CdM Puppy Flap: Skirmish in National Battle

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If protesters show up at a CdM pet store Sunday as organizers hope, it won’t be an unfamiliar scene.

Animal rights activists targeting the I Heart Puppies store have posted online notices urging supporters to turn out in front of the store.

I Heart Puppies isn’t the only pet store to ever come under fire by an animal rights group and the local activists are hardly the first protesters of their kind.

“It’s not new,” said Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council Vice President of Governmental Affairs and General Counsel Michael Maddox. “Animals rights groups have waged an anti-pet store campaign for many years.”

A puppy at I Heart Puppies in Corona del Mar.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals discourages consumers from buying anything from pet stores that also sell puppies because they claim most pet shop puppies are from substandard breeding kennels, sometimes called “puppy mills.”

“The ASPCA’s research shows that people know puppy mills are bad, but they don’t realize most pet store puppies come from puppy mills,” Matt Bershadker, ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Group Senior Vice President said.

Many of the animal activist groups claim that any puppy in a pet store is from a substandard kennel, Maddox said.

“There obviously are substandard breeders out there,” he said, but there are many responsible breeders with impeccable facilities, he added. “The problem is when [someone] makes a blanket statement like that.”

The pet industry council has been working to get rid of substandard breeders and pet stores for the past 40 years, Maddox said.

A substandard breeder does not use appropriate care, has low quality facilities and isn’t mindful of the welfare of the animal.

“’Puppy mill’ is a derogatory term that has no legal [definition]… Call it what it is: A substandard breeder,” Maddox said.

“In the last decade of the 20th Century, activist groups began to broaden the term to cover just about any kennel that they didn’t like,” according to Norma Bennett Woolf, editor and writer at Dog Owners Guide.

Over time, the line has become blurred between responsible breeders and substandard breeding facilities, Woolf wrote.

The high-volume, substandard kennels became more prominent in the 1940s, according to Woolfe, during the post-war boom when people had more leisure time and disposable income.

“At the same time, farmers, mostly in the Midwest, were seeking alternative crops,” Woolfe wrote. “Available money met with available supply, and the result was the development of commercial puppy businesses.”

Farmers already had chicken coops and rabbit hutches, she wrote, but little knowledge of canine husbandry or money for proper veterinary care. These type of breeding facilities were soon labeled “puppy mills.”

In 1966, the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act was put into law. It regulated dealers who handled dogs and cats and labs that used animals. In 1970, it was amended with a name change to the Animal Welfare Act and authorized the secretary of agriculture to regulate the wholesale pet trade. Another amendment in 1976 regulated the commercial transportation of animals.

In many states, as long as the dogs are given the basics – food, water and shelter –  it’s legal for a kennel to hold dozens or even hundreds of dogs in cages for their entire lives, according to the Humane Society of the United States. The AWA requires a minimum amount of space for each dog, a veterinary care program, proper drainage of the kennel and appropriate sanitary procedures.

Information about the breeder of a particular puppy can be found on the USDA website. The public can search for breeders or kennels and see any inspection reports conducted by the USDA, along with any violations found.

“I think that some of the picketing that has gone on at pets stores… The organizations are intent on putting pet stores out of business,” Maddox said. It sometimes “has nothing to do with the quality of the store” or the health of the pets they are selling, he said. “It’s not if pet stores are keeping any secrets.”

 

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37 COMMENTS

  1. Mr. Maddox needs to pull his head out of a dark place. The term ‘Puppy mill’ is an appropriate derogatory term, legal definition or not, and anyone that mass breeds dogs (and cats) for profit deserves to be referred to as such.

    “It’s not if pet stores are keeping any secrets.”
    Unbelievable statement made by someone that IS suppose to know better.

    Ask any pet shop person if their puppies come from a mill and 100% percent of the time you will receive a ‘no’ answer. Of course they’ll lie, if they told you the truth no one would buy a dog from a store. Think about it if any vendor tells you their product is crap or comes from an inhumane industry will you buy it? Of course not, it’s common sense and consumer sense not too. People are conscientious if they have the information before them. Puppy shops are interested in one thing and one thing only, getting your money out of your wallet and into their pockets and they use the adorable faces born of mass cruelty and death to manipulate consumers into buying them. Vicious cycle, rinse and repeat by the millions.

  2. My God, this Maddox guy is clueless.

    “It’s not if pet stores are keeping any secrets.” That is an unbelievable statement. Pet stores that SELL puppies LIE to their customers all the time. Let’s just take the Southern California pet store chain “Barkworks” who posts signs all over their stores saying they only deal with “reputable breeders”. LIE! They deal directly with horrific breeders (I have all the USDA reports) who torture their animals for years, force them to breed at every cycle, never give them love, vet care, force them to stand on chicken wire their entire lives which deform their paws – this is not the exception this is the hard core reality in pet store sales. Get your head out of the sand Mr. Maddox. Oh yeah, you’re a politician, never mind.

    “I think that some of the picketing that has gone on at pets stores… The organizations are intent on putting pet stores out of business,” Maddox said. It sometimes “has nothing to do with the quality of the store” or the health of the pets they are selling, he said.

    Again, are you kidding? Have you spoken to ANY animal welfare activists on this issue? I doubt it. If you had you would understand a hell of a lot more on this subject. All we want is HUMANE care for these animals that we ourselves domesticated and it is our moral duty to do so. But yes, if stores continue to sell sick and dying dogs that come from as you refer to “substandard breeders” (I call them what they are – ANIMAL ABUSERS!) – then we will protest, pass legislation, whatever it takes to put these evil places put out of business for good.

  3. “The pet industry council has been working to get rid of substandard breeders and pet stores for the past 40 years, Maddox said.” Knock up job the pet industry council is doing! 40 years, and what’s to show for their “work”? More mills; more mill busts, more dead and dying dogs, more breeding, more shelter dogs dying.

    Doesn’t this country get it? We have a SURPLUS of dogs — why are we breeding more? And how much tax money goes through the USDA to subsidize mills? To kill shelter dogs and cats?

    Get rid of these mass breeders, period, no matter how “nice” their facilities supposedly are.

  4. Mr. Maddox says, “there are many responsible breeders with impeccable facilities.”

    True, and none of them would ever sell to pet stores. Truly responsible breeders do not make a profit on their dogs, because in order to make a profit, one has to “mass produce” puppies and treat them like they were inanimate objects. It is impossible to make a profit and at the same time treat the dogs in a manner that is anything close to humane.

    • ALL BREEDERS ARE FLESH PEDDLERS. They all sell living, sentient beings for money. They have no control over what happens to these animals once they get their money and hand over helpless animals. Get your pets from the pound where 30% are pure breds or from breed rescue groups and stop feeding breeders and puppy mills.

  5. Maddox is clueless and is a blanket propagandist.. The article itself gives the cruel conditions in which a USDA facility can still be found in regulation.. It’s a blanket Inhumane Industry that as consumers we have been lied to for far too long. And we as tax payers are cleaning up the added problem of over shelter population and killing 1/2 million animals per year in our shelters this factory breeding causes.. It is time as responsible citizens of our humane city of Newoport Beach that is an award winner for preservation of life, to speak out against cruelty for sale in our shop windows,and misrepresentation to us as citizens and our valued visitng patrons.

  6. We just want these stores to go Humane that means only sell rescued animals from our over-crowded shelters. O.C. shelters are really bad, and Mr. Maddox all pet stores get their puppies from super-max mass breeding facilities, that’s a fact. Puppy stores are really good at lying, afterall they want to make money, do you think they are going to say, “yes that puppy is from an Oklahoma breeder and they only have 100 dogs, USDA inspected, it’s not to pleasant for those 100 dogs. Dogs & cats are social creatures, they live their entire lives in cages, do you think that is O.K.? Puppy stores think it’s just fine.

  7. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS… GET LOST. YOU ARE THE MOST ANNOYING BUNCH OF PEOPLE IN THIS PLANET. YOU CAN THANK LATE STAGE CAPITALISM FOR GIVING YOU THE LUXURY OF EVEN THINKING ABOUT THE WORTHLESS CAUSE OF ANIMAL WELFARE. 2000 YEARS AGO NOBODY GAVE A **** ABOUT ANIMALS, BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO BUSY EATING THEM. SAD STATE WE ARE TODAY WHEN WE CARE MORE ABOUT WHERE AND HOW A DAMN CANINE WAS BORN THAN STARVING CHILDREN OR A HOST OF OTHER MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES.

    • We’re not getting lost. We are here, we are many. We will continue to educate people about fraud, abusive pet factories and animal cruelty while you continue to spew out your vitriol. True, there are many important issues, especially starving children. Many of us are involved in children’s charities as well. Most animal rights people I know are highly ethical people who also help the poor, the sick, the needy.

      Sorry about your diet. It will harm your health.

      Carole Davis, CAPS

    • Caring about animals does not mean activists do not care about starving children. In fact, the best thing one can do to help starving children worldwide is to adopt a plant based diet. Instead of feeding all that grain to the billions of animals killed annually to satiate the western diet, feed those dying children. And you’ll live longer too. Why would any sane rational caring person want to sell animals while others are dying in shelters?

    • Listen Ryan, Checked Capitalism is what makes our country flourish; Capitalism has nothing to do with our cause. I love Capitalism but I’m against animal cruelty. Trust me, if the customers of these pet stores new that the parents of all of those cute puppies lived in small cages (some are filthy) for the entirety of their lives, and then perhaps at the age of 8 or 9 years old were simply killed or taken to the local pound, they would be standing in line with us protesting. How do you think we have so many supporters? Most of them are simply consumer converts, I am. THESE ARE CUTE PUPPIES, BUT THEIR PARENTS HAVE A LIFE SENTENCE, THAT’S WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO. IT’S FOR THE DOGS BACK IN THE CAGES, SENTENCED TO LIFE, WE SPEAK FOR THEM, DOESN’T THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU? Some of the store owners are simply ignorant and don’t really know what we are there for, so we very willingly work with them, a lot of these store owners have gone humane. and are making profits which we support. Got it? Jon Forrest, Proud Conservative.

  8. An intelligent point of the issue letting humane citizens of Newport Beach they need to get lost… 2000 years ago leaders were demanding the slaughter of all infant sons..2000 years ago? that is your argument. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere”..Dr. Martin Luther King Jr… and it is Democracy that gives us our rights, here we speak them for companion animal torture and cruelty, but you will also meet us in many other areas of injustice..

    • KSawyer… I will be going fishing tomorrow. Hopefully I will catch a white sea bass, which I will “cruelly” gaff in the head and let it flop around on the deck until it dies. I will then eat it. This whole process I will enjoy very much. According to you “humane citizens of newport beach”, this is an “injustice”? Get lost. Just try and interfere with my infliction of cruelty upon an white sea bass tomorrow and you will be in violation of CA Fish and Game code. I can’t stand self proclaimed progressives like yourself that would keep us from hunting, fishing, and purchasing puppies from whoever we please. I will fight against people like you and your cause until I die.

      • HaHaHaHa Oh the big man joyously boasts and brags that he is quite willing and capable of torturing and killing one of gods weaker creatures because he’s mad and hasn’t learned to control his temper tantrums. Your parents, Mr and Mrs Ted Bundy, must be SO proud of you.

        • You fools are mocking me in this small forum, but you know my views are entirely mainstream and shared by the vast majority of Americans. YOU ALL are the radical minority. And I find comfort in that, despite your aggressiveness in lop siding the comment section on one article which you all seem to have a special interest in. I will keep fishing, hunting, and living my life in the freedom that this country grants me, while you will try to terminate it claiming you have “evolved morally”.

          • Just because you believe it or repeat it, does not make your claims true or fact. Perhaps in your own mind it does but the statistics say otherwise. So you see dear Ryan, it is not ‘we’ that need to get lost but rather tis ‘you’ that needs a clue.

            “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

  9. Ryan.. I will not cut off my hand to spite my face and you are what is known as a waste of oxygen. Banning of puppymill puppies in pet stores is not restricting choice, it is providing a better one that will most certainly be a healthier animal and a better consumer purchase. This ban does not interfere with local hobby breeders of purebreds where healthy puppies will be available for consumers. You will continue to indulge in your miserable cruelty, and we will indulge in the Federal Law of the Animal Welfare Act. To address you any further is a mere wsste of the seconds and minutes of LIFE, that for myself, has a highly regarded value.

  10. The problem is NOT that pet stores are selling puppies — it is WHERE those cute little puppies come from and the suffering that goes on at the commercial breeding establishments in order to produce those cute little puppies. FEMALE DOGS ARE NOT MACHINES!! They should not be required to become impregnated EVERY SIX MONTHS (!!!!) and pop out cute little puppies for consumer purchase.

    The people buying these cute little pups are not aware that THIS is how those dogs came into this world. I’ve spoken to them and they imagine that the puppies are raised on some nice, grassy farm somewhere, in the bosom of their mommy and daddy dogs.

    They don’t want to believe that the mother of their cute pup has and is going to spend her entire life in a cage, with her feet standing on wire and sometimes falling through and dislocating her legs, just to that it is easier for the caretakers of the breeding establishment to clean the pee and poop from the 100+ cages they have to monitor every day.

    The owners of the new puppy don’t want to imagine the mommy dog, lying on her side on wire because her legs hurt so much and they don’t want to hear her try to bark because her vocal cords were roughly mangled by a farm hand wielding a screwdriver while another person held her mouth open.

    No, they don’t want to have to look at the mommy dog’s rotten teeth and infected eyes. They just want to see their nice, little puppy — all cleaned up for them and sitting in a cage for impulse buyers to take home.

    NO ANIMAL SHOULD HAVE TO SUFFER SO THAT PEOPLE CAN WALK INTO A STORE AND PURCHASE A PUPPY!! IF THEY WANT A PUREBRED THAT BADLY, THEY SHOULD GO TO A REPUTABLE BREEDER – NOT A COMMERCIAL BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT. YES, THEY WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO WAIT BECAUSE REPUTABLE BREEDERS DO NOT BREED TO MAKE $$$, THEY BREED TO FIND DOGS THAT WILL WIN DOG SHOWS. THEY ARE NOT LOCATED IN MINNESOTA NOR PENNSYLVANIA — NOR WILL THEY MATE THEIR FEMALE DOGS DURING EVERY HEAT CYCLE. THEY ARE SELECTIVE TO WHOM THEIR DOGS GO AND THEY WOULD NEVER, EVER SELL THEIR PUPPIES TO A PET STORE!!

    THEREFORE, EVERY DOG YOU SEE AT A PET STORE IS FROM A COMMERCIAL BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT — AKA “PUPPY MILLS”. THEY ARE CALLED THAT FOR A REASON — THEY CHURN OUT PUPPIES, LIKE A FACTORY OR MILL! Get it???

  11. I wonder if Ryan has read what over-fishing has done to deplete life in the oceans. I highly doubt Ryan is hunting to feed his family in Corona del Mar. I’m deducing he hunts because he has a bloody good time killing. FYI, Ryan, hunting is regulated way more than commercial dog breeding and we work with government agencies, including Fish and Wildlife. But that is not the topic here.

    As far as buying puppies from whoMever you choose, no one is preventing you from buying puppies born in an inhumane breeding factory. These people are merely telling you where the puppies are from and that the owner of the store is lying to you about it. If you choose to enrich animal abusers, go ahead but don’t say you weren’t aware of the facts. It is entirely possible that NB City Council will look at an ordinance to if enough constituants ask them to. It is heartening that so many CDM and NB people want progress and love dogs. So many dog lovers are coming out on Sunday to take a giant step toward a more humane city.

    Thank goodness we live in a democratic country where we can engage in debates like this.

  12. Poor Ryan, What did your parents do to you dude? Did they not give you ANY love? Ryan please , please come down to the protest march this Sunday in CdM. We all have enough love for you to choke on! But Ryan? Please bathe first!! If this is the Ryan I think it is,,, ITS CALLED SOAP RYAN ,,,,,,CHECK IT OUT!!

  13. The problem with most of these people responding is that they believe the lies about pet over population. Fact is the majority of pets in any shelter are feral cats. Of the smaller number of dogs they are mixed breeds or dogs that have been given up due to behavior problems. Not all dogs are adoptable due to expensive diseases to cure or behavior that is unacceptable around people. There are 12 million people looking to replace a pet each year and only 4 million dogs in shelters in this country. In no way can responsible breeders meet this demand. The north east has already spayed or neutered 92 percent of all pets. One weekend over 600 people were lined up to take in 30 shelter puppies that were shipped in from Thailand. Sadly two of them had rabies and were still adopted out. The animal rights groups keep telling lies but now the number of complaints about adopting a shelter animal is beginning to rise to the point that shelters now must undergo the same rules applied to commercial breeders regarding taking the dog back. All responsible breeders will take back any dog they breed for any reason and they do investigate where their dogs will be going. This whole animal rights issue is because there are people who have been vegan for so long their brains don’t work properly. Notice the vitriolic tone of their messages. Lack of VB12 which in its active form only comes from meat cause irrational thinking and overly emotional responses. For HSUS its the money they get from people who think they are helping when in fact HSUS doesn’t spend money on pets or less than .04. The majority goes for salaries of lawyers to take away your right to own a pet, eat meat or benefit from medical research. This is a cult nothing less. Preventing someone from doing a legitimate business is not free speech it falls under the RICCO and is a crime.

    • “All responsible breeders will take back any dog they breed for any reason and they do investigate where their dogs will be going.”

      Thank you for proving the point these protesters are making. Pet stores do not investigate the people who buy their dogs. They sell to anyone who will pay for a dog and they don’t take back the dogs they sell. Which is why responsible breeders do not allow their dogs to be sold in stores.

    • You nailed it right there Vet Barnes! Thanks for your input. Most of these people are indeed radical vegans. They are well organized and have an agenda outside of simply “reforming pet stores”. They are so emotionally tied up in the welfare of animals they forget how other people in the “real world” think and prioritize. I have dealt with many of these people in defending other places from their radical agenda and to say the least, they are problematic.

      The reason they appear so well organized is because they are very connected through chain email lists and social media. It’s not as if the average reader of the Newport Beach Indy is a crazed animal rights vegan. It’s because these activists provide the link to this article to hundreds in their network, encouraging a flood of like minded comments.

  14. Vet Barnes. Your post is chock-a-block with inaccuracies. There are too many adoptable poodles, Shi-Tzus, Chihuahuas, etc in the shelters here in SoCAl. And yet, pet facories keep churning out millions of inbred dogs for the market.

    There are too many dogs, not enough adopters. There is a pet overpopulation crisis. The people who keep repeating the silly idea that this is a myth are wrong. Avanzino and Winograd and their “stats” have been debunked on this issue by everyone I respect in the animal protection movement.

    Furthermore, you think constitutionally protected free speech is crime. What country do YOU live in? Syria? This anti-puppy mill movement is highly effective. Read some history of social justice causes. The American Revolution. The Abolitionist movement. The Civil rights movement. The women’s sufferagist movement. The Gay rights movement. Workers Rights movement. The Animal Rights movement. All progress has come from outrage. I’ve been in touch with NBPD and they will be upholding our right to free speech today, as is their duty.
    You would have the voice of the people silenced. That is unamerican.

    In case you think this is some left wing fringe movement, let me disabuse you of that notion. We stand with conservatives, liberals and independents. The lawmakers who passed 93 new legislative measures in Congress last session to protect animals are from both sides of the isle.

    We are dog lovers. And their cries will be heard.

  15. They will try to push and push, making their bizarre agenda seem like a mainstream consensus. They try to make an entirely unreasonable proposition become part of the public debate when it has no place even being considered by elected officials or mainstream. What they are doing today at the store at CDM borders on economic terrorism. They are trying to bully a story with enough bad PR and intimidating physical presence that it will have to close. I feel sorry for any business owner that comes in the path of such a group. They are abusing the right of “free speech” to unreasonable levels, and in my opinion what they are doing to I Heart Puppies is in an entirely different category. It is organized intimidation with the goal of damaging the store’s business.

  16. The Animal Rights Agenda
    The animal rights platform sets the goals for ending the use of animals: The animal rights agenda was published in “Animals’ Agenda” magazine in November 1987 in an article “Politics of Animal Liberation” by Kim Bartlett and reprinted in “The Hijacking of the Humane Movement” by Rod and Patti Strand.

    1. We are firmly committed to the eventual abolition by law of animal research, and call for an immediate prohibition of painful experiments and tests. The billions of dollars disbursed annually by the National Institutes of Health for animal experiments should be rechanneled into direct health care, preventive medicine, and biomedical research using non-animal tests and procedures. In addition, the government should fund projects to develop and promote non-animal technologies where they do not yet exist so that animal experiments may be rapidly phased out. In the meantime, procedural mechanisms must be established to allow for greater public scrutiny of all research using animals.

    2. The use of animals for cosmetics and household product testing, tobacco and alcohol testing, psychological testing, classroom demonstrations and dissection, and in weapons development or other warfare programs must be outlawed immediately.

    3. We encourage vegetarianism for ethical, ecological, and health reasons. As conversion of plant protein to animal flesh for human consumption is an energetically inefficient means of food production, a vegetarian diet allows for wiser use of the world’s limited food resources. Livestock production is a major source of environmental degradation. Furthermore, a shift in human diet from animal foods to plant food would result in a lower incidence of heart diseases and cancer and better health generally. Vegetarian meals should be made available to all public institutions including primary and secondary schools. Nutritional education programs currently administered by the Department of Agriculture should be handled by an agency charged with promoting public health rather than promoting the interest of agribusiness.

    4. Steps should be taken to begin phasing out intensive confinement systems of livestock production, also called factory farming, which causes severe physical and psychological suffering for the animals kept in overcrowded and unnatural conditions. As animal agriculture depletes and pollutes water and soil resources, and destroys forests and other ecosystems, we call for the eventual elimination of animal agriculture. In the meantime, the exportation of live farm animals for overseas slaughter must be regulated to ensure humane treatment. Livestock grazing on US public lands should be immediately prohibited. Internationally, the US should assist poorer countries in the development of locally-based, self-reliant agricultural systems.

    5. The use of herbicides, pesticides, and other toxic agricultural chemicals should be phased out. Predator control on public lands should be immediately outlawed and steps should be taken to introduce native predators to areas from which they have been eradicated in order to restore the balance of nature.

    6. Responsibility for enforcement of animal welfare legislation must be transferred from the Department of Agriculture to an agency created for the purpose of protecting animals and the environment.

    7. Commercial trapping and fur ranching should be eliminated. We call for an end to the use of furs while recognizing Western society’s responsibility to support alternative livelihood for native peoples who now rely on trapping because of the colonial European and North American fur industries.

    8. Hunting, trapping, and fishing for sport should be prohibited. State and federal agencies should focus on preserving and re-establishing habitat for wild animals instead of practicing game species management for maximum sustainable yield. Where possible, native species, including predators, should be reintroduced to areas from which they have been eradicated. Protection of native animals and plants in their natural surroundings must be given priority over economic development plans. Further, drainage of wetlands and development of shore areas must be stopped immediately.

    9. Internationally, steps should be taken by the US government to prevent further destruction of rain forests. Additionally, we call on the US government to act aggressively to end international trade in wildlife and goods produced from exotic an/or endangered fauna or flora.

    10. We strongly discourage any further breeding of companion animals, including pedigreed or purebred dogs and cats. Spay and neuter clinics should be subsidized by state and municipal governments. Commerce in domestic and exotic animals for the pet trade should be abolished.

    11. We call for an end to the use of animals in entertainment and sports such as dog racing, dog and cock fighting, fox hunting, hare coursing, rodeos, circuses, and other spectacles and a critical reappraisal of the use of animals in quasi-educational institutions such as zoos and aquariums. These institutions, guided not by humane concerns but by market imperatives, often cruelly treat animals and act as agents of destruction for wild animals. In general, we believe that animals should be left in their appropriate environments in the wild, not showcased for entertainment purposes. Any animals held captive must have their psychological, behavioral, and social needs satisfied.

    12. Advances in biotechnology are posing a threat to the integrity of species, which may ultimately reduce all living beings to the level of patentable commodities. Genetic manipulation of species to produce transgenic animals must be prohibited.

  17. 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Puppy Mills

    1) There is no such thing as a “puppy mill”. “Puppy mill” is not a legally defined term, it is slang used by the animal rights community to denigrate any and all breeders — small or large, standard or substandard. It’s the “N-word” of breeders. The phrase “puppy mill” has been promoted in the media by the animal “rights” movement, people who want to end all animal ownership. It is applied indiscriminately by these fanatics to anyone who breeds dogs.

    2) There are three main types of breeders: Commercial, Pet and Hobby/show breeders. Every one of these can be a large-scale breeder, every one of these can be a substandard breeder. Commercial kennels are subject to state and/or federal oversight. Substandard care can be found with all types of breeders. It is about the standard of care, NOT the numbers.

    3) Many commercial breeders have state of the art kennels that meet USDA standards and the standards of their state laws. They are inspected at least yearly and must meet or exceed standards far higher than those expected of the average hobby breeder.

    4)“Sick” puppies do not sell. It is counterproductive for any industry to produce a defective product and expect to stay in business.

    5) Passing laws intended to outlaw “puppy mills” will not solve any problem. Most substandard breeders are already in violation of existing laws. New, stricter laws will only affect those who are already working to follow the laws. The only way to have any effect is to enforce the laws that are already on the books.

    6) All the hobby breeders in this country cannot produce enough puppies to meet the demands of the American market.

    7) BREEDERS are NOT responsible for the presence of dogs in shelters. We have a problem with responsible ownership. Education is the key to improvement in this area.

    For more information:
    http://www.cfodconline.org/
    http://www.petpac.net/
    http://www.exposeanimalrights.com/
    http://www.naiaonline.org
    http://www.humanewatch.org
    http://www.saveourdogs.net
    http://www.nathanwinograd.com
    http://www.saova.org

  18. The anti-animal rights industry spokespeople are at it again, trying to make us look like we’re fringe. They think people are stupid. They’re not. FYI, readers and writers and editors, look up WHO they are. Report on the NAIA and the other political lobby groups made up of circus owners, egg producers, mass volume dog manufacturers, detergent producers, pharmaceutical companies and fur farmers. That’s who is attacking a small group of dog lovers here. This protest is about DOGS that are factory bred. NO ONE thinks it’s ok to keeep dogs locked up in a wire cage for its entire life, breeding every cycle until it’s dead. No one. This is a powerful industry that is taking notice of regular people who speak up about making ethical economic choices to not buy into their business.

    We won’t buy your fur.
    We won’t buy your puppies.
    We won’t even buy your detergents.

    Why do you think they have entire sections of supermarkets that cater to people who prefer animal friendly products? It’s because we have buying power. And the trend is towards a kinder, greener, healthier marketplace.

    I get threatened daily by these bullies. I was called a “whore” at the protest by people in the store. That’s ok, that’s nothing compared to what the dogs in the factories are enduring.

  19. We can all sit here and argue about where their puppies come from.. whether they think they are coming from reputable breeders, or we think they are coming from puppy mills…

    OR we can focuse on the cold hard facts. These numbers speak for themselves on why this business nor ANY store SELLING puppies should be allowed to operate in Orange County.

    Statistcs for our ORANGE COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER for 2010
    (source: http://egov.ocgov.com/ocgov/Info%20OC/Departments%20&%20Agencies/OC%20Animal%20Care/Shelter%20Statistics):

    Dogs EUTHANIZED: 3,771 (or 10 dogs per DAY)
    Cats EUTHANIZED: 9,951 (or 27 cats per DAY)

    NO STORE IN ORANGE COUNTY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SELL ANIMALS FOR PROFIT UNTIL THIS NUMBER IS ZERO. Plain and simple. Not only are healthy, adoptable animals being killed, but taxpayers money is being spent to house, feed, and then needlessly kill these animals.

    • @ “Candi” going by your logic, no one should have a child as long as there is even one homeless person out there on the streets.
      Shelters kill because they choose to kill instead of proactively finding homes for the adoptable animals. There are approximately 3-4 million adoptable pets killed in US shelters each year. Meanwhile, there are 17 million homes opening up for pets every year.
      http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=1390
      These kooky extremists want to force everyone to “Adopt” a “rescued” dog….totally ignoring the fact that some of these “rescues” import dogs from eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and China. Yes, one of these anti-pet store drones actually bragged about how her friend adopted a puppy brought in from China by “Dogs Without Borders” here in LA. Never mind the fact that in China dogs are bred for meat, now they will be bred there for the US pet market. But yeah, it’s much better to import dogs from foreign countries with parasites and rabies, than it is to have licensed and inspected US breeders to supply the market demand.
      Don’t forget, there is a puppy lemon law to protect consumers who might happen to get a sick pup from a pet store; but there are no lemon laws to protect you from sick dogs you obtain from shelter or rescue groups. Buyer beware!