Puppy Mills are like Dog Factories

When you hear the expression ‘Puppy Mill’ you might imagine a few dogs at a backyard breeders or a large scale process line of pups being spewed forth.  Puppy Mills can be both or in between.  The common themes usually involve extreme confinement, and filth.  Without providing the time and dedication pups & their mothers require, dogs in these types of conditions rarely get the space and stimulation to develop into healthy animals.

From a buyer’s point of view, you would not be getting to ‘meet the parents’.  You won’t get to see the squalor commonly accompanying such an upbringing.  You possibly won’t be provided a bill of health and won’t be able to trace any genetic problems.  You won’t get a return policy if there turns out to be a serious problem.  You may not even get evidence of veterinary checks or care.  Those first 12 weeks have crucial learning elements for a puppy, helping to shape it for it’s entire life.  If the first 8 are spent cramped up in grungy conditions he’s already had a bad start.   Pups removed from their mother and litter-mates earlier than 8 weeks can have more problems still.

Dogs don’t need fancy living conditions, however they do need space to develop, to discover different textures and surfaces in an outdoor environment.  Room to explore and use their bodies in a number of ways, coordination, smells, sights etc.

Puppy mills are another term for ‘illegal breeding’.  This can be curbed by not supporting the industry by only sourcing our pets from registered breeders or from shelters.  I would not consider purchasing a pup from a pet shop until the law changes about whom can supply them ‘plus’ you being able to meet the pup parents.  Pet shops and be whom they are supplied are one major reason so many dogs end up in shelters.  There will always be people having to rehome a dog for reasons beyond their control.   That is a fact of life.  Let’s help to take pressure off our shelters, many of who are already running at capacity and relying on additional volunteer help just to get through the week.

Dogs photographed in this image are not from a puppy mill.

Leah & Angela OMeara

Hound Dog Day Care (Specialists in Dog Minding & Dog Boarding, Pet Sitting Brisbane & Doggy Day Care Brisbane)