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Animal Precinct showed a Texas puppymill being busted and it was just awful. First of all, the so-called breeders were a sickly and elderly couple for whom this breeding operation was probably their main income. However, they were simply too frail to properly care for these dogs and were too ignorant/greedy/poor to even let the puppies stay with mom for the requisite time. The SPCA found puppies separated from the mom who were waaaaaay too young in their opinion, to be separated yet.
Then there was the health of the breeding pairs. Having litter after litter takes a toll on the little bodies of the moms and these were really abused. One chihuahua had no lower jaw at all. She had lost her teeth and over time her lower jawbone had resorbed (you know your body gets it's calcium from your bones and the calcium you get in your diet just regulates the amount your body resorbs from your bones). Anyway, all she had to eat with was her upper jaw, her tongue and a little inch long flab of lower lip. It was just awful to see.
So, when you go looking for another furbaby and the breeder says he or she will be ready at 6, 7, 8 weeks. Run, don't walk, just as fast as you can away from that breeder. Because somewhere is a breeding mommy being painfully abused to provide a steady stream of puppies to be quickly turned over for a nice profit to the breeder.
If you feel sorry for the puppy because "someone's going to buy him so why not me?" then go to the breeder and ask to buy his mom, too. This won't stop the puppymill breeder but it will rescue a dog from that horror AND you get your puppy. Good laws, good enforcement and boycott of puppymills is the only way to stop this practice because greed and ignorance cannot be stamped out of people who would profit from this.
Then there was the health of the breeding pairs. Having litter after litter takes a toll on the little bodies of the moms and these were really abused. One chihuahua had no lower jaw at all. She had lost her teeth and over time her lower jawbone had resorbed (you know your body gets it's calcium from your bones and the calcium you get in your diet just regulates the amount your body resorbs from your bones). Anyway, all she had to eat with was her upper jaw, her tongue and a little inch long flab of lower lip. It was just awful to see.
So, when you go looking for another furbaby and the breeder says he or she will be ready at 6, 7, 8 weeks. Run, don't walk, just as fast as you can away from that breeder. Because somewhere is a breeding mommy being painfully abused to provide a steady stream of puppies to be quickly turned over for a nice profit to the breeder.
If you feel sorry for the puppy because "someone's going to buy him so why not me?" then go to the breeder and ask to buy his mom, too. This won't stop the puppymill breeder but it will rescue a dog from that horror AND you get your puppy. Good laws, good enforcement and boycott of puppymills is the only way to stop this practice because greed and ignorance cannot be stamped out of people who would profit from this.