Puppy Mills 2/3

A puppymill is generally considered to be a large-scale dog breeding operation that wholesales dogs to retail establishments, or to middlemen who then sell to retail establishments. Puppymills keep animals in small cages (similar to large chicken crates) for most of their natural lives. The bitches are bred on their first heat (which usually occurs around 6 months), and on every heat thereafter, until they die naturally (or are diposed of). Conditions at puppymills vary, although even in the best of circumstances, these establishments are abusive to dogs.
Puppymills are dirty, smelly, and house dogs in cramped quarters. Because of the conditions, the dogs may fight each other, develop neurotic behavior (such as obsessive licking, jumping, spinning, cage pacing, etc), and become susceptible to illness and injury. Oftentimes, dogs with wounds aquired during kennel fights or under other circumstances, will be left untreated. The cages in which the dogs are kept have wire bottoms. The dogs are forced to spend their entire lives in these cages, with little or no human contact, exercise,health care, and training.

Mills house a large number of breeding dogs, sometimes numbering well into the hundreds. The only job of these animals is to produce puppies. The puppies are in turn sold directly to pet shops or to middlemen--called brokers--across the country. The puppies are shipped in cramped, crowded trucks, at a very young age. Many times puppies become sick or injured during the trek to their destination or even die. Damaged/ill puppies are disposed of. The ones who are lucky enough to survive the ordeal end up at the pet shops, or in the hands of brokers who then sell the animals to pet shops.Puppymilling is big business in the United States, with annual grosses amounting to millions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspects and licenses mills, but their standards for licensing are too low for the tastes of many knowledgeable dog people, including veterinarians, behaviorists, and trainers. In addition, many times violations of code are ignored, and disciplinary action is rarely taken against those mill operators who are deemed to be in violation of code. Dead, dying, and sick dogs, filthy grounds, and cramped cages may be found even at those mills that are USDA licensed. The mills do not get inspected enough, nor are millers given incentive to clean up their act. The mills that are not licensed by the USDA are even worse, as hard to imagine as that may be.

Where do the puppymill pups end up ?

Puppymill pups ultimately end up in pet shops. Those cute, sweet, innocent puppies you see in the window had their beginnings in a mill, probably in a situation much like what is described above. Most likely, their parents are still locked in cramped, dirty crates, forced to produce still more dogs for the industry.
Pet shops claim that their dogs come from breeders, that their animals are purchased from USDA licensed producers, and that the dogs are AKC registered (or other dog registries, some not reputable). The effectiveness of these claims depends largely upon the naivete' of the general public. Ask if the animals come from mills, and you will get an emphatic, "No!". But this of course is not true. The employees of these stores are coached on what to say to customers, and many times are not even aware of the truth behind the puppies they sell.

Puppy Mills 1/3

Most people don’t want to support animal cruelty; that's a given. In the United States, people have particularly strong feelings about cruelty towards companion animals who many consider to be integral parts of their family. Yet, despite the desire to protect our animals, many people still unwittingly support puppy mills.

What is a puppy mill?

A puppy mill is a dog-breeding facility with the primary goal of making money. To maximize profits, some breeders make dogs suffer in deplorable conditions. The puppies bred at these facilities are then either shipped to pet stores around the country, or sold directly through newspaper and online ads to the public.
Once the puppies leave the mills, they are cleaned up and put up for sale at pet stores for anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. The breeding dogs aren’t nearly as lucky. They are kept at the puppy mill to have litter after litter, often living in small cages and lacking clean water, regular veterinary care and socialization. Some mills may have 10 breeding dogs while others may have 1,000, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, better known as the ASPCA.

And because of these inhumane conditions, the ASPCA warns that puppy mill dogs have commonly been found to have health issues like epilepsy, heart disease, kidney disease, musculoskeletal disorders, endocrine disorders, blood disorders, deafness, eye problems, respiratory disorders, giardia, parvovirus, distemper, kennel cough, mange, fleas, parasites, chronic diarrhea and more. That can mean sick dogs and high veterinary bills, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

How is this legal?

The ASPCA gives insight to the barely there regulations in place to protect dogs. “Under the federal Animal Welfare Act, it is completely legal to keep a dog in a cage only six inches longer than the dog in each direction, with a wire floor, stacked on top of another cage, for the dog's entire life. Conditions that most people would consider inhumane, or even cruel, are often totally legal.”
Some states have additional laws on the books to try to put a stop the puppy mill trade, but because facilities can vary from ultra small to huge, it’s hard to define exactly what a puppy mill looks like.

How can you avoid buying a dog that came from a mill?

Puppy mills count on the public not asking too many questions, and on pet stores that largely don’t mind acquiring their dogs from mills. Like the mills themselves, many pet stores want to turn a profit rather than looking out for the best interest of the dogs. Since there's no
legal definition of a puppy mill, the ASPCA warns that unscrupulous pet store owners can get around the issue by saying that their puppies all come from licensed USDA breeders or local breeders. Since all breeders who sell their dogs to pet stores are required to be licensed by the USDA, that’s not any kind of guarantee the dogs come from a reputable breeder.
The ASPCA explains, “The fact is, responsible breeders would never sell a puppy through a pet store because they want to screen potential buyers to ensure that the puppies are going to good homes.”

Where should I get a dog if I shouldn’t go to a pet store?

The big animal protection organizations like the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States recommend heading to your local shelter or rescue organization to adopt a dog rather than buying from a pet store. Many people aren’t aware that purebreds end up in shelters just like any other dogs. Plus, there are rescues that specialize in certain breeds.

SEE THE DOG FACTORY VIDEO BY BBC HERE

If you're determined to go to a private breeder, make sure you visit that breeder in person at the facility so you can see the operation for yourself.

People who talk to their pets are actually genius

Pet owners around the globe, if not all then most of them, have daily conversations with their pets, how they’d talk to normal human beings. They wish their pets good morning, ask them if they’re hungry and if they wish to go for a walk, almost as if their pets are understanding them and will talk back any second now.
Do you talk to your pets like you talk to your friends? Be it a dog, cat, parrot or a guinea pig. If so, we’re sure you’ve heard things like “Are you nuts?”, “You’ve gone cuckoo” and seen people get weirded out by your behavior.
Maybe you, too, sometimes wonder why you are the way you are. Why you prefer the company of your pets more than humans. Have you really gone cuckoo?
But, what if we tell you that your habit of talking to your pets, plants or any inanimate object, for that matter, is a sign of intelligence, rather than stupidity? You’re not a crazy cat lady, you’re just smart. The act is called anthropomorphizing, which is, the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. 
To quote Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago, - “Historically, anthropomorphizing has been treated as a sign of childishness or stupidity, but it’s actually a natural byproduct of the tendency that makes humans uniquely smart on this planet,”

The ability to perceive non-human things as a human is called anthropomorphism. Usually, when kids do it, we find it cute but when adults do it, it’s frowned upon and seen as something weird. Anthropologist experts believe that seeing human traits in a non-human thing or an object, is actually a sign of intelligence.
According to a study conducted in Harvard, in 2011, A group of people was shown pictures of baby animals and adult animals, to which most of the subjects chose the baby animals, and agreed that they would give them human names and would refer to them while using proper gender terms.
Not only that, if they could own a baby animal, they would name him and talk to him, like they talk to humans. No other living being beside humans has such an ability to identify human behavior in inanimate objects.

Even though naming your pets and inanimate objects are the most popular way of anthropomorphizing, it’s not the only one. Giving your pets character traits, like humans, also comes under anthropomorphism. Calling your dog your “baby”, your cat as a “grumpy old man” isn’t you being weird, it’s the intelligence talking.
Human brains are complicated beyond anyone’s explanation. Years of research and scientific studies, yet, we still are not sure what all our mind is capable of. Trying to find human characteristics in inanimate objects such as cars, pens, toys or anything at all is a sign of your brain’s creativity.

Anthropomorphism not only affects humans, it also affects our pets. Studies have shown that, if you keep talking to your dogs, they learn to differentiate between words and learn your gestures. These animals have been human companions for years and have evolved accordingly.
When you talk to your dogs, they can understand your words and the emotions situated with them. Cats, however, don’t understand your words, as much as dogs do, but they too have the ability to recognize their owner’s voice and commands. In fact cats use over 16 different ways to communicate.

There are three primal reasons why humans try to anthropomorphize an object: The inanimate object looks like it has a face, we’d like to be friends with it, or we can’t explain its unpredictable behavior and we’re curious. By understanding how each of these triggers works, we can understand why this tendency is both essential to human survival and intelligence.

Our brain gets confused when it sees an object with eyes and tries to perceive it as human. Put toy eyes on a fridge and you’ll want to talk to it, or at least name it! No, you’re not a delusional psycho, it’s basic science and as social animals, we wish to talk to everybody we can and befriend them, it’s in our nature.
To summarize, talking to your pets is very normal and natural, there’s nothing wrong with you. If anything, you’re smarter than those who do not talk to their pets as their brains aren’t functioning how they normally should!

Joanne Kiking - for Animalix