Internet puppy scammers are outnumbering puppy mills

If you love dogs and do not understand why there is so much fuss about shutting down puppy mills, read about Tootles. She was rescued from a puppy mill in Missouri. She is only 9 months old. And she is very sick.

If Tootles had remained at that puppy mill, she would have been bred or killed. Why? Because in a puppy mill, dogs are not loved. Nor do they live in a home, have toys, or proper veterinarian care. They exist for one reason: to make more money for the greedy bastards who hide out, often in rural areas, practicing the kind of cruelty to animals that should result in felony arrests followed by very long prison sentences.

Remember Tootles the next time you look at a puppy in a pet store. Remember her when you're Googling "puppies".

Read more on the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' website. They have a LOT to say about puppy mills, as does the Humane Society of the United States. And this from the San Francisco SPCA information about buying puppies online:

• Many people are fooled by the sophisticated advertising techniques of online purebred “breeders” who are in fact puppy mill owners.
• Most people know that puppy mill puppies are sold in pet stores but don’t know they are also sold online.
• As TARGETED ONLINE ADVERTISING from these sellers becomes more sophisticated and pet stores continue to go out of business, online puppy sales will continue to increase.

A note from me: This means you are a mark. You are being lured in by advertising campaigns that are nothing but lies: money-making schemes using your emotions ("Isn't that puppy adorable!") to sell you a potentially sick and/or psychologically damaged dog.

• It is estimated that up to 45% of all puppies are acquired online – and virtually all of these dogs are from puppy mills.

• About 1 million breeding female dogs are confined in puppy mills throughout the country.
• About 4 million dogs are bred each year, and about 4 million cats and dogs are euthanized. So for each dog bought from a puppy mill, that’s one less dog is saved from euthanasia.
• Approximately 25% of dogs in shelters are purebreds, so purchasing a dog is not the only way to get a purebred dog.

Before you scream at your monitor or your phone that no one should ever buy a puppy, get a grip. The reality is that people will always buy puppies. They can adopt them from shelters and they can buy them from reputable breeders. There should not be a third option.

Follow the Best Friends Animal Society's Puppy Mill Initiatives and learn about the psychological damage done to puppy mill dogs on the Animal Law Coalition's website.