Puppy Mill Awareness Day
On September 19, canine advocates observed National Puppy Mill Awareness Day in hopes of raising awareness about the dire conditions at unsanitary puppy breeding facilities.
The term “puppy mill” commonly refers to a breeding kennel that holds countless animals within harsh confinements to breed and sell for profit. In these “mills,” dogs hardly see the light of day and are commonly the victims of extreme conditions that leave them ill, suffering from malnutrition and often mutilated by disease and neglect.
The coordinators of National Puppy Mill Awareness Day held this event, which is the largest anti-puppy mill event in the country, at Intercourse Community Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On their website, the coordinators said they would gather “to provide a voice for thousands of dogs that remain in puppy mills around the country waiting for a hero.”
The schedule of events included a discussion about current U.S. bill
s pertaining to puppy mills, a parade of rescued dogs, a march against animal cruelty and several speakers including Chris DeRose, president of Last Chance for Animals. Also in attendance was Rescue Ink, a group of tough tattooed men who rescue animals from cruelty and whose show is featured on the National Geographic channel.
The day helped raise awareness in a state that many call the puppy mill capitol of the country (though puppy mills are rampant throughout the nation). It is home to hundreds of puppy mills notorious for overcrowded kennels, where penned-up dogs can go without human interaction
for years, let alone care from a licensed veterinarian.
In these same kennels, many female dogs are repeatedly bred and then disposed of once they are incapable of giving birth to more puppies. The majority of puppies resulting from these mills are brokered out to pet shops across the country or sold via the internet. Puppies are packed up and shipped out like cargo.
Thousands of puppy “shoppers” are usually unaware that their precious pooches came from such terrible conditions, and sometimes pay exhorbitant prices for very sick dogs without knowing it. These puppy purchases not only contribute to keeping the puppy mill industry up and running, but also contribute to the enormous number of animals surrendered to shelters across the nation by owners unprepared for the responsibility of owning a pet.
Recently, Last Chance for Animals was instrumental in influencing the opening of Orange Bone, the first-ever pet store that solely sells rescued animals, located in Los Angeles. National Puppy Mill Awareness Day is supposed to shed light on the horrors of puppy mills, and will hopefully lead to similar changes to the puppy mill and pet store industries across the nation.
The day itself was flanked by two other pawesome events. Friday evening the organizers held a Dog Art Auction where one-of-a-kind pieces of art created by rescued dogs were auctioned off to the highest bidder, and all proceeds went toward stopping puppy mills. On September 20, the fifth annual Woofstock took place following National Puppy Mill Awareness Day. The event had music, games, vendors, rescues and pet parents celebrating all things woof!
Support humane breeding practices in your town by raising awareness year-round about neglected puppy mill pooches and by volunteering with your local rescue organization.
Have a rescue story you’d like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section below.
The Dog Park 
Cathy, thank you for your comment. It's wonderful that you're willing to give a homeless animal a home. Please take a look at some of the dogs we featured during Adopt-A-Dog Month here on our blog (http://bit.ly/52q9iC). If you don't see that there might be a match there then you can save a pooch from any number of rescue organizations. If you use a search engine to look for a rescue organization for the specific breed you're looking for then a number of potential rescue organizations will pop up. Make sure to assess the organization's credibility and then sit back and get excited about the new member of your family! Petfinder.com is another wonderful resource where many rescues list their adoptable dogs. Good luck!
How can people treat animals like that? It makes me cry. What can people do to help? Is there someplace where these puppies and dogs are to be adopted? I would love to give a dog or puppy a chance at a dood and happy life. :)
I wish I could help them. I wish people cared more about the creatures on this earth that cant take care of themselves and stop focusing there energy on pointless this like making money. If more people just cared about someone other than themselves then we would have more laws to protect animals like this.
Puppy mills are just completely heartbreaking to think about. I always wonder though if the people who are running these mills, if they have a heart? Because I can not imagine so. I just don’t understand why people would do this to dogs. I guess for the money, but then again, is it really worth it?
I was at Awareness Day and it was a great event. However, I have to say that being in Lancaster amidst so many puppy mills was overwhelming. If you've never been there, what you see is vast, beautifully manicured farmland. There are lots of horse drawn carriages and every farm looks perfect. BUT... if you know about the puppy mills (there are hundreds), all you see when you look around is silent suffering. You can't see or hear the dogs because the farms are so big and set back from the road, but you know it's there, and it's just terrible. What sealed the deal, was when I was on my way out of town, I passed a horse-drawn carriage (Amish - of course) with a sad-looking dog in a 2x2 cage in the back - probably being transported to another mill. So sad, and such a powerful image. Boycott Amish goods until they can get their community cleaned up!
[...] you feel sorry for it or want to “rescue” it. Purchasing a pet store puppy supports puppy mills … a horribly cruel industry. Most reputable breeders do not advertise in the local newspaper [...]