Puppy Mill Awareness Day is barking at your heels. On Saturday September 20th at the Intercourse Community Park (in the heart of Lancaster County, PA – as seen on Oprah!) you can join in a day of fun and learning.
Until recently most people didn’t even know what a puppy mill was. Thanks to Oprah for airing a show, one of her most watched, on the subject that helped bring the horrors of what was happening behind the scenes to light.
Puppy mills are nothing new. These mass dog-breeding operations have been around for decades. They continue to thrive because they prey on unwitting consumers who are smitten by too-cute-for-words puppies in pet store windows and on fancy websites.
But behind the friendly facade of the local pet shop, the pastoral scenes on a “breeder’s” website, or the neighborhood newspaper ad, there often lies a puppy mill. These canine breeding facilities house dogs in shockingly poor conditions.
Life is particularly bad for “breeding stock,” dogs who live their entire lives in cages and are continually bred for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever becoming part of a family. These dogs receive little or no veterinary care and never see a bed, a treat or a toy. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems.
Sadly, few states have laws directly effecting the treatment of dogs in puppy mills. We, as a collective group of 50 million plus dog owners, have the power to take a stand and contact our legislators to demand a change. Stricter laws need to be passed into legislation and enforced to stop the inhumane treatment of these dogs.
Logan, our Bernese Mountain Dog rescue, was a dog used for stud at a puppy mill. He spent over 4 years in a 2×4 cage where he couldn’t even sit up. His only human contact came when it was time to be pulled from the cage to fulfill his role. When he stopped producing, he was discarded just as a 64 pound bag of flea and tick infested garbage would be.
Something minor in the whole scheme of things, but something that really drove home the reality of his situation to me, was that fact he never even had a name. As Lisa and I work with Logan to get him to trust humans, I have no doubt that puppy mills are a business, in it for profit, with no concern over the welfare of the dog. That’s why the word needs to be spread far and wide about these despicable actions.
Puppy Mill Awareness Day is committed to educating the public about the connection between consumers and commercial breeding facilities. Don’t miss this fun filled day.
Free Food, Free Gifts, Our Famous Dog Walk
Many speakers, including AnneMarie Lucas of Animal Planet.
Local rescue groups with pets for adoption.
Sponsored by Adopt A Pet, Inc., Last Chance for Animals,
Inc., and Best Friends Animal Society.
For more information and to register for the dog walk,
please visit WWW.AWARENESSDAY.ORG or email us at Awarenessday@aol.com.
Whether you walk or run this is definitely an event not to be missed.
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