Do you support Puppy Farms?
To most people, the phrase “puppy farm” means a place where puppies are illegally bred for money. Tragic, but not really affecting them. In reality, it's a infinitely worse. Picture this - puppies crammed into horribly overcrowded cages, worse than any tram or train during peak hour. Food and water is scarce because of the sheer number of puppies and dogs per water/food bowl, so while living in cramped cages, they're being starved to death. Not allowed out of this in humane prison to eat, drink, exercise, socialise, play or even go to the toilet, their life is literal hell.
There are many characteristics that make up a puppy farm. Some of the most common factors that turn a breeder in to puppy farm (or mill) are overcrowding, forced breeding and negligence. Most cages in puppy farms are extremely overcrowded, leading to disgustingly unsanitary conditions, easy transmission of diseases such as hepatitis and kennel cough and parasites like ringworm and fleas, as well as aggression between dogs for food and water. The dogs and puppies are forced to breed with dogs they have never seen before, let alone had a chance to properly meet, with their puppies being taken away from them at as young as a couple of days old. The main reason why a breeder is considered a puppy farm is negligence. The newspaper or towels on the bottom of cages can stay the same for weeks, even months, without being cleaned or changed. Food and water bowls are shared between hundreds of dogs, and aren't refilled for up to a week.
A common myth about puppy farms is that you can tell if a dog comes from one by their looks. This exactly like saying you can tell where a human comes from by their looks. In other words, it's not true. All types of dogs come from puppy farms - pure breed, cross breed and mixed breed. They can be any size, shape or colour. The same goes for the owners. The only way you can tell if a breeder is a puppy farm or not is by looking in a website such as the RSPCA and checking that the breeder is humane and obeys the law.
If a puppy is lucky enough to escape this dungeon, chances are there still never going to get the chance to live a normal life in a loving family. Growing up in a puppy farm can give the dogs extreme behavioural, social and physiological problems that will haunt them for the rest of their life. Most of the time, people who are considering adopting animals don't want dogs with these problems.
