If these puppy mills could be shut down, we would not have the overpopulation of dogs in this country that we have now. Puppy mill people are in the business purely for the money. They have no love for the animals that they use and abuse. This country has an abysmal record when it comes to animal welfare.

I agree with Anne on puppy mills.
Puppy mills are appalling and I don't see why they can't be shut down, especially since we consider our country to be one of dog/animal lovers.

It seems the people with all the money buying expensive puppies & kittens either don't know or don't care where their animal comes from and that shelter animals are dying due to a lack of good homes.

We also need to spay & neuter our companion animals.

All my animal companions were either from the shelter or strays and all were wonderful, loving animals.

Thanks for spreading the word on this issue, which does not get enough coverage, considering what a huge business it is in various parts of the country.

I don't know if you will print this part but on the other side of this same issue are the dogs dying every day in shelters. There is a site DogsInDanger.com that posts dogs from shelters all over the country that are going to be euthanized if they don't get adopted. I believe that the over 4 million dogs euthanized in shelters every year is an end result of the puppy mills taking away potential homes for the shelter animals. I'm a firm believer in the adage "If you buy, a shelter dog/cat will die."

Yes, the people who discard their animals to shelters are responsible, too, but, nevertheless, not nearly enough homes are available for the shelter animals due to the countless puppy mill animals being bought.

One more thing, there are cat versions of puppy mills, too, with squalid conditions.

Maryland is also becoming a puppymill state, in large measure because Pennsylvania cracked down on its longstanding problems with Amish and Mennonite breeders.
Now Amish breeders are moving into the rural areas of Maryland's Eastern Shore and setting up puppymills, although so far they do not seem to be as large as some of the ones HSUS found in Virginia.
We need stronger state regulations in Maryland. The current state laws are a joke.

Again I say the same thing I said when BSL was coming to Baltimore County: Control breeding and you will have less dog attacks as well as less homeless dogs. I'm in favor of a mandatory spay and neuter law except for those who have passed rigorous screenings and obtain a breeding license. Aside from that, any person caught with an unfixed dog or puppies faces severe fines ($1,000 + per animal).

One problem is that puppy millers look to the Farm Bureaus and Depts of Agriculture (and sympathetic, easily misled legislators) to protect them and enable their cruelty and consumer ripoffs.

(Not to mention failure to pay taxes. When there are no licensing and inspections going on, income is constantly unreported or underreported, and taxes aren't paid.)

What puppy millers want is weak or no laws, little inspections, few or no rules, no punishments for breaking rules, Dept of Ag and USDA people that will let them keep operating despite breaking the rules. They want to stay underground and in the dark!

And too often the Dept of Ag and USDA enables them. Helps them. Looks the other way. Lets them break laws.

The millers attack people who are concerned about the abuse and disease and death by falsely claiming that people who care about the dogs and consumers want to "end breeding."

They will say ANYTHING to keep doing what they are doing, and breeding these dogs to death. And cheating people with defective animals.

They make HUGE amounts of money by failing to do things like provide basic vet care, or feed properly, or kennel properly.

Want to see how these puppy millers operate and collude with each other in other puppy mill states? Want to see the propaganda? Want to see how they want to hide their activities and get protection from the farm lobby? See http://www.cchs-petshelter.org/id84.html

Also keep in mind that the AKC is in the puppy mill business too. They make most of their income from registering puppy mills puppies, and thus they and their constituents lobby FOR the mills.

Which is why you see "reputable" breeders and groups lobbying against licensing and rules for the mills.

All that puppy mill money pays for things like dog shows!

I think that the main reason for the success of the puppy mills here in the U.S. is the fact that it is still legal to sell puppies in pet stores which encourages impulse purchases. Some people really don't know or think about where the dog is from when they see these cute little puppies in the store. The salesstaff certainly doesn't care where the dog is going as long as the sales figures are right.

I have two puppy mill dogs. Seven years ago after we lost our westie my daughter wanted a dog who need a home. We found a recuse group and adopted our Sophie. Few years later we adopted our Bailey. So glad that Oparh that did a story on this because so many poeple I've talked to don't even know what a puppy mill dog is much less a puppy mill. It was very hard to watch the show but if this gets poeple informed then maybe we can shut done these terrible places. Thank's Oparh