 Puppies and dogs are something that brings joy to the majority of the human population and without them, we wouldn't have important services such as seeing-eye dogs and PTSD/anxiety service dogs. The cute and fluffy puppy every kid wants when they see it in the window usually comes from a very depressing and tragic place called a puppy mill. In fact, millions of dogs and puppies are produced in puppy mills each year (Katz). This is not well known because of how the treatment of their dogs is kept a secret. Local pet stores are sadly the big supporters of milling. They receive the puppies from the mills and then sell them to the customer. These mills have one job and that is purely to produce more dogs so that they can send them to pet stores and make more money. They do not care about the well being or care of the puppies. The United States is estimated to have around 10,000 puppy mills spread across the entire nation with the highest concentration in the mid-west (ASPCA). Laws have been passed to try and limit the amount of puppy milling that is going on but nothing has been strong enough to make a huge impact. There are many people that are against these companies and want to make an impact on the lives of the innocent puppies. Puppy mills and all that it stands will not be a problem of the past until there is stronger legislature created as well as enforcement of those laws.

The definition of a puppy mill is, " ... a large-scale commercial dog breeding facility where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs" (ASPCA). Some might believe that a place that creates a ton of puppies for families would be heaven on earth with all the fluff ball puppies running around freely. They are wrong. These mills are a living hell for the dogs that live there. These puppies are kept in small wire bottom cages that are usually just a few inches bigger than the dog itself and stacked on top of other cages. It is not uncommon to find multiple dogs stuffed into one small cage either. The cages are found with feces everywhere including matted onto the dogs (The Humane Society). These dogs are left here to live in these conditions and to waste away in their own pollution. A lot of the time the dogs are in cages but have no other form of shelter. They have to suffer through the extreme cold or heat and sometimes they don't survive (The Humane Society). It has been found that the owners of these dogs sometimes leave dead puppies and dogs in the cages for a day or two (The Humane Society). Dogs are often also left in their cages without adequate food or water. And sometimes the food is infested with maggots (Sacks). Some even starve to death. These dogs also do not receive the needed health care from veterinarians. There have been cases where the skin and flesh of a dog is so rotted away that the bone of the jaw is exposed (The Humane Society). Many dogs have open wounds all over their bodies and do not get medical care and therefore suffer and or die from the complications (The Humane Society).

The appalling treatment of these dogs has a lot of consequences for their future and health, as one could imagine. Most of the puppies and dogs raised in a mill will experience some kind of illness due to the fact that their living conditions are beyond unacceptable. Heart disease, epilepsy, deafness, mange, kennel cough, you name it and it's a possibility that this dog develops it (ASCPA). A study shows that, "animals are more likely to shed pathogens because of stress induced by . . . confinement [and] crowding," (Towsey). This means that if one dog develops an illness, then the surrounding dogs are likely to contract it as well. Those who purchase their puppy from a dog store are likely to be taking home a sick dog without even knowing it. The sick dogs are not removed from the breeding pool at the puppy mills and are therefore passing along the illness or disease (ASPCA). 

The dogs lack the space, care and love a normal puppy receives. This creates behavioral problems on top of the already existing medical problems. The owners take the dogs home not realizing the scarring effects the puppy has developed from being raised in a puppy mill. Puppy mill puppies are removed from their mothers and siblings at an early age of 6 weeks old (ASPCA). Puppies need to remain with their family for months after being born in order to prevent socialization problems such as aggression, fear and shyness (ASPCA). After the puppies are taken, another litter is expected to be produced by the mother. The female dog is supposed to have time to recover from giving birth but because the owners do not care about the dogs well being, the females are mated as soon as they possibly can (ASPCA). The health of the female dog deteriorates quickly from the stress of pregnancy and giving birth. As soon as the female dog can no longer produce litters, she is killed because she is not needed any more (Sacks).

There really is no in between opinion of puppy mills, people either support it or they think that it's cruel. An Amish man from Pennsylvania explains that he is not against puppy milling because the Bible tells him differently about how animals should be treated. He thinks that because he is human that he has domination over animals (Herbst). He said, "They are not people; they're animals. So they can be kept in cages," (Herbst). Thankfully a man named Bill rescued some dogs from their misery.

Some people argues that animals do not have rights and that they should not need to be treated with special care like humans are. The authors of an article discuss how many believe that animal testing for medical purposes is horrible and not fair (Lee and Cushman). However, the authors believe differently. They think that humans should harness their intellectual power that they have been given to advance further in the scientific world (Lee and Cushman). They think that the fight against animal cruelty is getting in the way of important research that can be done on animals to benefit the lives of humans (Lee and Cushman). 

The above paragraphs illustrate the views of people who believe that animals can be treated differently than humans. All of their points are valid and deserve to be heard. Those who believe in research over the happiness of the dogs are justified in the sense that using animals does help to further understand diseases and illnesses in humans. However, there are other more humane ways to go about gathering scientific research other than harming animals. People who are very religious may look to the Bible for answers on what to do, but they are not in there. Animals are not humans which can create a stigma that they can be hit and neglected. This idea is correct in the fact that animals are not humans and they do need to be treated differently. However, there is no reason for the amount of torture that innocent animals are put through every day. 

Animals deserve to be treated properly and given care. They need to be protected because they can feel what we feel when we suffer. They are suffering too, but they are in cages and can not communicate to us (Issitt and Newton). Humans need to listen to their hearts and find the empathy to realize that how the puppy mill industry treats their dogs is inhumane to say the least. 

Today, would rights be taken away from a person with severe disabilities who was unable to contribute to society? I don't think so. This idea of self-awareness comes into play with this question. A person with a severe disability may not have any sense of surrounds or self-awareness (Issitt and Newton). Does that mean we shun him or her from society and stop providing care for them? Absolutely not. This person is taken care of and provided with whatever needs they must have. Animals should be treated the same way. One could even argue that animals have a sense of self-awareness because they are able to get excited and feel neglected. The animals are a lot more capable than we think and give them credit for. Dogs in a puppy mill do not deserve to be treated in such a horrific manner. They deserve to be treated with respect because, like us humans, they can feel a lot and very deeply. 

The shocking fact about puppy mills still being in existence is that there are actually laws today that are supposed to protect these poor innocent souls. These laws are few in number and do not do their job. They are weakly enforced by people who do not care enough for the well being of the puppies. Unfortunately these laws are also very easy to get out of and find loop holes with. 

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) protects animals from being treated poorly through research and transportation (USDA). In other words it "regulates "he transportation, purchase, sale, housing, care, handling, and treatment of animals by carriers or by persons or organizations engaged in using them for research or experimental purposes or for exhibition purposes" (Towsey). This law does not deal with animal cruelty (Katz). However, this law does include the inspections that come with having a facility that sells puppies. This law provides a minimum standard of treatment and care for the animals that are owned. AWA is not centered on providing help for puppies in puppy mills but it does deal with providing inspections to the facilities that breed dogs. These inspections are sometimes carried out which is a step in the right direction but they are not carried out enough. The AWA needs to be stricter with its approach to puppy mill regulations and inspections. It is found that, "there are approximately seventy inspectors tasked with examining all AWA-licensed facilities in the entire United States, totaling over 8000 facilities' (Towsey). This is absurd. How are puppy mills supposed to be shut down if the people behind the AWA don't have enough support from its own company? The AWA needs to hire more people so that they are able to follow through with the inspections is states it will give. 

On top of not having enough people to serve as inspectors, the AWA's regulations and rules are just as horrific. Under the AWA, "A dog may be caged 24 hours a day for his or her entire life, only removed from the cage to be bred", "Breeding females at the first heat cycle and every heat cycle is permissible", "Unwanted animals may be killed or auctioned off", along with many other guidelines such as these are acceptable (thepuppymillproject.org). These dogs are not living happily at this point. They are suffering from diseases, and injuries. With those guidelines, puppy mills are bound to flourish because there are no standards that say living in their own feces is not ok. There are no standards that say putting a living species in a cage for its entire life is not ok. The AWA must change its ways so that there are more rules as to how a human can treat the life of a puppy. 

It is not just the AWA's fault. It's the enforcement that is supposed to come with having the AWA who is to blame for the suffering of many puppies. The people who are supposed to enforce the puppy mills are very separated from state to state. This causes the laws of each state to vary which allows the breeders of puppy mills to get away with cruelty (Katz). There are only 26 states that have laws that govern commercial kennels (Katz). It gets worse when people realize that every state defines the word "breeder" as something different. This causes breeders to be able to figure out what state has the least penalties for breeding, and move there to breed. Puppy mills are able to flourish because of the lack of a common definition of "puppy mill" from state to state. As mentioned before, there is lack of people and funding for the inspection of all of the at risk puppy mills. If there was more funding, then more people could be hired and sent out for inspections. Also, commercial breeders are able to break the laws through the "discretionary authority" that administrative agencies have (Katz).An example is given that a state such as Virginia, the commercial kennel is required to obtain a business license, but law enforcement officials "may" enter the facility upon complaints or upon their own motion. The passive approach taken by Virginia allows more commercial breeders to be legally licensed, but violate conditions of the license (sanitary, food, veterinary care) without proper enforcement" (Katz). It is very clear that inspections of puppy mills do not happen very often and because of that, they are still around and growing only bigger.

Dogs rotting in their own urine, not able to eat from their lack of jaw and shivering in the cold are how some puppies live their life. This should never be the case for any dog. There is no quality in life at that point. Puppies all over the country are treated in the most horrible ways because the AWA is lacking in funding and people to make inspections. Animals in general deserve to live without being beaten or neglected because they have just as much as a sense of self awareness as us humans do. If we do not act now and call attention to the fact that this business is flourishing, then it will only grow bigger and bigger. This means the more and more puppies will be left in cages in inadequate conditions. The puppies need stricter laws and more enforcement and its our job to change it for them.

