Thinking about a new puppy for Christmas? Buyers beware: Pet shops are not where you should be looking. These puppies are coming from puppy mills.

Puppy mills are facilities that breed puppies in mass production for financial profit only.

Most of these puppies are coming from out of state, places like Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri that are not being regulated.

The parent dogs of these puppies are caged and continually bred for years, with little or no human contact. These dogs receive little or no veterinary care, and after their fertility wanes they are often killed, abandoned or sold to other mills.

These puppies are generally not healthy, many times showing up with serious genetic and behavioral problems later.

Just because they are AKC registered doesn’t mean they’re healthy. When a pet shop tells you that a puppy is healthy, it simply means that at that time, the puppy has gone through a very basic vet checkup and does not have a fever. Other than that, you’re on your own.

This practice continues to thrive because of unwitting consumers who are smitten by toocute-for-words puppies in a pet store window, fancy websites and the convenience of not taking more effort to shop around.

Please see for yourselves at www.PrisonersOfGreed.org and www.ASPCA.com.

Also keep in mind that any reputable breeder loves their dogs and would never let one of their puppies end up in a pet shop. They will interview you instead.

Please help stop this cruel and inhumane practice by finding a good private breeder or one of the many local adoption agencies available. It’s cheaper, and you’ll be saving a life instead of taking one.

If it’s a designer dog you’re looking for—like the ones you see in a pet shop—then, more than ever, seek out a private breeder and meet the mother of the puppies.

Is she perky? Is her coat shiny and clean? How about the environment she is raised in? A good breeder will show you the backgrounds on their litter for that breed’s particular issues.

There’s never a guarantee your new pup is going to be perfectly healthy, but you sure can narrow it down a lot.
Janie Weinstein
Simi Valley