 We all know puppy mills are bad. Factory farms where thousands of breeding dogs are kept in cages slightly
larger than their own bodies. Underfed dogs feeding an industry of corruption and greed. Instead of walking on grass, they
stand a lifetime on stretched wire flooring in cramp rabbit hutches. Instead of collars or bandanas, they wear rusted livestock
clips in their ears or chains with USDA tags embedded in their necks. Undeserving of a name after eight years of service,
a breeding female is often led into a dark cornfield and killed once she can no longer produce her young for market. The
factory farming of man's best friend is an ugly business. Each step of the process is harsh, inhumane and unspeakably cruel.
From the time a female dog comes into her first heat cycle at six or seven months of age, she is bred unmercifully. Producing
two litters a year for eight years, she will spend her entire life isolated from the outside world. Kept along with hundreds
of other breeding dogs in rows of outside hutches or hidden away in dark barns. Deprived of the most basic of veterinary care,
she can suffer from untreated bite wounds, pneumonia, heat stroke, ear infections, blindness, malnutrition, splayed and swollen
feet, rotted teeth and mange. Her puppies, taken from her too soon, will be shipped across the country in large tractor trailers
to pet shops or brokers. Vulnerable to extreme temperatures and contagious diseases, many puppies die en route. Unlike
baby sea turtles scrambling toward the ocean, puppies heading to our country's pet stores will not find safety or comfort
once they arrive at their destination. They will be weak, frightened, and often legally underage. Playing host to a variety
of health and behavior problems, they will be purchased by consumers, uninformed and on a whim. Unsuspecting families who
believe the sales assistant's lies about puppies born to small breeders and raised in loving households. "Our dogs don't
come from puppy mills" she says. Don't believe it.
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