When one is confronted with the cute watery eyes of a pet store puppy, it may be hard to resist taking that puppy home. There are thousands of puppies sold in pet stores every year. Because these puppies are so cute, no one stops to question where these puppies come from in the first place.
Do not be fooled when a pet store tells you “Our puppies come from breeders, not puppy mills”. Anyone with two dogs who just casually decided to breed them could be considered a breeder.
In most cases, the puppies come from puppy mills where the puppies’ parents are kept in uncleanly cages for their entire life. Their paws know nothing of the feeling of soft grass underneath them but that of a cold and painful metal floor. They are there to be bred and nothing more. They never get to experience a family or happiness. Cramped in a small cage for their entire lives, many develop health and psychological problems. Many never even get veterinary care if they get sick yet they continue to be bred.
The puppies born are taken away from their parents as early as four weeks old. They are then shipped off to a pet store to be sold for a profit. Because of the uncleanly environment that they grew up in, many of the puppies sold have health problems for the rest of their life. These puppies are just for profit. Little care is actually put into their actual wellbeing.
When the parent of the puppy becomes too old or unable to reproduce, they are either abandoned or killed. According to the video, the dogs that are abandoned life their life on the streets with little idea where their next meal will come from. Many die from exposure, disease, injury or starvation. A lucky few are picked up and taken to a pound where they have at least a slim chance of finding a new home.
Even after those few are taken to the pound, this is no guarantee for a better life. Between three to four million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year. Many of these pets are given up by their owners who just purchased them on a whim without researching the breed first. Others are there because they are too old or show behavior problems due to insufficient training. Some simply do not have the funds to properly care for the animal. Because of this, shelters are overcrowded and end up having to euthanize animals to free up space.
For the puppy mill dogs that are not abandoned, they are subject to euthanasia or other cruelties. The video explains that because of the expense of euthanasia, other more painful methods of killing are often used. When multiple dogs are to be killed, the dogs may be put into a gas chamber where it could take as long as twenty minutes to die. The dogs may be poisoned with cyanide and be left writhing in pain until they finally die. Others may simply be shot.
Are pet stores really worth the pain and suffering that dogs have to go though? For that one cute puppy staring at you at the puppy store, its parents live their lives in misery. They suffer to produce puppies and nothing more. Their lives will never be filled with love or care and they end their lives with a painful death.Dogs with just a slim chance of survival are waiting to be adopted at animal shelters all over the world. Instead of that one cute puppy in the window, it would be better to adopt from a shelter. You would not only be saving the life of a dog but giving it warmth and love as well. Somewhere in a shelter, a dog is waiting just for you.
Lisa Hilburn
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