Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Monday, June 17, 2013

A Picture’s Worth 1,000 Words: ASPCA Launches Photo Database Of USDA-Licensed Dog Breeders

We’ve heard it a million times: “Yes, I bought my puppy at a pet store, but he didn’t come from a puppy mill. The store told me that they only get puppies from USDA-licensed breeders.” That line is used frequently by pet store employees to reassure customers—but what does it really mean?

Sadly, it doesn’t mean much. The USDA’s standards of care are so minimal that most of us would not consider them to be humane. Dogs in commercial breeding facilities can legally be kept in cages only six inches longer than the dog in each direction, stacked on top of one another, for their entire lives. It's completely legal to house them in cages with wire flooring, and to breed female dogs at every opportunity. These federal standards leave a lot of room for dogs to be severely mistreated.

But seeing is believing. We wanted to make it easy for the public to truly understand where pet store puppies come from. That’s why today we’re launching a new tool on our No Pet Store Puppies website that lets users view more than 10,000 photos of USDA-licensed commercial dog breeding facilities and links some of them to specific pet stores that have sold their puppies within the past year.

More

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any and all dogs that I have ever owned have come from shelters, not pet stores or dog breeders. Any that I own in the future will be the same.

Anonymous said...

Agree with 12:57

Just like our food, they don't care about anything except for getting their fees, then going after the big guys for extra $$$. Corrupt as they come.

Anonymous said...

12:57-Me too.

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful addition to this blog.

Anonymous said...

It's so great to see you posting this information on the blog and I would hope you'd continue to do so. This is a huge problem and sadly very few people are aware of it. Many people don't even know puppy mills exist. Thanks for getting the word out. Also, maybe post some articles about online breeders because those are simply puppy mills in disguise as well.

Anonymous said...

Give me a Pound Puppy any day. Greatest dog I ever owned was a rescue and I could afford to purchase any dog out there. Get off the designer labels and get a REAL dog people. Thank goodness for the breeders who are true to the bloodlines and only care about the animals. I know a guy who is a breeder and if I wanted a cheasapeake I would not go anywhere else. BAN puppy mills!!

Anonymous said...

If the USDA requirements are so awful why is the ASPCA, along with other Animal Rights organizations, pushing the PUPS bill which will make even small time home breeders, who now raise pups in loving homes as a part of the family, into USDA licensed breeders who are forced to follow the USDA rules?
Why is the ASPCA also supporting the rules changes that will force home breeders, who now keep their dogs as pets in the home, change into commercial breeders who have to follow USDA housing and care rules?
Based on the ASPCA statements they sure can't be trying to require every single breeder to be USDA licensed out of kindness to animals...