Amanda Schaller1

Puppy Mills: The Dark Hidden Secret of Animal Overpopulation

Amanda Schaller

Dr. Schramm

English 2

10/25/11

Amanda Schaller2

Outline

I.) Introduction

A.) What is a puppy mill?

B.) History of puppy mills

II.) Conditions of puppy mill dogs

A.) Cage sizes they are kept in

B.) Inadequate food and water

C.) Cages not cleaned properly, left in own feces

1.) Lead to health issues

2.) Lead to emotional issues

III.) Why puppy mills should be made illegal

A.) Their effects on dogs as a whole

B.) There effect on shelter dogs

C.) Animals are abused in puppy mills

IV.) The recovery of puppy mill dogs

A.) Preparing for puppy mill raid

B.)The trials of the owners of puppy mills

1.) Waiting for adoption

2.) Rehabilitation to trust human again

a.) Dogs then getting adopted by people

b.) Patience people must have when adopting a puppy mill dog

V.) Conclusion

A.) why puppy mills should be made illegal

B.) more severe punishment for puppy mill owner and operators

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Puppy Mills: The Dark Hidden Secret of Animal Overpopulation

Animal exploitation is a growing problem in the world, with more industries deciding

profits are more important than an animal’s welfare. In Peter Singer’s article “Animal

Liberation”, he quotes Patrick Corbett to sum up how animal liberation groups feel. “We require

now to extend the great principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity over the lives of animals.

Let animal slavery join human slavery in the graveyard of the past”qtd. (206). Animal

exploitation is a growing industry with so many different areas people do not even think about or

do not want to think about. There is factory farming, animals testing, and animals in circuses.

There are also puppy mills, which is something I personally find truly offensive and depressing.

Puppy mill dogs are a form of breeding slaves that are forced their whole lives to breed and live

in small quarters. I decided to focus my research paper on puppy mills, a topic I find truly

disheartening.

Imagine being stuck in a hard wire cage reeking of feces and ammonia, where you could

barely turn around. The wire from the cage cuts into your paws until they bleed and hurt. There

is no clean water to drink and rarely any food to eat. The room is dark and damp and there are

rows of other dog cages in the same condition. The only sounds you hear are dogs barking and

rarely the footsteps of people coming to give you your food. No medical treatment is given when

you are sick or injured. No love is given, just coldness from these humans. You are bred until

you can no longer breed and then took outback and shot. This is the life of a puppy mill dog.

Every eight seconds a dog in a shelter somewhere is being put to death due to

overpopulation of animals and overcrowded shelters. According to the ASPCA, American

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, around 20 million dogs and cats are euthanized

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each year (3). A large part of the overpopulation problem is because puppy mills turn out

thousands of dogs to be sold. Puppy mills are breeding more dogs while there are still thousands

of dogs in shelters waiting to be rescued. Puppy mills treat their animals horrendously and only

care about the money these animals will be making them, not about the animals themselves.

According to “America’s Pampered Pets”, “American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals (ASPCA) was founded in New York City “to alleviate pain, fear and suffering in

animals”(19). The SPCA plays a major role in trying to rescue dogs from puppy mills.

A puppy mill is a commercial dog breeding facility that is operated to sell and breed as

many puppies as possible and care about profits above animal welfare. The animals are often

kept in substandard conditions with no regard for their well-being. According to Wikipedia,

“There are an estimated 4,000 puppy mills in the U.S. that produce more than half a million

puppies a year” (1). Puppies that are unfortunate enough to have to be born in a puppy mill have

many possible roads ahead of them. If the dogs are males, they will be sold to pet stores, other

breeders, animal brokers, or directly to families if lucky. If female, they will either be sold or

kept for breeding their whole lives until they no longer produce puppies, at which point they will

be killed.

These dogs will never know the tender touch of a loving human or what it is like to be

loved. They will only know the dark and depressing life they are dealt. The cages the dogs are

kept in are wire cages with wire bottoms, so standing on them hurts and cuts the dogs’ feet. The

cages are small in size with barely enough room to turn around in depending on the dog’s size

and how many dogs are in the cage. The caged dogs are often kept in basements, garages or

outside in sheds, so the temperatures can go from freezing cold to blistering hot depending on the

time of day and season. The rooms are almost always kept dark so the animals cannot see very

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well. The rooms smell of urine and feces. These dogs live horrible lives that affect them in

various ways. The affects can lead to depression and other odd behavior in the animals, and there

have been instances where dogs have tried to chew their way through the metal to get out of the

cage and also some dogs that will just spin in circles trying to find ways out.

Puppy mills have been around for about seventy years now. They started popping up

right after World War II, when farmers were seeking other ways to make money. This concept

leads to the development of commercial puppy farms. Then with the increase in puppy supply,

the pet retail outlets grew and big retail stores started adding pet departments to their stores. This

is when pet departments and pet retail stores were created and have thrived ever since. However,

since many farmers didn’t know how to properly cage or care for their dogs, this often lead to

poor quality. The farmers often kept the dogs in cages they already had for chickens which

prohibited socialization. They did not give proper veterinary care to their dogs. Around this time,

some organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) began investigating

these puppy farms and gave them the name of puppy mills. These organizations started the

efforts to make puppy mills better regulated, which is something we are still trying to do today.

Cages the dogs are kept in

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Dogs in puppy mills are kept in inadequate sized cages. Depending on the size of the

dogs, they are either kept in a cage by themselves for the larger dog breeds or two or more in a

cage for smaller dog breeds. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),

the cage size for a dog in a puppy mill is the dogs length excluding the tail in inches, add six

inches, then square that number to get the square inches of floor space; to convert to feet you

would need to divide that number by 144, and the length plus six inches by twelve to get the feet

and square feet of the cage. For example, I have a Jack Russell terrier and did this equation for

her. She is twenty four inches long, so with six added that would be thirty inches, squared that is

900 square inches, which is 2 ½ feet cage which is 6 ¼ square feet of cage space, not big at all.

These are the requirement, however many puppy mill operators do not follow the guidelines and

go smaller or place two dogs in a cage that size.

Cages are stacked one on top of the other from floor to ceiling usually in a barn, garage

or basement. The cages are not often cleaned if ever and since they are stacked and have wired

floors this means that all the excrement from the higher up cages falls onto the dogs in the

bottom cages. The dogs are often covered in their own feces and urine along with their cages

often having feces caked onto them. These conditions lead too many health issues, including skin

issues, eye and ear infections, and respiratory problems including staph infections.

A dog that never received vet care.

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If fortunate enough, food is given to the dogs once a day in dirty rusty bowls. When dogs

share a cage with other dogs, it is a battle of who gets to the food first that gets to eat. The dogs

are often given cheap food, not given the correct portion for their size, and not fed often enough.

Since the dogs have been neglected and not given medical treatment, their teeth are often

decaying, so it is sometimes hard for them to eat their food. According to the Animal Welfare

Act, the dogs should be given clean fresh water every 24 hours, but this rarely happens. They

often go without water for days, and the water they get is served in dingy moldy bowls.

A dog that was not given adequate food.

These conditions also lead to emotional problems, and since the dogs have never

experienced love or fun and never are let out of their cages except to be bred, they don’t know

how to react when saved from a puppy mill. They don’t understand what it is like to run around

and feel the grass on their feet, or know what it’s like to feel unconditional love a new owner will

give them. Puppy mill dogs are often fearful and emotionally shut off since that is what they had

to be in order to survive the treatment they received from the puppy mill. Most dogs recover

from this with patience and time, but some may never fully heal from the pain and abuse they

received when at the puppy mill.

Puppy mills should be illegal for many reasons; one being they only help

contribute to the overpopulation of animal problems and secondly because they often breed sick

dogs that often end up dead or in a shelter due to the fact that the owner does not want to pay the

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money to have the dog brought back to health. While some states do have lemon laws, that are

meant to help buyers of animals to receive their money back if the dog is determined to be sick

or die from an illness caused by the breeder. Not all states have these laws in place, and those

who do, not every consumer is aware of these laws and that they have a right to get their money

back.

I think the major reason or argument for closing puppy mills is because it is a form of

animal abuse and neglect that we as a country should want to be made illegal. There are many

groups on either side of this debate stating reasons why it is or is not ethical to allow puppy mills

to operate. The Humane Society International and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

(PETA) are among groups that are against puppy mills and all kind of animal abuse, and would

like to make puppy mills illegal or at least more regulated. The Pennsylvania Federation of Dog

Clubs (PFDC) and American Kennel Club (AKC) are groups against more regulation on puppy

mills and are against them being made illegal. The prime argument against making puppy mills

illegal or adding further regulating on them is it would cost breeders too much money to stay up

to date with new regulations and would cause many breeders and possibly farmers to go out of

business. While I recognize that enforcing regulations and increasing standards impact on cost, I

think the dogs’ welfare is priority. Cost does not matter since regulation needs to be enforced on

the puppy mills and the animals welfare should come prior to all of the other issues.

Why do we need puppy mills? We do not is the easy answer. They negatively affect the

dog population, they are a source of animal abuse, and they are run by people who only care

about profits. The biggest cause and effect problem with puppy mills is the huge negative affect

they have on shelter dogs that usually have a limited life since shelters are so overcrowded and

regularly must put dogs down. There are dogs ranging in all ages that are in shelters, so if people

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specifically want a puppy, all they have to do is a little searching online or in person at different

shelters and they are sure to find a puppy that fits their wants and needs. The plus of adopting a

dog from a shelter is that they already come spayed or neutered so that will not be an additional

cost to you, and there is usually a small fee of around $100- $150 that goes back into the shelter

to help other dogs in need. Dogs adopted from shelters are also aware that you saved them and

will give you unlimited love and affection and never forget you saved them. By adopting an

animal from a shelter, it is a win-win situation. If you chose to buy an animal from a pet store

that is usually supplied by a puppy mill or directly from a pet broker, it can only cause negative

effects. You are helping a puppy mill gain profits, and you are often buying a puppy that was

weaned too quickly and often can end up sick or with problems down the line. So, if you had a

choice, why would you choose a puppy mill over a shelter? I know I wouldn’t.

With animal abuse being illegal in the United States under the Animal Welfare Act, it

does not make logical sense that puppy mills are legal since puppy mills abuse their animals.

They do this in the physical and emotional sense as well as neglect the animals. They abuse the

animals in different ways, one being they do not give them adequate food and water, and they

also do not give the animals adequate shelter from the elements. They often breed the females

too often which is not good for their health, and they do not give any of the dogs adequate

veterinary care. They often do procedures that should only be done by professional vets, such as

debarking and C-sections. According to the ASPCA website, “Debarking is controversial

procedure in which a dog's vocal cords are severed so that he is unable to bark. In puppy mills,

this procedure is often performed by smashing a puppy's vocal cords with a pipe” (1). According

to “Their Day in Court, “In July, Massachusetts became the first state to ban surgery that cuts or

removes the vocal cords of dogs or cats. Under the law, violators are subject to fines and

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imprisonment of up to five years. Opponents of the law have argued that banning such surgery

will result in more pets being abandoned or given to shelters” (1). The emotional abuse and

neglect is the lack of socialization that they give to the dogs, as well as the weaning and taking

puppies away from their mother to early. Also, they do not show these dogs any affection, love

or any emotion other than greed and anger. This hurts the animals in the long run, making them

anti-social when bought and can also lead to health and behavior problems when the dogs

become older.

Puppy mill raids are the only way for these dogs and puppies to get rescued and have a

chance of a normal life. These raids take hard work and dedication of animal welfare officers,

usually with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) or United States

Department of Agriculture (USDA) whose job it is to check on puppy mills to see if they are

following the guidelines set forth by the laws set forth by the state and the United States.

According to “Taking a Bite out of Animal Crime”, “It is important to scan every scene for the

following signs of neglect, says Maddox. Does the animal have food, water and shelter? Does the

animal appear healthy? Is its weight appropriate? Does its coat look healthy? What conditions is

it living in?...” (1). Preparing to raid a puppy mill requires a lot of work, which includes making

sure your shelters have enough room to house all the dogs that will be confiscated indefinitely

since the trials tend to take months to a year. Also you must make sure your search warrant is

bullet proof since the defense for the owner of the puppy mill will try to throw every punch they

can to get things over turned. You must log everything you saw and how they broke the Animal

Cruelty Act along with any other local or state laws that may be applicable. The search warrant

must then be signed by the local district attorney as well a judge for it to be enforceable and for

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the SPCA officers to legally seize the animals. Once both signatures were obtained, the raid

could go ahead.

When executing the warrant and raid depending on the state and county, there are certain

procedures that must be followed. As stated in Saving Gracie, “In Pennsylvania it was standard

procedure for a highway patrol officer to be on hand to help execute a warrant” (31). The

officers and volunteers who help with the raid must also document everything since it will all be

evidence in the trial. As stated in Saving Gracie, “It was important to capture on film the

deplorable conditions the dogs were living in, including the dirty water buckets, the lack of food,

and the dogs’ matted hair. She also wanted to show any diseases, infections, or injuries visible on

the animals. The videotape would tell the tale in court” (31-32).

Once the raid is complete and all the dogs are seized, they are now considered evidence

in the trail against the owner of the puppy mill, which means they cannot be adopted until after

the trail is over and all the appeals are up. This can take months to years at which point the dogs

are in limbo staying at the shelters where the employees try to rehabilitate them and give them

love, but it is not as good as a new home would be. In order to win the case against the owner of

a puppy mill, the prosecution must prove that there was cruelty to the animals. This can be a hard

and daunting task. If they do not succeed and the owner is found not guilty, the animals will be

released back to him or her and most likely continued to be in the conditions they were in before.

To prove cruelty requires the prosecution to call many witnesses to the stand that include the

officer who executed the raid, some other people who were present and helped with the raid,

veterinarians who helped care for the animals after the raid, along with any other witnesses that

can help prove cruelty or that they think will help their case.

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While the trial of the puppy mill owner is going on, the shelter has a daunting task ahead

of them, including giving any medical care necessary to the animals. This includes anything from

as big as surgery to as small as flea medications. They also must start the rehabilitation process

which includes showing the animals they can trust humans and trying to socialize the animals

with each other as well as humans. This will help when it comes time for them to be adopted by

loving people and families. This is a long and hard process since the animals have never known

love or life outside of their cages. They don’t know how to react when they are given their first

bath or toy since they have never experienced this before. The younger the dog, usually the

easier the transition to a different life is; however, the older dogs who have formed their habits

around living in a cage often have a hard time learning a different life and trusting people.

Since these animals are use to defecating anywhere and everywhere, they do not know

how to defecate outside, and must be potty trained which can take a long time. They also do not

know what to do with toys and how to go about playing since they never had a toy or room to

play before. The dogs don’t understand what solid ground is or grass since they have never felt it

before. All these things must be learned by the dog in order to know how to react and behave in

these situations. The employees and volunteers at the shelter must be patient and move at the

pace that the dog is willing to move to be able to trust people again. They cannot force

themselves on the dog because the dog may go back into their old habits. Since puppy mill dogs

are often kept two or more to a cage, they eat very fast and tend to be protective of their food

since they also weren’t fed enough. Food is a good way to start allowing the dogs to trust you.

By giving them their food twice a day, they start to rely on you and realize that you will feed

them. Another way is just to talk to them. When passing the pen or cage they are being housed

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in, make sure to stop for a minute or two to just say hi, I love you. The animals then start to

become use to the sound of human voices in a friendly way.

When the trial is finally over and hopefully the owners were found guilty, which means

their dogs will not be returned to them and can be given up for adoption, it is important for

owners to realize that they are adopting a puppy mill dog which does require special attention at

first. They must adapt to their new home which is much bigger than anything they are used to

and most likely filled with more humans than they are used to seeing on a daily basis. The dogs

will have to be potty trained to go outside in the grass, as well as trained to walk on leash if the

owner would like to take them for walks. Most puppy mill dogs will hide for the first few days or

weeks they are brought home. As the dog’s new parents, you must be patient and go at the dog’s

own pace, introducing it to new things slowly. According to the ASPACA’s website, it is a good

idea to have a safe room or place for the dog to go when they feel frightened.

To me it is obvious that the Animal Welfare Act is not enough to stop puppy mills from

abusing and neglecting their dogs. We need to do more as a country to make puppy mills illegal,

or at least make the laws better to help protect the animals and give more severe punishment to

the operators and owners of puppy mills. The 2008 Farm Bill has an amendment stating that

puppies under the age of six months cannot be imported for the purpose of resale, which helps

regulate puppies being imported from puppy mills from other countries. In 2008, Puppy Uniform

Protection Statue was introduced to congress, but did not pass. The bill would have required all

dogs to be exercised daily outside of their cage. It also would have closed the loopholes in the

Animal Welfare Act that allows commercial breeders to not be licensed or be regulated by

selling their puppies online and directly to the public. Sadly, this bill did not pass. In 2010, they

renamed the bill The 2010 Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety Act, which stated almost the

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same thing as the prior bill. Sadly, this one did not pass either, but the votes for it were up from

2008. In 2011 they reintroduced the same act renaming it The 2011 Puppy Uniform Protection

and Safety Act which is still pending and will hopefully be passed and help puppy mill dogs

everywhere.

Many states have tried to pass stricter laws for puppy mills including Pennsylvania.

According to source watch, in Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell tried to start an initiative

back in 2007 to rid the state of puppy mills. He signed HB 2525 puppy mill bill in 2008 which

was different from the original bill, but it did change a few things. “…Dogs will have larger

cages that cannot be stacked, twice yearly vet exams (if enforced) and perhaps some form of

exercise. Flooring may not all be wire, but does not have to be solid either” (3). While this is a

start it is not enough to help the dogs stuck in puppy mills and still favors the owners of these

operations.

With 20 million dogs and cats being euthanized a year due to overcrowded shelters why

do we need puppy mills? We do not; they are cruel to the animals and unnecessary since we

already have so many animals waiting for loving homes. With The 2011 Puppy Uniform

Protection and Safety Act still pending, if this is passed, it will be the first real step to stopping

the abuse in puppy mills. No animal deserves to be stuck in a cage their entire life forced to live

in their own excrement, in a dark room, and forced to breed until they no longer can, never

knowing the tender love of a human. This is why we need to stop puppy mills and always adopt

our animals so we do not support puppy mills. If we continue trying to pass legislation against

puppy mills that make the owner’s life hard and cut into their profits, hopefully one day we will

live in a world without puppy mills.

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Works Cited

Bradley, Carol. Saving Gracie How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy

Mills. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010. Print.

Cooper, Mary H. “America’s Pampered Pets, Has our love affair with pets gone too far?”. CQ

Researcher. December 27, 1996 Volume 6, Issue 48. Web. 25 Sept. 2011.

Dog Without Vet Care. Photo. Canine-Truth. Web. 25 Nov 2011.

Garnett, Ronnie. “Taking a Bite out of Animal Crime.” Journal of Law Enforcement Technology.

2008: 35.7 Web. 25 September 2011.

“History of Puppy Mills”. Protest Puppy Mills. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.

“PA Puppy Mills”. Source watch. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.

Persky, Anna Stolley. “Their Day in Court.”. Abstract. ABA Journal 96.9 (2010): Web. 25

September 2011.

Puppy Mill Cages. Photo. October 22, 2010. Web. 25 Nov 2011

“Puppy Mill”. Wikipedia. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

“Puppy Mills”. ASPCA. Web. 27 Nov 2011.

“Puppy Mills: Definition, History, Common Locations”. Pet Meds Online. Web. 23 Nov 2011.

Singer, Peter. “Animal Liberation.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical

Thinking and Argument, with Readings. 9th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston,

MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 205-216. Print.

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Starving Dog. Photo. Canine-Truth. Web. 25 Nov 2011.