Puppy
mills are one of the worst and most heart-breaking issues of the canine world,
one that has recently been taken up by thousands of “anti-puppy mill” campaigns.
But before you add your voice to the thousands already crying out in anger,
take the time to learn a little bit about just HOW this horrific trend came
about, and what goes on behind the scenes.
Puppy mills are a result of the growing public demand in
purebreds and cross-breeds and the fact that female dogs cannot give birth to enough
standard-meeting “perfect” litters to meet the demand. Introducing THE PUPPY
MILL: offering large quantities of puppies for sale at a very cheap price, happily
supported by a public that, until recently, had no idea what was going on
behind the bars of these “new and improved” puppy-making machines.
The conditions in most puppy mills can be somewhat disturbing,
especially for dog lovers. Puppies and their mothers are locked up in cages, receiving
little - or sometimes no - human interaction at all. They are given just enough
food to get by and minimal veterinary services. Adult dogs are often kept
outside in unimaginable weather conditions and because it is a mass production establishment,
the whole thing looks disturbingly like an overpopulated prison.
Because
of the conditions in which they were raised, puppies that come from mills tend
to have more aggressive and anti-social behaviors once they are adopted or
bought by a new owner. It is quite
similar to child psychology; a child’s behavior clearly reflects the society he
or she grew up in. Even worse, if these children are abused to the point where
they are never rewarded and often punished, their tendency is to not react to positive
re-enforcement simply because they do not recognize it. The same kind of
despair and negativity is felt by the puppies in puppy mills. They become
confused, aggressive, and if not rescued and trained properly, may become a
negatively labelled “problem dog” – one that is usually abandoned, returned or
euthanized.
Thankfully,
in light of the horrors that the animal victims of such establishments have
been facing, many groups and organizations have been created simply to fight
for the rights of these dogs. There have
been hundreds upon hundreds of letter-writing campaigns, and protests and
animal groups have been gathering supporters left, right and center to stand
against the sort of inhumane treatment of the dogs and puppies in these
mills.
For
those “civilian dog owners” who want to get involved, there are many things you
can do –
> Avoid shopping at pet stores that also house a “dogs for sale”
display.
> There on online petitions to
shut down puppy mills posted daily on websites such as Care2.
> Help promote adoption by recommending it to
any friend or acquaintance looking to purchase a dog, but most importantly,
> keep yourself informed.
Remember,
it is only when we arm ourselves with the knowledge against our enemies that we
can truly learn how to defeat them
originally sourced by the Dogington Post
Keep your tails wagging
Bear's P4ws
Great story thanks for sharing.
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