Everyone has heard of Puppy Mills. The pathetic dogs crammed into filthy cages, with little or no medical care, poor feed, and those sickly, diseased puppies. You see the stories on the news, shake your head, and wonder "How could anyone do that to a dog?" 

No one in their right mind would buy a puppy there. That's the Puppy Brokers' job.

He or she buys the puppies from the nasty puppy mill, cleans them up, and drops them off at those nice clean pet shops for the unwary consumer to buy. Out of sight, out of mind. The impulse buyer doesn't think about where that doggy in the window came from. The only thing on their minds at the time is whether to put it on their Master Card or Visa.

You know not to ever buy a dog from a puppy mill, but do you really know what it is that makes a place a puppy mill? 

Is it the number of bitches bred? No, even a one dog operation can become a puppy mill. Is it the fact that the dogs are kept in filthy cages? No, believe it or not, some people operate puppy mills out of their backyards, and yes, even their homes. Is it the lack of medical care or poor feed? That certainly doesn't help much. What about the diseases, and the overall poor quality of the puppies? Well, now you're getting warmer. Okay you say, what about the dogs that are bred every time they come into season, without any thought to breeding better dogs? What about those people who breed their dogs just to make money, the ones who don't care what happens to a puppy as long as they get paid? Bingo. You have just described a puppy mill, or more specifically, the puppy mill mentality.

The fact of the matter folks, is that a Puppy Mill can be any size, from the so called "family pet" who is bred every time she comes into season, to the giant commercial breeder who owns a hundred dogs of a dozen or more popular breeds. What makes a Puppy mill is the disregard for the betterment of the breed in general, and the welfare of the individual dog specifically: the common denominator is profit. 

The fact that puppies from a puppy mill are sick and genetically defective should surprise no-one. When the motive behind breeding a dog is profit, it stands to reason that the bitches will be used as "puppy machines", and that testing for genetic diseases can only hurt one's profit margin.

The thinking seems to be "Why should I have this dog checked for Hip Dysplasia, or these puppies tested for hearing? I don't want to spend the money on another stud dog just because some of his puppies might go lame in a few years. That's not my problem. And you're crazy if you think I'm going to have a puppy put down just because it's deaf. The puppy Broker will give me good money for that puppy! "

So those defective puppies just keep on coming year after year. The public, unaware of just how big the problem is, keeps returning to that pet shop window. And what about that puppy you saw going home from the mall? When the curtains don't match the couch, and the shoes don't fit, Mr. and Mrs. Impulse Buyer will return them for credit on their account. But what about when the puppy doesn't work out? Well, there's that Guarantee, if they change their mind within 30 days, but what will they do if dear little Spot is about 7 months old, obviously deaf, chewing up everything in site {including those new shoes}, and he's still not housebroken?

They will do what close to a million and a half other people do; they will take dear little Spot to the local animal shelter so he can find a 'good home'. He won't. Spot, along with 8 to 10 million other dogs and cats, will be euthanized. Spot's mother? She's already pregnant with his replacement for that wall of cages at the local pet shop