Help the ASPCA Shut Down Cruel Puppymills!

Bulldogs on sale! Yorkie puppies available here! Have you ever wondered where all these cheap puppies for sale in pet stores come from? The answer is that they are produced in factory-like environments known as “puppy mills.” Puppy mills are large-scale dog breeding operations where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs. Puppy mills treat dogs like products, not living beings, and usually house them in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate veterinary care, socialization, or even food and water.

The cute puppies for sale at your local mall were probably bred from dogs who don’t play outside or get groomed. Puppy mill dogs are typically kept in cages with wire flooring that injures their paws and legs—and cages can be stacked up in columns (which means waste falls on the dogs housed below them). Compromised health and conditions like matting, sores, mange, severe dental disease and abscesses are often widespread. Many puppy mill puppies are born with or develop overt physical problems that make them unsalable to pet stores—which means they end up abandoned or just left to die. Many sick puppies do manage to end up at pet stores, though, where the new puppy owner unknowingly purchases the sick dog.

Breeding dogs at the mills sometimes spend their entire lives outdoors, exposed to the elements—or crammed inside filthy structures. Female dogs usually have little to no recovery time between bearing litters. When, after a few years, the females can no longer reproduce or when their breed goes out of “style,” the dogs are often abandoned, shot, or sometimes starved until they eventually die.

Take the pledge to not buy anything from a pet store that sells puppies. Most pet shop puppies come from puppy mills. Giving your business to stores that sell puppies supports the horrible puppy mill industry. If a store sells puppies, don't buy anything there! Buy all your pet supplies from pet stores that don't sell puppies, or buy your supplies online.

Make adoption your first option. If you’re looking to make a puppy part of your family, consider dog adoption and check your local shelters first. Not only will you be saving a life, but you will ensure that your money is not going to support a puppy mill. Shelters across the country have dogs and puppies for adoption that need loving homes. If you’re committed to a specific breed of dog and can't find what you're looking for at your local shelter, contact a rescue group for that breed.

Don’t buy a puppy in a pet store or online. Most pet store puppies come from puppy mills, and so do many puppies sold online. Anyone can put up a great-looking website boasting the highest standards of breeding and care, but you really have no way of knowing if such businesses are what they claim to be without seeing them for yourself. If you must buy, the best way to buy a puppy is to find a responsible, local puppy breeder. Truly responsible breeders will never ship you a puppy without meeting you first, and they never sell their pups to pet stores or brokers. They want to meet you before selling you one of their prized pups to be sure that he or she is going to a good home.

If you want to learn even more about puppymills, why they should be stopped, and want answers to your puppymill questions visit:
http://nopetstorepuppies.com/