Puppy Mill Facts

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The Sad Truth About Puppy Mills

The volunteers of Shelter Survivors are strongly committed to doing what we can to help end the suffering of the many dogs living in puppy mills. These dogs are living in horrendous conditions, they are abused, neglected and discarded when they can no longer breed. Below is the homepage of a wonderful organization, Prisoners of Greed. They are doing amazing work and helping to put an end to all puppy mills in the United States. Please read what they have to say and click on the links below. You can also visit their website, www.prisonersofgreed.org.

Prisoners of Greed is a Campaign to Shut Down the Puppy Mills

There are many serious problems facing society today that seem to defy solutions. The national disgrace of puppy mills is NOT one of them. It is a horror that we have the ability to abolish. JOIN US AND TOGETHER WE WILL END THE SUFFERING.

Although we rescue and place dogs from all over the country, our main shelter is located in the Midwest - puppy mill country. We have rescued hundreds of dogs from puppy mills and have first hand experience with the suffering. We also have first hand experience dealing with the breeders. We always go into commercial kennels undercover pretending to be breeders. That way we not only protect our personal safety but also we obtain considerable information that they would not tell us if they knew who we were. We have a unique perspective and have used the information to create an innovative campaign that will force the mills out of business.

We have been creating a database of the pet stores across the country that sell puppies. Based on our large sample we believe that 98% of the puppies sold in the pet stores come from commercial kennels. Many stores have become aware of the marketing problem they face if they sell puppies that were bred in commercial kennels. Many of these stores are telling their customers that the puppies were either locally born or come from "loving homes in the Midwest." This is simply not true. No reputable breeder would ever sell their puppies to a pet store. Reputable breeders care about the puppies they have helped create so they care about the home they get. They don't send tiny puppies across the country to petstores to be cared for by petstore employees and sold to anyone who has a credit card.

The mass production of puppies is dependent upon the public buying puppies in a pet store. If people stopped buying puppies in petstores, the demand would end and the petstores would stop buying from commercial kennels and then the misery would end. Through harnessing two enormous powers - the power of the Internet and the power in the hearts of millions of compassionate people - we can stop this atrocity. The key is education. We need every compassionate person to educate as many people as possible about commercial kennels.

Please join us and end the misery.

1. Tell everyone you know about commercial kennels. Tell then not to buy a dog in a pet store.

2. Link to this website. When people surf the Internet for information on buying a puppy, they need to have access to information about commercial kennels so they can make informed decisions. The more links there are to this website the more likely it will be displayed in a search about puppies. Please read about how to do this by clicking here.

3. Protest a petstore. There are groups all over the country protesting pet stores every weekend. Or start your own protest group and protest a store in your area. Read about how to start a protest here. Let us know about a protest you are staging and we will include it on the website and send out an email announcement about it.

4. Send an email to Pennsylvania representatives and officials and tell them that you will not visit Pennsylvania, particularly Lancaster County, until the commercial kennels there are eliminated. Read about Lancaster County Pennsylvania and send an email here.

5. Put an ad in the newspapers in your area to educate consumers in your area. You can click here for camera ready art for a newspaper ad. Your newspaper can take the ad and enlarge or shrink it for the space you want to purchase. Prices of newspaper ads have decreased recently and are very reasonable making this an effective way to educate the public.

6. Print flyers and hang them everywhere - businesses, post offices, libraries, grocery stores, colleges, schools - everywhere there is a public bulletin board. Also, take the flyers and put them on the car windows at malls where there are petstores selling puppies. You need to check whether they mall is posted "no soliciting". If it is, then you should not leaflet the cars. But if there are not signs located in prominent obvious spots across the parking lot or the mall, then you can leaflet. It only takes a few minutes to leaflet a hundred cars and can make a big difference. You can click here for flyers that can be printed.

7. Puppy mill brochures can be ordered from ihelppets.com or they can be downloaded from this link and printed. They print on 11 x 17 white glossy paper double sided color. Then they fold in half and then in thirds. They do require a large size printer. You can copy the brochure to a CD and have a store like Kinko's make copies for you. Give these brochures to everyone you know. Leave them in airplanes, restaurants, doctors offices, vets offices, car repair shops - everywhere people wait. Spread the word about commercial kennels. When the public learns the truth about the parents of those puppies in the petstores they will stop buying them and the mills will close. We have had an enormous response from these brochures. They are full of information and full color photos. They carry great emotional weight.

8. Put up a billboard in your area. Billboards vary greatly in price but are great way to reach thousands of people. /font> Read more about the billboards.

9. Schedule a Prisoners of Greed presentation at your school or community function. Email us to ask about a presentation.

10. Send in an editorial to all of the newspapers in your area. To read a sample editorial, click here. There is a great listing of all of the newspaper outlets at the webpage for the Democratic Party. You can enter your zipcode and get information on every news outlet in that zipcode. You can go to their website by clicking here/font>.

11. Run for office. Call a political party in your area, go to a meeting, get involved at the local level. Tip O'Neill used to say "All politics is local." You can accomplish enormous things to help the animals by being involved at a local level. You would surprised how many opportunities there are to run for office. Start with the zoning board, the planning commission, school board - then more on to the state house or senate. The animals need people like you speaking for them. Don't be intimidated. This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Let us know you are running and we will send emails out in support of your candidacy. Email us at CAM@prisonersofgreed.org and we will provide you assistance in setting up a candidacy.

12. Send a letter to all of the pet stores in your area that sell puppies and tell them that you will not be buying anything from them until they stop selling puppies. It's important for stores to understand the financial impact of selling puppies. Send the pet store a copy of your invoice from purchases you made from other stores that do not sell puppies to show them how much business they have lost by selling puppies. Remember to removve any credit card number from the receipt. Read more about this and get a sample letter by clicking here.

13. Go to pet stores in your area, look at the puppies, note the conditions, ask to see the registration papers for the puppies and write down the name and address of the breeder and the broker. Then send that information to us at CAM@prisonersofgreed.org

14. Vote. Agribusiness and the pet industry have a huge well funded lobby that gives them a voice in Congress. It's important that the people who care about animals learn to join together to make their voices heard. The first step is for everyone who cares about animals to vote. If you aren't registered, go to this website http://www.workingforchange.com/vote

15. Join the Coalition Against Misery to fight commercial kennels. Click here to read more.

16. Make a contribution to ending the misery. Click here to contribute.