Since Puppy Mill Awareness Day was yesterday here are 10 quick facts about Puppy Mills:
- Missouri is the state with the largest puppy mill population. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of puppy mills in any county in the United States. Because of this they have received the nickname, “Puppy Mill capital of the East”.
- There are an estimated 4,000 puppy mills in the United States and they produce more than 500,000 puppies a year.
- Puppy Mills began after World War II when farmers in the Midwest and South were struggling with failing farms. Breeding puppies was considered a guaranteed way to make money and was much easier than planting and harvesting crops.
- Those adorable puppies you see at the mall do come from puppy mills. If you ask the staff they will tell you that they are shipped in from breeders in the south, but they are 100% lying to you!
- These puppies are bred very poorly and sick dogs are not removed from the breeding pools. This means that a dog with diseases that should not be bred will keep reproducing sick animals. These dogs can have genetic health issues such as: heart disease, kidney disease, epilepsy, deafness, blood disorders, musculoskeletal diseases, eye problems and respiratory disorders.
- Dogs who grow up in puppy mills do not receive any love or human companionship at all. Most animals spend their whole lives in a small dirty cage and never receive any medical checkups. Most of these dogs never get to experience the outdoors.
- Female dogs are bred at every heat. They are bred so often that they become ill and die within a few years. Many puppies never make it out of the facility because of physical problems or illnesses.
- The average puppy mill has between 65 to 75 animals housed in small hutch style cages.
- Most dogs bred from Puppy Mills are not fully purebreds and owners of these mills will lie about lineage.
- You can help fight Puppy Mills by never buying from a puppy store and for speaking out and spreading the word about them. Read more about helping fight puppy mills on the ASPCA website.
