Hello again, let's talk about something depressing!

Why, hello! I have a blog! About animals! Right.

Sorry for my long absence, it's been a hectic few weeks. But I'm back! And sad to say that today's discussion is about puppy mills. Sigh. I look forward to the day when I don't have to think about puppy mills anymore because they no longer exist...

Anyway.

I am on a bunch of animal welfare-related email lists and I must say that between the attention puppy mills are getting among animal activists groups and the rising number of mainstream media reports on them (and the busts!) I am hopeful we can get some more legislation involved in the regulation of dog breeding. I mean, puppy mills are B-A-D. They are filthy, disgusting, inhumane, cramped, and often the dogs are sick and not vaccinated. Which, as a consumer - even if you don't particularly care about puppy mills - you should be pissed off about.

Have you ever bought a puppy from a pet store? If so, how was your dog's health? Because often that is how puppy mills come to light: after angry customers report buying sick puppies from an organization and after further investigation it becomes apparent that said puppies were born and raised in disgusting conditions with inadequate veterinary care for the parent dogs and the puppies. Wow, run-on sentence much? But really, it makes me so mad!

Defenseless animals are completely vulnerable to whatever kind of care we humans are willing to provide. And keeping the parent dogs in squalid conditions is bound to have ill effects on their offspring (which are then purchased for hundreds or even thousands of dollars by unsuspecting people who want a [healthy, duh] family pet). I know the last dogs my family bought from a pet store (yes, I KNOW, bad Austin!, but I was in 6th grade and didn't know better yet, I promise) were VERY sick. They were sister lab-dalmatian mixes and had worms so bad that when they shat it was nothing but a squirming pile of white parasites. Gross, no? We had no proof they came from a puppy mill, but it was obvious that their care had been lacking until they came to us. But don't worry, they both recovered after some medical attention and grew into happy, loving dogs.

Also for the consumer to think about is what ELSE the people who are running puppy mills have their fingers in. Are you inadvertently supporting puppy mills by buying, say, organic milk? Also, if an organization (or farmer, in this case) thinks it is okay to run a puppy mill, what do they think is okay to do with the milk you are buying? In my opinion, being an irresponsible producer is not often concentrated on just one product if you know what I'm saying.

It's come out in recent months that a puppy mill in Lancaster County, Pa., called B&R Puppies, also supplies organic milk to Horizon Organics, a popular brand found anywhere from Jewel-Osco to Dominick's to Whole Foods Market. And if you know anything about Whole Foods (I can't speak for the others) you know that animal welfare is of the utmost importance to them. Here is an update on the Newsweek article "A (Designer) Dog's Life", which solicited a wonderfully supportive response from Horizon Organics. Upon receiving word that Newsweek was about to publicly announce that Horizon buys milk from a puppy mill farm, they immediately sent out an inspector who reported that dogs were indeed being kept in filth. Horizon suspended the farmer, John Stoltzfus, at the urging of Whole Foods. Stoltzfus has since stopped his puppy mill and has begun supplying milk to Horizon again as of early July.

My point of telling you all this is that WE HAVE THE POWER. I know it's cheesy, but as consumers we do have the power to choose which organizations to support. Part of that power is knowing when to lean harder on an organization in order to stop terrible things from happening, like the continuation of puppy mills. If you suspect that puppy mills are behind the scenes at a store you love, write them a letter. Get a petition started. Get the media involved (that'll scare 'em). Demand that they stop their relationship with sources who condone inhumane treatment of animals. It can be done; just look at Whole Foods Market.