and improve it. They belong to a society in which their reputation is at stake if they breed badly. They are just selling some puppies to help finance this expensive endeavor. So, they don't breed animals with serious health or temperament problems in their pedigree. And they carefully research and match the crosses to produce the best offspring possible.

How serious is the damage that puppy-mill breeding does?

Gigi wondering what the heck I'm calling her name for with that clicky thing in front of my face.

Gigi wondering what the heck I'm calling her name for with that clicky thing in front of my face.

Whatever breed comes into vogue becomes the chief product of the puppy mills. Within a few years, serious temperament and health problems appear and become so widely known that most people are afraid to buy a dog of that breed. It happens every time. Labradors. Cocker Spaniels. Doberman Pincers. Yorkshire Terriers. And now, Westies. This revolving disaster is so predictable that I dearly hope Cairn Terriers never become so popular.

Another thing puppy-mills do is cut costs. They get by with fewer and cheaper bitches, wearing them out by breeding them constantly. They don't provide veterinary care. Their animals mean less to them than livestock mean to farmers. Because farmers either keep most of their livestock or sell them for food (which is condemned if it isn't healthy), they have many vested interests in the health and well-being of their livestock. But puppy-millers don't. The puppies are gone within weeks, and the bitches are killed when they are worn out at the age of four or five.

Brutality is its own reward. As we have seen so often throughout history, human sensibilities can be turned off like a light-switch. When this happens, the more pitiful the appeal to them, the more brutal the disregard for suffering. Puppy millers see nothing but merchandise coming off the line in their factory. Consequently, the conditions in puppy mills often become so inhumane as to outrage the sensibilities of decent people. Livestock are treated far better than these special animals created to love humans and to desperately need human attention, care, and affection.

It is no wonder then that puppy-mill puppies have never been outside a cage, have never been socialized to people or other dogs, and have been kept under conditions that make them, at best, hard to housebreak and, at worst, practically wild.

Gigi as a puppy plays with her first football right after a bath.

So, while one cannot say that no responsible breeders make a profit, very few do. While many puppy mills are large operations located out of sight in the country, many are small backyard operations that resemble the typical responsible breeder. In fact, since more and more people are becoming aware of the problem with puppy mills, the industry turns more and more to selling through middlemen. These middlemen are brokers who buy from puppy mills and then pose as backyard breeders to sell them. How to tell the difference? You must use your nose. Visit. Look around. Study the papers. Ask questions. Sniff out what a seller is in it for!

Responsible breeders expect you to do this. Puppy-millers and brokers often sell many breeds; responsible breeders usually run small operations, selling just one breed or two. They don't abuse their bitches by having them produce litters as often as possible. So they probably will not have puppies to sell every year, let alone several batches per year. And responsible breeders won't sell their puppies to just anybody. They interview YOU, because they don't want their dog to end up in a lab, tied out in a backyard, or abused by some sick-o. Hence they only sell directly, not through pet stores. They keep some of their puppies and show them in competition. They want your puppy back if anything goes wrong. Anything. Because they want to make sure it gets a good home. They will be happy to answer your questions and help you six months or a year later if, for example, you are having trouble training the dog. Often they are also rescuers of that breed, who will keep rescued dogs that cannot be adopted because they are old or not housebroken. That's the kind of people responsible breeders are — a whole different breed than puppy-mill breeders.

Even the term "backyard breeder" has become pejorative. It is often used to denote somebody who has a dog for all the wrong reasons, spends no time with it, doesn't really care about it, and tries to recoup the cost of a purebred bitch by breeding her indiscriminately. Or, such people are often playing for a Perfect Parent Award by breeding their dog to show "the miracle of birth" to their children. While gross inhumanity is usually not the problem here, irresponsibility is. That's because these people dabble in breeding just for money or image. For a look at the tragic consequences, visit "Open Letter to a Backyard Breeder" at www.angelfire.com/ab6/761250/backyard.html.

There are puppy-mills throughout the United States. Most are in the Midwest, with the highest concentrations in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

Pet stores get their stock almost exclusively from puppy-mills or through brokers who buy from puppy mills. Do not be fooled by the line that "we buy from local breeders." Those local breeders are probably puppy-mills or puppy-mill brokers.

Visit these Web sites to learn more:

The Facts on Puppy Mills, The Humane Society of the United States: www.hsus.org/ace/11797

PuppyMills.com: www.puppymills.com

Prisoners for Profit, by Rachel A. Lamb, Director for Companion Animal Care at The Humane Society of the United States: www.turner.com/planet/promotions/puppies/prisoners.html

No Puppy Mills.com: www.nopuppymills.com

© 2002 - 2007, Kathy Krajco - all rights reserved.
The URL of this Web page is http://www.cairn-terrier.operationdoubles.com/puppy_mills.htm
It was last updated on 10/27/2007.
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