Amish people run puppy mills?

GRKaters · June 2010

How do you learn this stuff? I would never have guessed or known that if I hadn't read the post below.

chigirlinaz · June 2010

same here, I had zero idea of this.

KatiesCats · June 2010

I'm involved in animal rescue, and that's how I learned it. There are lots of sites about puppy mills and why they suck, and many of them discuss where these dogs come (the Amish) from and why (the religious reason mentioned in the previous post). Two Amish areas (Lancaster, PA, and somewhere in Missouri) are the capitals of puppy mills in the US.

Plus, the guy who runs Main Line Animal Rescue is like a celebrity in rescue circles (I think). I've heard a lot about him, and he seems like a really good guy (he cultivates relationships with Amish puppy millers and convinces them to turn dogs over to him rather than kill them...no way could I say a single civil word to those people).

MrsBrownsFan · June 2010

If you live in Pennsylvania like I do, you are well aware that a lot of puppy mills are run by Amish people. There has been some work in PA to pass laws to clean up puppy mills, although I don't know how successful they have been so far. We had a huge area puppy mill/kennel busted recently, and the former owner is currently in jail. However, the back roads of Lancaster County are filled with these kennels, and it will take a long time to shut them all down.

Mrs.MauiBride24 · June 2010

I've seen tv shows about it (maybe Oprah?). They think of dogs as livestock and don't see the problem. However (at least here on green living), we try to not even purchase livestock that is treated like those poor pups.

uncannycanuck · June 2010

I think the fact that there is an endless market for these pups is even more reprehensible than farmers treating dogs like livestock. If the market really changes, these practices will die out.

CarrieB. · June 2010

uncannycanuck:
I think the fact that there is an endless market for these pups is even more reprehensible than farmers treating dogs like livestock. If the market really changes, these practices will die out.

I totally agree with this. There is a store called "Puppy World" which I drive past whenever I go to the garden store and every Saturday there are people lined up with giant signs protesting it because the dogs come from puppy mills. I don't know how anyone could walk in there and buy one. I really hope they go out of business.

SuperGreen · June 2010

uncannycanuck:
I think the fact that there is an endless market for these pups is even more reprehensible than farmers treating dogs like livestock. If the market really changes, these practices will die out.

I completely agree too. I think pet stores that sell puppies and kittens should be illegal. There's no way that those animals are well cared for, they're not well cared for in the store either. They get poked all day long and stand around in cedar wood chips, which cause respiratory problems. I just can't fathom the people who pay all that money for a puppy from a puppy mill.

I read somewhere recently that some city/county banned stores that sell dogs and cats, and to fill the void the local shelter opened "boutique shelters" that are more retail-oriented, b/c apparently people can't handle hundreds of poor dogs staring at them at the pound. Their goal was to get something like 35 animals adopted their first month, and they did 95.

ETA: I also learned about Amish running puppy mills while working at the SPCA in middle and high school. Tons of people abandoned their pet store dogs and cats because they had behavoral or health problems. That was before the "designer dog" craze, if I worked at the SPCA now I would seriously throttle those people.

daisyterp · June 2010

Also many Amish/Lancaster puppy mills pose as nice "family breeders" a lot of these dogs have papers- and living in MD I can't tell you how many times I have heard someone w/ a golden retriever, lab, etc. say they got their dog from a "breeder" in PA. Many times they have a sign in front a house w/ a few well kept dogs, and a litter that's in a house or a nice outbuilding, but then if the prospective customer wants a different breed or sex or the puppies aren't ready they will say that their brother/cousin, etc. 2 miles away might have that kind of dog...