Elizabeth Anderson sums a puppy mill well in this excerpt from her book The Powerful Bond Between People and Pets: Our Boundless Connection to Companion Animals:
“We may not know how many there are, but we know what they do, and Puppy Haven Kennel, which is north of Madison, WI, is typical of their sorry operations. It is a ‘dog compound’ that sells 3,000 puppies a year. Nearly 1,000 dogs at a time are housed in a series of long buildings, cordoned off by chain link fencing. One whelping house has 4,3000 square feet filled with 400 dogs, most of them puppies, in 120 elevated cages. Fourteen employees, some part-time and family members, care for the animals. That means one person to care for around 115 puppies each day, if you only count the puppies.”
The conditions these dogs have to live in are deplorable. They are kept in small kenels, there’s overcrowding, nonexistent veterinary care, poor quality food and water and in some instances none at all. The dogs are not protected from the elements or groomed. The “breeders” inhumanely kill (often shot, left for dead in trash cans or tied to bricks and drowned) dogs that are no longer high producing.
“It’s estimated that 4 million dogs are bred in puppy mills every year.”
If these words don’t paint enough of a picture for you on what happens to these dogs maybe these photos will. They are tame compared to the horrors that go on. If you’re really interested type in “puppy mill dogs” in your google picture search and see what comes up.
Daily living conditions for a puppy mill dog
- A dog after being rescued from a puppy mill
Unite Against Puppy Mills 