The constant argument over puppy mills and their ways of breeding dogs in the United States is a long and debatable topic. Some people believe that puppy mills are a great and efficient way to give people the puppies that they want while making a good profit for themselves, and do not see it as selfish at all. Other people, however, are understanding that puppy mills are unsafe, unsanitary, and not at all a good way to be giving dogs the best possible life that they deserve. While both sides are argumentable, this paper will explain why puppy mills are not an okay way of breeding dogs to be supporting, and that nobody should be supporting them.

The first point to be argued is that puppy mills are only being created for a salary. According to The Puppy Mill Project, most puppy mills work for a profit when their sales could go towards purchases of new dog beds, better food, and more space for a better and more sustainable place to breed wonderful puppies. It is quite evident that puppy mills could do all three of these things far better, because according to the ASPCA article on puppy mills entitled “What is a Puppy Mill?”, when these places are not very large but there are more and more puppies each day, the storage gets small. It is most often that puppies will be found crammed with three or four other puppies in a crate, then on top of a few other crates, with more puppies stacked on top of that stack. As you may be able to tell, this can lead to puppies falling, causing serious injuries and even fatalities to occur within the tight storage of the puppies. This is neither safe, nor comfortable!

Another point to make is that dogs are living, too! Why should they not get the same opportunities that dogs from breeders, or even pet stores get? Every dog deserves to be taken in and treated with respect, which is why we need to take a stand against puppy mills! They are not doing the world any good, and puppies deserve the best! If you had to choose, would you give someone the satisfaction of breeding more and more puppies with your purchase and support to the puppy mills, or would you rather purchase from an organization you know to be trustable, with good breeders and owners for every dog and it’s life? The second option is the best. No dog should ever need to go through what dogs go through at the 10,000 puppy mills sprawled across America. It’s not fair to these dogs, whose lives count just as everyone else’s. According to the ASPCA article on puppy mills and how to prevent them, crates full of helpless puppies stack to the ceiling, and whimpers fill the room from the tiny puppies, wishing someone would take care of them properly. That is all a dog wants. A good owner who treats them properly: and it certainly does not start in an unsanitary, unsafe warehouse full of cute little puppies with the least possible amount from the owners and breeders of love, care, and all possibilities to be remotely sanitary. Puppies deserve the best. If you are thinking about adoption, choose the right path to the right puppy, and give it the right home.

Another point to think about on this side of the puppy mill debate is how the puppies get to their homes at the end of the day. Although puppy mills are not ever a good thing, if someone wants to purchase or adopt a dog from a puppy mill, they are usually looking for the best puppy mill to adopt their dog from (if they choose to adopt from a puppy mill). Reading from The Puppy Mill Project’s article, This could mean that they need to travel a long distance, or simply have the dog delivered to them. The latter option is usually a high- ended option. If the soon-to-be dog owner decides to have the puppy brought to them, it is far worse than it seems. The puppy will be forced to endure a rough trip, usually on a truck stacked full to the brim with puppies all heading to separate families. If the puppies expected to be released from their harsh lives, they were wrong. These trips can be up to as long as 12 hours, and for the dogs, not a drop of water or a bite of food is to be seen. Most people do not seem to understand the true labor these dogs go through, and the fact that it is not ok.

The last point to argue is about the comparison between dogs bred in pet shops or by breeders and dogs bred randomly at puppy mills. Dogs bred at puppy mills are usually found in harsh living conditions, with barely any proper treatment compared to the dogs and puppies living in pet stores or being bred by licensed breeders. In a side by side comparison of puppy mill dogs to pet store dogs, the pet store dogs are much more pampered and well treated compared to puppy mill dogs. In fact, most people running puppy mills do not usually have a proper license to breed puppies legally. According to The Humane Society website: “When responders arrived on scene, they found 295 puppies and dogs living in unsafe and unsanitary conditions with untreated medical conditions.” While this fact may seem unsettling, this also means that all 295 of these puppies were found and rescued. It is good to know that there are good people in this world. On the other hand, however, this is just proof of how little people take it into consideration that these are the real lives of dogs, and people put them to waste every day for profit. It is not a good job. Why would anybody want to get paid for harming dogs, when you can get paid much more for supporting dogs and their lives? It is a much better job to help dogs rather than harm them, and it will make you a better person in the end.

Overall, puppy mills are a bad way to breed dogs because they are unhealthy, unsafe, and are not giving dogs the good life they deserve. Most dog owners will tell you like it is: a dog is a man’s best friend. Dogs can make you feel better, help find the trouble, or just be a good friend. They clearly do not need to be treated in these such harsh ways that we have all seen on commercials, the news, or any article or advertisement about puppy mills. Within the over 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S. alone, puppy mills are becoming a spreading issue nation wide. Puppy mills are breeding at a fast rate, and the living conditions are harsh and unnecessary. In comparison, dogs at the puppy mills are being bred and treated horribly next to dogs from a pet store or a licensed breeder, and it is terrifying to see the harsh living conditions that these dogs are forced to put up with. It is possible to change this, and remove some of the higher numbers of puppy mills that populate the United States. When a family wishes to add a dog to their family, they make sure that wherever they want to adopt the dog from is a sustainable place. Another thing to always think about, no matter where the dog comes from, is that the family knows how to properly treat any dog that they take in. This solution can result in many happy families, and the constantly growing number of puppies bred over each year at the 10,000 puppy mills in America to shrink more and more each day. So now that you know the dangers of puppy mills, what can you do to put them to a stop?