Saturday, August 20, 2005

Where do Puppies Come From?

I don't mean like that! I mean, when you see cute wittle puppies in pet stores, do you know where they came from? My Uncle Joey's girlfriend Christy wants to get a puppy from a lady who sells puppies of 40 different breeds. The puppies are shipped to her from Missouri. My mommy said "Wait, that sounds like a puppy mill!" Christy didn't know what a puppy mill was, so my mommy did some research and found out that Missouri is famous for its puppy mills, which make about 40 million dollars a year selling huge numbers of puppies. This is a very sad thing to talk about, but in case people out there in Huskyland don't know what puppy mills are, I thought I should tell you.
It's very sad, but most puppies in pet stores, or business that sell large numbers of puppies that they have shipped in from out of state come from puppy mills. Puppy mills are a very sad and terrible thing. For some reason, puppy mills are very common in the midwestern US and in Pennsylvania, especially Lancaster county.
Puppies in puppy mills come from mothers who are continually bred, regardless of their health or the health of the puppies they produce. These poor mothers receive little or no medical care and usually live their entire lives in cages or kennels, and produce puppies until their bodies give out. The puppies are shipped to puppy brokers and pet stores all over the country. Please visit prisonersofgreed.org and get the facts about the puppy mill industry and find out what you can do to help put a stop to it.
If you want to get a dog or puppy (and who wouldn't?), please go to a rescue or shelter. You'll have plenty of dogs to choose from! According to the Humane Society of the United States:
  • Number of cats and dogs entering shelters each year: 6-8 million (HSUS estimate)
  • Number of cats and dogs euthanized by shelters each year: 3-4 million (HSUS estimate)
  • Number of cats and dogs adopted from shelters each year: 3-4 million (HSUS estimate)
  • Number of cats and dogs reclaimed by owners from shelters each year: Between 600,000 and 750,000 -- 30% of dogs and 2-5% of cats entering shelters (HSUS estimate)
  • Number of animal shelters in the United States: Between 4,000 and 6,000 (HSUS estimate)
  • Percentage of dogs in shelters who are purebred: 25% (HSUS estimate)
  • Average number of litters a fertile dog can produce in one year: 2
  • Average number of puppies in a canine litter: 6-10
  • In six years, one female dog and her offspring can theoretically produce 67,000 dogs
Tails of the Tundra sells a bumper sticker with a saying that makes a lot of sense: "Don't rescue? Don't breed!"
If humans took this very good advice, there wouldn't be so many doggies euthanized every day in shelters. There are rescues, but there are always more dogs in shelters than rescues have room to foster, so they can't save everyone. Please remember this the next time you decide to bring a doggies (preferably a Husky!) into your family.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you my Fair Indy for telling the story.
    You see I was a pet store puppy. People would come in and take me to the play area and say how cute was I and then they would give me back to the people who worked there and they would put me back in my wittle cage behind hte glass where i could see and hear all of the humans but not play with them. At night they would leave us there all alone it was really scary some dogs cried all night.
    Then one day i saw my mommy walk in and i said boys watch this I am going home with her.. and as they were putting me back into the glass room, i reached out and grabbed this lady with these two really cute kids one who is on your page, This is why he will always be special to me...And I looked at her right in the eyes with my irrisitable blue and brown. And I prefromed the Siberan Mind Meld on her. And then i heard it... Sh said to my delight.
    Can we look at this one?
    At that was all she wrote.

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  2. Hi Maxx! Yes - my mommy found all kinds of terrible information last night when she was researching this puppy broker that Christy wanted to buy a puggle (whatever that is!)from. It made us very sad, but mommy said it is important to let people know the truth. I am so glad your mommy rescued you and now we get to hang out and play!

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