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Tyler Aronson

12 April, 2019

Professor Henderson

CAS 138

The End of Puppy Mills

Are there really people out there that have the audacity to do harm to man’s best friend?

The answer is yes there are. These people are often the owners of cruel, inhumane,

breeding farms designed to churn out as many puppies as possible, known as puppy

mills.These puppy mills are designed so that various retailers can acquire their “product”,

at a cheap cost, so that they in turn can sell them for cheaper than the other potential

shops and agencies in the dog adoption industry. Puppy Mills are an insanely harmful

part of the animal adoption industry, and the many various negatives strongly outway the

positives of easy access and decreased price of adoption, thus leading to the conclusion

that something must change.

Puppy mills, as stated earlier, are essentially breeding farms, where dogs are held

in poor conditions, with the sole purpose of breeding and obtaining as many puppies from

the dogs as possible. When the dogs are no longer able to breed, they are usually killed.

Peta’s description of puppy mills begins to showcase the true horror behind puppy mills,

“They supply animals to pet stores and purebred enthusiasts without any concern for the

millions of animals who will die in animal shelters as a result. It’s standard practice for

puppy mills to keep animals in cramped, crude, and filthy conditions without proper

veterinary care or socialization.” ("Puppy Mills | PETA") The thought of dogs cramped
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up in cages for the rest of their lives, surrounded by terrible conditions, should bring

countless emotions, such as sadness, and even anger, to the millions and millions of dog

lovers out there.

Now of course, there are reasons why these puppy mills receive the funding

necessary to operate. There are some positives which, while outweighed heavily by the

negatives, still exist. With the poor conditions and inhumane treatment of the dogs comes

well decreased prices for the dogs. This allows those who may not be able to afford dogs

from agencies that charge high prices to still have the opportunity to purchase. With that

being said, the argument could be made that if you cannot afford to purchase a dog, then

you most likely can’t afford to take care of a dog, but that is besides the point. Another

positive is that it allows shop owners easy access to the product. According to

Charitypaws, pet store owners can pay around 75 dollars for each puppy from a puppy

mill, and then charge what they please. ("Puppy Mills – The Real Cost Of A Store

Bought Puppy") Even if they were to up the prices by a couple hundred dollars, if you

were to go to a professional breeder or a rescue agency, you are likely to have to pay

much more. According to Finance geek, “ If you’re getting a dog from a reputable

breeder, the price could be anything from $800 to several thousand dollars.” (Finance

Geek) This shows how much money one could save if they were to go the route of

buying from a pet store that had procured its puppies from a puppy mill.So while the

negatives strongly outweigh the positives, it is still, at the most, understandable, as to

why puppy mills are for the most part, a part of the puppy buying scenario.
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So while there are arguably some benefits behind the use of puppy mills, the

negatives are so horrific and make it obvious why a policy change needs to happen. The

worst parts about puppy mills, are the conditions of the mill itself, and the treatment of

the animals. There are so many different aspects of the puppy mills that are just so

inhumane. From the way the dogs are stored, to the way they are treated, to what happens

to them when they are unable to breed, it is all just horrific. Peta describes these

conditions as such,

Puppy-mill kennels can consist of anything from small cages made of wood and

wire mesh to tractor-trailer cabs or simply chains attached to trees, where mother

dogs and puppies spend every day outdoors in the same small patch of dirt in all

types of weather. Female dogs are bred over and over until they can no longer

produce puppies—at which point they are auctioned off or killed. Mothers and

their litters often suffer from malnutrition, exposure, and a lack of adequate

veterinary care ("The Hallmarks Of Cruel Breeding").

It is just terrible to think that there are people out there who have the mental and

emotional capacity to treat these beautiful animals like so. Another terrible aspect of

these puppy mills is that the animals are not seen by the public, so the owners have no

cares for the visual appearance of the dogs, which leads to a whole host of other issues.

According to ASPCA, “Since breeding dogs aren’t seen by the public, they aren’t bathed

and their hair is not brushed or cut. These dogs are left to suffer through painful injuries,

broken bones, rotting teeth, dangerous levels of filth, festering mats that pull at their skin,

and nails so long that they curl back into and pierce their paw pads.” ("The Hallmarks Of
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Cruel Breeding"). It is awful to read about these conditions, and must be exponentially

worse for the dogs that have to endure these conditions. With an animal given the

nickname, man’s best friend, it is just so difficult to understand how there are people out

there who have the will to do this to these beautiful creatures.

Another negative of the puppy mill culture, is that it perpetuates the validity of

“shopping” for dogs, rather than adopting the countless dogs that reside in shelters and

with various rescue agencies. The idea behind the adopt, don't shop movement is that so

many rescues and other dogs are currently sitting in shelters waiting to be adopted.

According to ASPCA, “Approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal

shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.3 million are dogs” ("Pet

Statistics"). If people continue to shop for dogs, instead of utilizing the shelters, then

there are no homes left for those dogs. On top of no homes being left for the dogs, there

are still unfortunately shelters that still utilize euthanization, when they are overflowing

with animals. ASPCA shared some information regarding euthanization, “Each year,

approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized (670,000 dogs and 860,000

cats). The number of dogs and cats euthanized in U.S. shelters annually has declined

from approximately 2.6 million in 2011. This decline can be partially explained by an

increase in the percentage of animals adopted and an increase in the number of stray

animals successfully returned to their owners.” ("Pet Statistics"). The thought of 670,000

dogs being killed every year has to bring emotions to even those who would not call

themselves “dog people” Obviously something needs to change so that these numbers can

be lowered, and the euthanization and overflowing shelters is no longer a problem.

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So now that the problem of puppy mills have been identified, the potential

solutions to the problem needs to be discussed. There is scarcely any policy regarding

puppy mills currently. Some states have laws in place that ban puppy mills. Pennsylvania

is currently working on “Victoria’s Law”, that would put an end to puppy mills in the

state ("Area Lawmakers Back 'Victoria's Law' To End Puppy Mills"). Connecticut is one

of the many states that has no specific puppy mill policy in place. The Connecticut

government website describes the state’s policy currently on puppy mills by saying,

“State law does not define “puppy mills”, nor directly address their regulation”

("Connecticut Puppy Mill Laws"). Based on the negatives of puppy mills, and the harm

done by the perpetuation of the shopping culture, doing harm to the countless animals in

the shelters that will eventually be euthanized if not adopted, some form of a ban should

be implemented on puppy mills.

If every state were to implement the ban of puppy mills, then it would be a huge

win for the countless animals that would be theoretically stuck in puppy mills if they

were not shut down. Shutting down the puppy mills would allow for all of the 3.3 million

dogs that are brought to shelters annually to have a better chance to be adopted. This in

turn would decrease the euthanization rate of those dogs, because room would open up

within the shelters as more and more dogs are adopted. It is quite clear that the best

option to both save more of the dogs that are in shelters, as well as stop the inhumane

treatment of animals within the puppy mills, is to shut down the puppy mills all together.

While the positives of banning puppy mills, there are certainly both some

negatives, as well as some potential roadblocks that would make doing so fairly difficult.
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For starters, the finances. Take a look at this statistic from Dogington Post, “Puppy mills

sell their puppies to a broker. The broker then sells the puppies to pet stores, internet

retailers, or in newspaper classified ads. There are over 5,000 of these puppy mills – fully

licensed to operate – around the country. Countless more that are operating illegally”

(Arnold). So, if there are 5,000 puppy mills operating legally, then think about all of the

stores that must be receiving their “product” from these 5,000 stores. As awful as both

puppy mills, and the stores that support them are, there are still people out there that

make a living off of this. While puppy mills still should be banned, and something

obviously needs to be done, but some form of support would have to be set up for these

people, since legally speaking they are doing nothing wrong, no matter how ethically and

morally wrong it may be. Another negative of banning puppy mills outright would be the

impact on the thousands of dogs already located in puppy mills. It would have to be

figured out what would be done for these dogs to ensure their safety. If puppy mills

became illegal to operate, it would not be far fetched to see the owners of these mills just

taking the “easy route” and putting the dogs down. This is just terrible to think about, so

another problem with banning the puppy mills outright would be some support would

have to be set up to ensure the safety of the animals currently in the mills.

While just saying that banning puppy mills outright may be the easiest proposal,

there is one way that could potentially be just as effective, while eliminating the

negatives of the puppy mills over a short span of time. A potential fix for all of this

would be to set up a 5 year plan, where by the end of the 5 years, puppy mills would

become fully illegal to operate. As each year goes on, the amount of animals that the
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mills are legally allowed to own would decrease. Also, this plan would require that all

puppy mills “donate” the extra dogs outside of the amount they are legally allowed to

own, to any sort of non-euthanization shelter. This would both procure the safety of the

dogs, and ensure that the owners have enough time to figure out some other form of

income, if they would indeed lose out tremendously on the loss of puppy mills.

In conclusion, the clear and evident plan should be to implement policy that bans

the use of puppy mills throughout the United States. Countless dogs would be saved, both

presently, and in the future. If dogs truly are man’s best friend, then everything that

hypothetically could be done, should be enacted as soon as possible, so we can save the

dogs from the inhumane treatment they would surely suffer without it.

Word Count- 1991

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Works Cited

"Connecticut Puppy Mill Laws". Cga.Ct.Gov, 2007,

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0409.htm.

"Area Lawmakers Back 'Victoria's Law' To End Puppy Mills". Daily Local News,

2019, https://www.dailylocal.com/news/local/area-lawmakers-back-victoria-s-

law-to-end-puppy-mills/article_beef19d2-19d4-11e9-8562-13fcf95b824e.html.

Accessed 11 Apr 2019.

"Puppy Mills – The Real Cost Of A Store Bought Puppy". Charitypaws, 2019,

https://charitypaws.com/puppy-mills/.

Arnold, Brandy. "The Truth About Puppy Mills & Pet Stores - The Dogington Post".

The Dogington Post, 2019, https://www.dogingtonpost.com/the-truth-about-

puppy-mills-pet-stores/.

"Pet Statistics". ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-

and-surrender/pet-statistics.

"Puppy Mills | PETA". PETA, https://www.peta.org/issues/animal-companion-

issues/pet-trade/puppy-mills/.

"The Cost Of A Getting A Dog". Thefinancegeek.Com,

http://thefinancegeek.com/budgeting/costs-of-living/the-cost-of-a-getting-a-

dog/.
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"The Hallmarks Of Cruel Breeding". ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/barred-from-

love/puppy-mills-101/hallmarks-cruel-breeding.