I watched it and it was really hard to sit through. My take on it was that a lot of these mills are being run by some of the Amish. in Lancaster County, PA. Did anyone pick up on that? Anyway, the people that run these think of animals as livestock and are incredulous that people let them live in their homes and treat them as family. The very positive message was that if you want a purebred, there are many rescue groups you can adopt from, and 1/3 of the dogs in shelters are purebreds. They stressed neuter and spade also...a message that needs to get out. And Oprah (I love her) said she was a changed woman and would no longer buy a dog but would adopt. Sammy, you're right; don't watch it before you go to bed. -Terry

A lot of this would stop if the AKC would stop issuing certificates on these puppies without any inspecting of either the premises or the records. Sellers can't make much profit on a non-certified pup. I guess the AKC's income from those certificates is just too rich to pass up. You'd have to be blind not to notice that you are issuing thousands of certs to one location year after year, on the basis old paper on females and males who were AKC registered *decades* ago. Have you ever seen AKC-sponsored ads or publicity educating the public about mills? I haven't.

Many puppy mills are in unincorporated areas where there's no licensing, no inspection, nothing. & many states do not have teeth in their cruelty laws, they don't have the manpower to enforce cruelty laws, & so... puppy mills do anything they want. A very nice woman on another board said that her King Charles Cavalier Spaniel rescue group was given, if I remember right, 5 or 6 female dogs that weren't producing big enough litters often enough, & so their owner had culled them. Among their problems were heartworms, intestinal worms, uterine infections, infections around their backsides (KCCS dogs have long feathery coats, & if you don't brush them, they get nasty back there). In addition, they had had almost no contact with human beings & were very shy & frightened. Not knowing how complicated & miserable the situation was, I asked her why her group didn't try to get the breeder shut down. She said he was operating within the law, & that they didn't want to make him mad because if he stopped giving them his "culled" dogs, he'd probably throw them out on a country road to starve or freeze or be run over or be killed by coyotes. & politicians are in a tough position when it comes to passing licensing or other laws restricting puppy mills, because of the backlash reaction from people who become outraged by the idea of "restriction of capitalism" (racing businesses discarding or killing greyhounds is this area)or "restriction of individual rights" or "the right to own animals". or some such. It's especially tough in a state that has a lot of agricultural business, since the licensing or control of puppy mills is seen by ranchers as the first step to governmental interference in their cattle operations.

So you agree, all breeders of show GSD's and English Bulldogs are not good breeders? Of course not ALL breeders of show dogs of any breed are good breeders. I know many show breeders that are not good breeders. There are always bad apples in any bunch. And if I want a purebred dog, I have to pay your price, a price that subsidizes your showing hobby? I have NO idea what you are talking about. Showing is one of the ways that you can tell if a dog is meeting the ideal of its breed -- that's often one of the whole points of getting a purebred, no? You want dogs that are bred from champions -- you can't have champions unless they are shown. And anyone else that breeds nice healthy purebreds but does not show is a backyard breeder? Even if they do testing? They may be nice, healthy purebreds, but they won't be champions. And that is important to a lot of people. It's one of the ways that you can tell that a breeder is at the top of what they are doing. YOU may not like it, but it's the reality of the situation. The average person can not look at a purebred dog and tell if it is well-formed and meeting the ideal of its breed (at best, they can say "That's a Labrador Retriever, that's a Malamute, that's a Pug") -- I've seen many, many "backyard breeders" that are turning out healthy "purebred" dogs. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're coming anywhere close to the ideal of the breed, and in some cases, they are coming so far from the ideal of the breed, that they look like another dog breed altogether.