Define 'Puppy-Mill'
By showpup
@showpup (232)
United States
July 20, 2009 10:59am CST
Everyone's definition of puppy mill is different. I thought it would make for an enlightening discussion here on mylot to discuss what the term 'puppy-mill' means to us.
For me, personally, I think there is no such thing as a puppy mill. There are ethical breeders and there are non-ethical breeders. There are responsible breeders and irresponsible breeders. The term 'puppy-mill' was coined by animal rights extremists such as PETA and HSUS and if you do your homework, the people who coined this term, very literally mean EVERYONE who breeds dogs. It's their term for dog breeder, good or bad! They just figured that term sounded so much more profitable as, after all, they are all about pushing buttons to make money.
They say that dog breeders are only in it for the money while they rake in millions upon millions of dollars and never send any of that money to support the animal shelters unless it benefits them media wise. Of course, they aren't above killing innocent animals, either.
Do you believe in the word 'puppy-mill' and what does it mean to you?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@Mentesimples (40)
• Portugal
20 Jul 09
My description of a puppy-mill matches entirely the one OpinionatedLady gave us. It's true that we can separate responsible from irresponsible breeders but, in my opinion puppy-mills are so extremely brutal, irresponsible and unethical that they do deserve a category of their own. And it is also important to discriminate what makes a breeder a responsible one, to that matter.
A responsible breeder:
- cares for the health of his animals
- carefully chooses only healthy animals to cross with his own
- provides the best conditions to his gestating or lactating females and their puppys
- respects the natural cycles of the female, only allowing her to become pregnant at the right time of year
- respects more the well being of his animals than his own profit.
These are just a few topics that a responsible breeder has to achieve, in my opinion. A breeder that, for instance, does not respect the natural cycles of the female, hormone stimulating her estrus and not allowing her to rest and gain weight between litters is, therefore, an irresponsible breeder. But only a puppy-mill owner submits his animals to such a great deal of pain and suffering, keeping them in overcrowded small compartments, non-sanitized and living on their own urine and feces, with no human contact whatsoever, until their shipped out to the window of some pet shop. That's my opinion on puppy-mills. Profit is the main objective, the rest is just dirty business.
@OpinionatedLady (5965)
• United States
21 Jul 09
Hear hear! And to add to that a respectable breed knows better then to cross breed a sire with it's off spring as well as the off spring whelped from the first in appropriate litter. There a breeders who use the same sire on generations of it's own off spring bring about serous flaws. Profit is the main idea and once people find what they believe is an easy way they run with it.
2 people like this
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
9 Aug 09
I think that a puppy mill is a non-ethical breeder. For me these people don't deserve to be called "breeders" as "breeders" in my opinion, are people who breed honestly, and legitimately, taking care of the animals, and not exploiting them. A puppy mill is a place that exploits animals.
@windymyre (210)
• United States
10 Aug 09
To me the word(s) puppy mill mean a place where dogs are kept only to have litter after litter of puppies for the monetary gain of the dog owners. These dogs are not pets, but tools used to make money. Often the dogs have so many litters of puppies that they are not producing healthy off-spring. I know a few people who do breed their dogs to make some money, but they only do it 2 or 3 times, not as a way to make a living. I think it is really sad that dogs are used in this manner & are not living in loving homes as a family member.
