Should Puppy Mills Be Banned

Imagine you are buying your first puppy. You have been waiting for this day for a very long time and now you finally get to have a puppy. You see a fluffy little puppy and immediately know, that this is the one you want, but this puppy’s backstory is anything but pretty because this puppy is from a puppy mill. A place where puppies are born into the worst conditions possible and suffer for most of their lives until unsuspecting owners come and buy them. “It’s estimated 4 million dogs are bred in puppy mills every year,”(hubpages.com). That means 4 million puppies suffer this kind of fate every single year. Therefore, puppy mills should be banned in the U.S.

Firstly, the treatment of puppies in puppy mills is horrible. The parent dogs are only kept to breed other dogs, and the breeders never care about the

condition that they are in,”...the parent dogs in desperate shape: blinded by cataracts and corneal ulcers; their jaws half gone or missing entirely after their teeth had rotted away. Some were so feeble they couldn’t stand erect; their paws were urine-scalded and their wrists were deformed from squatting on wire their entire lives,”(rollingstone.com). And, ever since they were puppies they were deprived of things that they should have had growing up,”..parent dogs who’d likely never seen sunlight or spent a day outside this toxic room,”(rollingstone.com). Also, since the puppies have also been deprived of baths and veterinary help, other animals take up residence there as well,” These unsanitary living conditions attract bug and rodents leading to infectious diseases,”(greenplanet.com). The treatment these puppies receive is very inhumane and quite horrible to see.
Secondly, puppy mills have some of the most deplorable conditions that damage the puppies mentally and physically.

Since they live in such horrible conditions it is no surprise that it damages the puppies. Afterward, they end up having a lot of illnesses that go untreated by vets,”...a common injury found in puppy mills are overgrown toenails..Dogs that are well-cared for in shelters and homes have their nails trimmed on a regular basis, and regular exercise also wears them down. In puppy mills, long nails can grow or get get caught around the wire, trapping the dog, or they can grow painfully back into the dog’s skin..”(onegreenplanet.org). Similarly, they get affected mentally,” ..Most of them are bred far too early, before it is safe. Not only is this stressful on their bodies, but it also causes immense emotional stress. Consequently,though the mothers do get to nurse their babies, the weaning process is generally forced too soon, causing “emotional trauma to both the mother dog and the puppies as well as health problems in the puppies..this trauma can cause a whole host of behavioral issues from shyness, aggression, fear, and

anxiety,”(onegreenplanet.org).
Finally, people should try and help others to find and close puppy mills. Some say that this costs a lot of money, but dogs give us something even more valuable than money, love. In fact, dogs have been with humans since,”dogs first crossed the Siberian land bridge and set foot in human encampments in North America, they have been much more than pets and companions to us – they made life tenable in this primal place. They chased off wolves and bears while we slept, caught and retrieved the game we ate, and dined on the garbage we left behind. Over the course of 10 millennia, a bond was forged between species that hunkered together for survival,”(onegreenplanet.org). But, instead of giving them the same love and devotion they give us, some people instead,” Death is all too common on puppy mills. Many sick and untreated dogs die in their cages. Mother dogs, who can no longer breed, are killed in a variety of ways. Because they no longer profitable, puppy mill owners kill them. They do it themselves, often on their property, by starving, drowning, shooting, beating, or burying the dogs alive,”(onegreenplanet.org).
In conclusion, puppy mills should be banned in the U.S because, of the puppies have to live in disgusting conditions, and because their mental and physical health are greatly affected. So the next time you pick your forever dog remember these puppies’ backstories and give them the same love and devotion they deserve.