When you buy your puppy in a pet store, probably most of you don’t question where the cute little fluffball came from. You might assume that the pet store buys from breeders or maybe a local family had a surprise litter.

Pet store puppies are rarely bred by reputable breeders, they are sourced from puppy mills. Most people won’t have heard of a puppy mill. Soon, you will probably wish you hadn’t.

Puppy mills are canine intensive breeding plants, where literally thousands of puppies are bred to supply the pet industry. It’s a sad life for a puppy mill puppy, from the very start.

Puppy mills pups tend to suffer from poor health, temperament issues and hereditary conditions. At the mill, they are taken away from their mother before the recommended weaning time of 10 weeks, therefore not receiving the right socialization and benefits of being fed by their mother.

Poor health is contributed to by a lack of decent food and water, terrible cramped living conditions and overcrowding; and there is little chance for them to experience positive human interaction before being transported to the pet store

It is responsible when breeding puppies to take into account any diseases a breed is prone to, and to carefully select dogs to mate, otherwise you end up with a walking wagging time bomb. Good breeder will make proper vet care, immunization and health a priority.

They should be able to provide a breeding line for the dogs, papers and any other information necessary for looking after the puppy. In addition, pedigree dogs should come with a guarantee, each breeder will differ on this, so check your small print, but the guarantee should not require you to give back the puppy if he falls ill.

There is no such ethos at the Puppy Mill, where money talks fast and loud. They breed dogs regardless of health, disease or family history, which is a recipe for disaster.

The mothers may have the worst of it, as they must carry puppies every time they are on heat, and there is no escape from the poor nutrition, lack of medical care, housing or breeding cycles. When the females are no longer useful, death or abandonment generally awaits them.

There is legislation in place but puppy mills still exist. Consumers can help stamp out these intensive dog breeding plants buy only buying puppies from reputable breeders ( visit the premises, get recommendations), consider adopting ( this is the most humane way to stop the industry and to help rescue a dog who has been abandoned), refuse to buy from pet stores ( many of them do not know or mislead their customers as to the origin of the puppies).

It is imperative that you don’t buy a puppy from a mill to rescue him. It is creating a demand for another puppy to be bred into a life of suffering. Contact the appropriate bodies, and demand they take action.

Puppy mills only exist because of the end consumer, so buy puppies responsibly and ask some tough questions the next time you see puppies for sale.