Kittybits TLC Kennel

MelPsu · January 2009

I posted below but wanted to make sure you saw this.

TLC Kennel is 1000% a puppy mill. It is listed as a K5 kennel with the PA Dept of Agriculture (http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/lib/agriculture/doglawfiles/kennellisting.pdf). A K5 is the largest category for commercial kennels - this means that they have a MINIMUM of 250 breeding dogs on-site at all times.

kittybits21 · January 2009

thanks, the link isn't coming up on this computer but i'll check it out at home later. i had always thought that puppy mills were large operations run mostly to sell to pet stores, with substandard conditions for the dogs (in small dirty cages, no interaction, etc.). there has never been any problem with my mom's dog at all, and most mills are purported to send out dogs with genetic problems as a result of irresponsible breeding. so i wouldn't have thought tlc would be considered a puppy mill.

i would also encourage people to look at rescues and shelters first, it's just that with the limited amount of knowledge some people have on the subject it sometimes feels that we are 'ganged up on' for something we don't know we did wrong.

anywho, i'm glad we ended up with the dogs we did, but a little wiser for next time.

pookielove · January 2009

**Butting in** It's late and I'm tired, so I hope I can make this coherent. You are correct that puppy mills are large operations run mostly to sell to pet stores. TLC kennel, like most puppy mills, probably ships its puppies to pet stores all over the country. A lot of them also sell directly to people who live locally. They'll pose as reputable breeders and have some kind of area set up so that customers can see the puppies without seeing where they or their parents actually live. When your mom bought her dog, she probably didn't see the 250+ breeding dogs at the kennel or the conditions that they live in. These people know what they're doing. It's bad for business if potential customers see that the mother of the puppy they're about to buy has never seen grass or sunlight, let alone a vet

I think that people don't hear about this type of set up as often as they hear about mill dogs being sold to pet stores. Probably because central Pennsylvania, particularly Lancaster County, has so many more puppy mills than most of the rest of the country. It's extra important to be careful in this area and I think that's why so many of us are so passionate about trying to spread the word about puppy mills.

You are also correct that most puppy mills are purported to send out dogs with genetic problems as a result of irresponsible breeding. A lot of the anti-puppy mill information out there does spend a lot of time focusing on the potential health problems that these dogs can have because of irresponsible breeding. The information is absolutely true, but I think that it's exagerated to scare people away from buying mill dogs. If every dog sold by a puppy mill had serious genetic defects or became gravely ill soon after purchase, they probably wouldn't stay in business for very long. There are plenty of people out there who have positive experiences with dogs they got from a puppy mill. I think that kind of complicates things. People unknowingly get a dog from a puppy mill and when the dog doesn't have any problems, they automatically assume that it's a good breeder and they recommend them to others. Just like you recommended TLC kennel because of your mom's good experience. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally glad that there's never been a problem with your mom's dog. I hope there never is! But it doesn't make this place a good breeder.

And just in case you didn't think I was already on a soapbox *Steps on even taller soapbox* Honestly, even if the owners of this kennel were somehow able to properly care for and socialize over 250 breeding dogs and their puppies, it's still not a place I would recommend to anyone. With the millions of dogs that are put down in this country every year, there's no reason that anyone should be mass producing this many puppies. It's one thing to be a responsible breeder and want to work to better one or two breeds that you really love and are an expert on. It's another thing to run a large scale kennel like that with the overpopulation problem we are currently facing. *Steps of extra-tall soapbox*

I really hope you don't think that I'm trying to gang up on you for anything. That's totally not my intention. I just wanted to spread a little bit of information that might be useful I hope it was at least a little useful to someone. Otherwise I just wasted half an hour typing this when I should have been finishing some work so I can go to bed. 5am is coming right up!