Puppy Mills and Back Yard Breeders – In Business For Suffering

Diana Saakian Bokhari

Visiting a pet shop that sells pets is ranked as one of the best family outing activities in North America.  Being a society blinded by our egotistical assumption that we are the supreme intellectual beings, we tragically neglect to account for the lives and feelings of all other species.  It is up to us to inform our children, and ourselves and to be responsible about the choices we make that affect the lives and well being of all others.

It is a little known fact that over 90% of the pets sold in pet shops come from puppy mills, no matter how much the pet shops deny this.  What’s a puppy mill?  A puppy mill is a breeding facility often found outside city walls where dogs and cats are kept in small wire cages and bred over, and over, and over again.  Quebec alone accounts for over 1800 known puppy mill operations.  Typically, a female dog will be forced to breed at her first heat, usually at around six months old, and will continue to produce litters at every heat thereafter, without a break…most of them don’t make it passed the age of four years. 

These sorry creatures remain in their small dirty cages their entire lives, without ever seeing the outdoors or smelling clean, fresh air.  They are completely derived of human affection and socialization.  They never get groomed, with their coats thickly matted so their skin develops sores and infections because it cannot even breathe.  Their nails grow so long that they cut into their pads, and they cannot even stand properly on the wired floors of their cages.  They live in their own feces and urine, and are barely fed; mothers will often eat their dead young, which are left to rot in the cages where they’ve died.  They get no medical attention. 

According to No Puppy Mills Canada (www.nopuppymillscanada.ca), “Most pet shops would like you to believe that if a puppy is registered by the American Kennel Club, this guarantees the puppy will be healthy and a good example of the breed. This is not so. The only thing that AKC papers certify is that the puppy is a purebred and produced out of AKC registered parents. Even this can be fiction, as some producers register more puppies than are actually born in each litter to receive extra registration slips to pass out with un-registerable puppies...They may also be horrible representations of the breed that you are buying. Often times the parentage of pet store puppies is also questionable due to poor record keeping. In other words, your puppy may not even be a purebred, even though it has AKC papers.”

Mme. Viviane Mongeau, owner of the L’Elevage de la Pagaille, champion breeder of the Groenendael Belgian Shepherd, says “no single reputable breeder will ever sell their puppies to a pet shop. A reputable breeder will secure a strict contract with an approved buyer where the buyer can never reproduce their pet without the breeder’s permission, nor ever give it away or sell it to someone else.  This will not only ensure the lineage of the breed, but also assure the safety of the pet.”

Backyard breeders churn out 67% of the 52.9 million dogs born annually in the United States (Gardner, 1994), these statistics are almost identical in Canada.  “Back yard breeders may act on a desire to make extra money, or simply out of ignorance. Sometimes back yard breeders will breed so "their children can experience the miracle of birth", or they mistakenly believe "every dog should have one litter." They may think their dog is so cute, he/she would make wonderful puppies, with little or no thought for the homes to which their puppies will go. Other back yard breeders see how much money legitimate breeders charge for pups and figure they could make some "easy money" too. Or, a back yard breeder may have a completely unplanned litter by accident…Back yard breeders usually bring two breeding animals together regardless of their quality…They will be working on new personal objectives in five years when your pet has a problem and you need help.  Although you might pay less for the breed of your choice from a pet store or backyard breeder, it's almost a given that in the long run, you'll pay a good deal more in vet bills and perhaps emotional bills (if the dog has to be euthanized due to a health or temperament problem), than you would from a reputable breeder.”(www.nopuppymillscanada.ca). 

If you are in the market to acquire a pet, do your research and choose wisely; it is a commitment that will last for at least 13 years.  Adopt from a shelter where many abandoned pets are waiting for your love and compassion, and a safe, loving home.