Puppy mill exposed

There was a lot of buzz about the Petland show on Animal Planet Monday night. Facebook was cluttered with "watch it" statements on many of the dog groups. The show aired on the Animal Planet channel; the puppy mill link to the huge pet store chain Petland was exposed. I made a point of watching; was it going to contain factual impact or was it basically an attempt from the waiving popularity of the HSUS to look good?

After watching the show I gave myself a day and a half to ponder the content. Now that I've thought about what I saw I can write about it. Obviously Animal Planet wanted the ratings; correct? As far as HSUS, Petland and the puppy mills; this is my take on the show. Empty. There was live footage of a young guy making the rounds; trying to get into the millers places to get some video footage. He continued throughout his adventure to tell the audience; that's us, how dangerous this was. There were a few glimpses of millers and their set ups; nothing that you can't see online with a quick search.

They had a few conversations between the investigator and the millers that were disturbing; and to people who really don't know that this is going on, those people would have hopefully seen the light. Petland is a Franchise and one owner was standing his ground that they do not buy from millers and that their puppies are happy and healthy. And then he claimed that they were "at least healthy enough to go home." The show interviewed several owners of puppies that had been sick; they used one child and her love of her puppy to drive the point home. They also used images of these puppies in little incubators at the vet office.

So what was the outcome of the show? Hmmmmm; at the end they said that there was a definite link from Petland to the millers; no sh*t. They said that they are hoping that Petland will stop buying from millers; I'm thinking they won't. The HSUS got some nice footage; are they doing anything with it? They did not say that they were prosecuting anyone; they stated that they hoped that Petland would stop buying from these people.

I think the show did nothing to help the dogs. Maybe; just maybe someone will stop and think before going into one of these big Petland stores and purchasing a puppy. But from experience I doubt it. Even after Oprah's big show on puppy mills the pet store at our mall is always packed with future puppy buyers. There is no reason at this time that anyone could say they didn't know; not after all the shows on the subject. They know; they just take the easy road and turn a blind eye. Also putting false blind trust in the young clerk claiming that these puppies don't come from a mill.

I'm telling you that all pet store puppies come from millers. No ethical breeder sells their puppies to a pet store, bottom line. YES; they all come from Puppy mills. The only answer to stopping this is to stop buying. The ones who own and run puppy mills are horrendous people (I have a difficult time even calling them people); they care nothing for the dogs. Dogs to them are merchandise and nothing more. The facilities are typically far from their home so that they can lead their life separate from all those noisy dogs. They care only about the almighty dollar; that's it, that's all.

These mill dogs live their life in a small cage; maybe fed, often not. They might get a bit of water but they get no human companionship, no love, no care. These dogs spend their life making money for the people who house them. The ones that run these places are cold as stone; there is no compassion. If the dog isn't producing they are either left to die in a cage or euthanized. No dog should spend it's life in a cage pumping out puppies for the brokers. I do not care if a cage is clean or not; there are a lot of new and upcoming "commercial" breeders out there boasting about their beautiful breeding facilities. STOP; DOGS SHOULD NEVER LIVE IN A CAGE, no matter if the cage is clean or filthy. Dogs should live in a home with a family.

The show gave us a reality check; a view into what is going on. No action was taken; we need action, we need to support those who will take action. DO NOT BUY FROM PET STORES; DO NOT BUY PUPPIES ONLINE FROM THESE PLACES THAT LIST THEIR PUPPIES. Pages and pages of puppies to buy from, pick your puppy, use paypal and they ship them to you. THIS IS A MILL; they just have an online store front instead of a pet store to sell their goods. Take a stand; don't set foot in a store that sells puppies, our dogs deserve at least this simple act from us.