Puppy Mills
It’s not easy to look at the face of a clean, plump and cute puppy and imagine that it might have come from an infamous puppy mill. Unfortunately it’s a sad but true fact that puppy mills do exist and that some pet stores selling puppies get their puppies from these puppy mills.
The whole problem arises not because of people wanting to buy their puppies from the pet store or because there is such a high demand for puppies, but simply because there are no proper laws or regulations governing these things, and what laws and regulations there are, are not enforced as they should be, due to any number of reasons.
What you need to look out for when getting your new puppy is not only pet stores that might be getting their puppies from puppy mills, but also from bogus operations on the internet, from people selling puppies through the classifieds, and even through personal one on one sales.
Wait a minute though, doesn’t that sound like any transaction you could have? After all there are only a limited number of ways in which you can get a puppy for yourself, and if you’re not a breeder yourself then your options of getting puppies are limited to the options including the ones mentioned above.
What you need to look at here then is not the overall picture of getting a puppy, but your individual case. If you conduct a thorough check in the place you’re getting your puppy from, be it from a pet store, a puppy breeder, an online puppy breeder or seller, or even through a classified advertisement, you can at least be sure that you are not getting your puppy from one of the puppy mills.
This is the most that you can do to stop puppy mills from flourishing. Many people will tell you that by getting your puppy from a pet store or a puppy breeder, it is tantamount to giving puppy mills the impetus to stay in business. This is just not the case.
There are many pet stores that don’t get their puppies from puppy mills, and there are many puppy breeders who run clean operations which are as far removed from puppy mills as chalk is from cheese. Many of these operations are sanctioned and certified as being the genuine article, and with a little research and diligence on your part you can contain your obtainment of a puppy to these places.