Beware of
Puppy Mills
Puppy mills are
large-scale dog breeding facilities that operate under
substandard breeding conditions. Substandard breeding
conditions allow puppies bred in puppy mills to develop
chronic health problems, temperament issues, and hereditary
defects. Animals that have been produced in mills
often suffer from chronic health ailments, and are most
commonly sold at pet stores to unsuspecting consumers.
The vast
majority of puppy mill animals are sold to pet stores by
"dealers". Some puppies are sold by dealers masquerading as
authentic breeders. Reputable breeders rarely sell puppies
to dealers or pet stores. Most animal rights groups
recommend purchasing purebred puppies directly from
responsible breeders.
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Differences in
breeding conditions
Responsible breeders raise their animals with the intent to
preserve the animals' breed standards, to produce a better
dog, and to provide a quality pet for responsible owners.
Breeders take into consideration breed-specific health
problems, genetic screening, physical condition, age of the
dog and temperament before producing litters. When pregnant,
the mom’s are usually placed in a whelping box. This box is
usually located in a warm, quiet, draft-free room, optimally
separated from other dogs.
In
contrast, dogs bred in puppy mills are usually kept in
overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. They often do not
receive adequate food, water or veterinary care. Both the
adult breeding dogs and their puppies tend to be housed in
extremely cramped conditions, often exposed to the elements.
Females are sometimes forced to breed every time they are in
heat to increase profits, resulting in gradually decreasing
sizes and health of the puppies in the litters. As puppies,
mill dogs are weaned, and sometimes sold, well before the
eight to ten weeks recommended. Dogs in puppy mills are
often bred indiscriminately. While puppies produced from
puppy mills may come with pedigrees, the pedigree itself is
neither an indication of quality nor authenticity — in the
worse cases pedigrees produced by puppy mills are sometimes
faked.
The
Effects
As a
result of poor breeding conditions in puppy mills, puppies
acquired from puppies mills tend to have issues not
typically found with reputable breeders. Puppies raised in a
cramped environment shared by many other dogs become poorly
socialized to both other dogs and humans. Dogs are then
transported over long distances in poor conditions,
sometimes resulting in the deaths of many dogs. As the
surviving mill dogs grow older, they are more prone to being
diagnosed with respiratory ailments and pneumonia, as well
as hereditary defects such as hip dysplasia. In addition,
mill dogs are much more prone to have poor temperaments.
Puppies
from mills are usually sold as purebred dogs in an attempt
to fetch the higher prices associated with purebreds.
However, due to the indiscriminate breeding practices of
puppy mills, the dog may or may not actually be a purebred
puppy.
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