The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted by Flin Flon, Creighton and Area SPCA Many people often go to pet stores to buy their new family puppy. But unfortunately, many of these people don't know where these puppies came from. Most of these puppies are from puppy mills. The goal of puppy mills: produce as many puppies as possible with little cost and maximum financial gain. The puppies are born into a life that is undernourished and cruel. These puppies, along with many other dogs, are often living in small cages they can hardly move around in. Many of these cages are just wire and are stacked on top of each other. This results in the dogs having feces and urine in their fur. In some of the worst puppy mills, they have cages hanging from the ceiling. The dogs are fed just enough food to stay alive. The food is the cheapest the owner can find. The females are bred every time they go into heat. This results in two litters a year. Many females are often killed by the age of four to six because they are too tired to breed any more puppies. Unsold males are also killed. The puppies are often born with behavioural and health problems because of the lack of socialization and care. They may have a hard time adjusting with their new families because of these problems. The dogs don't get the veterinary treatment they need so diseases can be passed on very quickly through puppy mills. After just six weeks, these puppies are sold to pet stores or brokers, to independent agents who sell them directly to pet stores, or directly to the public through newspaper ads. People are not allowed to enter these puppy mills because of such poor conditions. Unfortunately, puppy mills have increased over the past decade in Canada. They are now a multimillion-dollar business. Federal animal cruelty laws don't offer very much punishment to puppy mill owners. They simply pay the fine they are given and carry on. Ontario made amendments to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to recognize puppy mills. Ontario is the first province to do this and now has fines of up to $50,000 for puppy-mill operators. Just remember that when you are looking for a new family pet, don't support the puppy mills. Look at adoption centres around your community. There are too many puppies out there that need our help, so let's help them by adopting, not buying. _ Written by Taylor Purvis, SPCA summer student
