Puppy Mill Problem

Puppy Mill Problem

There are around four million dogs alone taken into animal shelters here in the United States every year. Over one million of those dogs end up getting euthanized. As of 2012, the United States of America was ranked first in the entire World for having the most dogs: somewhere close to seventy-six million. The over-population of dogs is a real problem in this country. In America, two point eleven million puppies are sold every year from puppy mills, while about three million are killed in shelters because they are too full. Within the past twenty years, puppy mills have become very popular. Unlike animal shelters, puppy mills are designed to get puppy bred and sold as fast as possible. Since puppy Mills are intended for

puppies, the mother dogs are purely used for breeding and almost never survive. Even the puppies are often maltreated, receiving little to no food or water and never getting the required attention a puppy demands. This is exactly why mills and farms need to be more regulated.
Puppy mills originated the years directly following World War II.

Legend has it, some Missouri farmers looking for alternative crops to grow reacted to an increase in demand for puppies. This resulted in the development of the first commercial puppy business in America. Missouri has since been labeled the "Puppy Mill Capital of the U.S." due to its high volume of puppy mills and puppy sales in the region. As puppies, mill dogs are also often taken away from their mothers before the recommended eight to ten weeks. Many puppies were left unsocialized or exposed in existing chicken coops or rabbit hutches. In addition, veterinary care for these puppies was often overlooked because of an inability to pay. As a result, organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States began to investigate breeding kennels, leading to the passage of the Animal Welfare Act of August 24,

1966.
Mother dogs are bred at every available opportunity, and when they become useless to the breeder, they are often killed or starved to death. The environments these puppies are born into are horrible and unfit for humans, let alone newborn pups. The health and welfare of these animals is not a priority to breeders: money is. Dogs can spend most of their lives in cramped cages, left with no room to urinate, play, or exercise. Most of the time, the water and food given to the puppies is contaminated and crawling with bugs. Puppies can even be malnourished from the time they are born into these mills, until the time they are adopted out. Due to the frequently poor breeding conditions these mills, puppies bred there often suffer from health and social problems. “Puppies raised in a cramped environments shared by many other dogs become poorly socialized to other dogs and to humans. Dogs are then transported over long distances in poor conditions, sometimes resulting in animal stress and death” (Puppy Mill).
Since there are over fifteen thousand puppy mills in the United States, people argue that there would be no where else for the puppies to go.

Yes, if dogs in shelters are getting killed, then there would not be room for puppies in them either. So getting rid of puppy mills would not exactly solve the problem. However, more harm that good is currently being done with the state of puppy mills today. The ASPCA, American society for prevention of cruelty to animals, needs to set stricter regulation and requirements for puppy mills, in order to make them safer and healthier. Puppy mill owners might argue that more regulation of puppy mills is extreme and unnecessary due to the fact that making them safer and healthier would cost more money. Making modifications to mills, in order to accommodate a large number of puppies, while still allotting space for playing and going to the bathroom, are going to be pricy. However, if they cannot supply enough funds to safely house and feed all the puppies, then they should not own a puppy mill. It is completely unfair to these animals to be treated so cruelly just to make

money.
The solution is not to eliminate puppy mills altogether but rather to increase the rules and regulations for puppy farms. Legislation has passed bills such as the Animal Welfare act, which regulates some areas of the dog breeding industry, but not enough.