Puppy Mills: Misery FOR Sale - inhumane treatment of dogs and puppies in so-called 'puppy mills'

Animals, Sept, 2000 by Pamela H. Sacks

The sad faces peered from plastic crates stacked four high and crammed into the back of the broken-down truck in Tennessee. The air conditioner was not working, and the temperature inside was 100 degrees. A mechanic heard whimpering and discovered that 150 purebred puppies constituted the vehicle's cargo. Four were dead; the survivors, traumatized and suffering from heat exhaustion, could barely hold up their heads.

When a picture of this scene appeared in newspapers last spring, it gave people across the country a glimpse of something that many would prefer to ignore: the underbelly of the multimillion-dollar commercial dog-breeding industry. The animals were the property of a Missouri man who was shipping them to pet stores to be displayed and sold. The photo would become a symbol of the failure to stamp out puppy mills, the abusive dog operations that continue to proliferate in various states, often in the rural Midwest.

Although it has been nearly 30 years since an amendment to the federal Animal Welfare Act imposed minimum standards on wholesale breeders, the fact remains that life is still brutal in the mills, whose owners sometimes refer to themselves as "dog farmers." Eyewitness accounts describe animals being fed maggot-infested food and confined to chicken coops filled with their own waste. The pups, suffering from skin infections and open sores, receive no veterinary care. Kennel cough, diarrhea, parasites, and chronic ear infections are routine. Moreover, the puppies have not been socialized and tend to act in disturbing and aggressive ways, making them poor risks as pets. They are touted as purebred, but their lineage is often haphazard, resulting in eye and heart abnormalities, hip dysplasia, and other genetically linked health problems.

Life is miserable for the puppies but still worse for their mothers. "They are kept in tiny cages their entire lives and receive no care and are inadequately nourished," says Dug Hanbicki, a companion animal specialist for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The dogs are bred during first heat and every six months thereafter until their reproductive capacity drops at the age of four or five; then they are killed, asserts Hanbicki and others working for reform.

The continuation of such appalling conditions is cause for anger and consternation across a wide spectrum of animal lovers. But after all these years of fighting back, advocates have come to the conclusion that there is no simple solution. Action is needed at every level, they say, from the top echelons of government to the eager buyer at the suburban mall.

Among the factors they cite:

* The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is charged with monitoring the way animals are bred and shipped around the country, but does not have enough money to do the job.

* Too often state authorities are reluctant to aggressively regulate and police commercial breeders. Higher standards of care and stricter enforcement are viewed as infringements on the rights of farmers and others--including middlemen and shop owners--who sometimes wield considerable clout.

* Americans continue to be influenced by the entertainment industry and its occasionally misleading depictions of dog breeds. Golden retrievers, eternally calm and loving, romp through fields in TV commercials; a movie such as 101 Dalmatians can send viewers scrambling for those delightful spotted animals, difficult as they can be at times.

* With fewer people at home during the day and society's growing intolerance of dogs, cats have emerged as the pet of choice in some areas. The reduction in dogs has meant that fewer puppies come into shelters. Still, studies show that 75 percent of those in the market for a canine companion prefer to get a puppy, and a wide selection is readily available at pet stores. "We used to take in 25,000 puppies a year in the 1970s," explains Carter Luke, vice president of humane services for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals/American Humane Education Society (MSPCA/AHES). "Last year, 1,500 puppies came into our shelters. That change is reflected all along the East Coast and in some areas of the West Coast. Dog populations have dropped. Someone who wants a young dog has fewer choices."

These circumstances set the stage for mills, even the worst among them, to flourish, Luke and other experts say. Because of a short reproductive cycle and other factors, their operators can respond quickly to market changes by mass-producing the most popular breeds. The puppies sell for as little as $50 each to a broker, who in turn wholesales them to pet stores. Shoppers are then drawn to the cute and cuddly puppies cavorting or snoozing in clean, neatly stacked cages. The animals can come with certificates of pedigree from the American Kennel Club (AKC), giving consumers the impression they are of the highest quality in breeding, health, and temperament. All too often, a shopper impulsively pays an exorbitant sum for a puppy, with little or no real knowledge of its origins. It is only later that problems arise.