Puppy Mills and Backyard Breeders Many people don’t know where their puppies really come from. When looking for a pet, most people go to a pet store, not knowing the history of the animals there. These pups come from very dark places called ‘puppy mills.’ According to the ASPCA website, a puppy mill is a “large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs.” Puppy mills should be banned because of the inhumane treatment of innocent animals and terrible quality of pets that they produce. In the beginning, puppy breeding started when farmers in the Midwest United States were faced with crop failures in the late 1940’s. The USDA began promoting that farmers raise puppies like a cash crop because it required less labor, and puppies weren’t as vulnerable to the changes in environment. The farmers already had buildings on their property that were easily converted to puppy cages. When more puppies were being produced, puppy stores began popping up around the country. Sears Roebuck used to sell puppies in their pet departments then eventually created stand-alone puppy stores, which then flourished (Georgia ASPCA). Afterwards, puppy brokers began bringing the puppy mill business to a new level. This person, the broker, would deliver puppies …show more content…
Death is very common in puppy mills for quite a few different reasons. Some of these are due to the terrible living conditions, others are because sick dogs are never taken care of, so they die in their cages. The ‘mother dogs’ are killed in many different ways if they can no longer breed, since they are no longer profitable. “They do it themselves, often on their property, by starving, drowning, shooting, beating, or burying the dogs alive” (An Inside Look into The Dark Walls of Puppy Mills). Deformed and seriously ill puppies are killed instantly, according to the Georgia