Thanks for covering this issue! You're right that it's pretty polarizing. I was recently shocked to hear an educated, intelligent friend say that she "hated the Amish" because of their involvement with puppy mills. (How can you hate the Amish?!)

Of course I want animals to go to good homes, but I also don't see anything wrong with paying a breeder for his time and expertise if he's done his job well. That's the way commerce works, right?

Hi Gina - I wasn't aware of that. Do you have a link to any news articles on the Amish and puppy mills? I'd be interested in reading more about it. - Lisa

also look on youtube for "Amish Puppy Mills" and you will see tons of undercover videos of what the insides of these mills look like.

Thanks for the links, Gina. I'll check these out.

There's an important difference between the current pet wars and the 'mommy wars': pet wars are to a large extend driven by companies that make their money promoting these wars: HSUS ('the Humane Society of the U.S.') is the largest and best known, but there are literally dozens of others, from PETA on down. Not only do these organizations create the war, they push a specific and seemingly rather strange side in that combat: That human relationships with and use of animals should be forced to jump through steadily more expensive hoops.

And WHY do HSUS and the rest push this view? Because it sells, that is, it induces soft hearted people with no knowledge of the reality to support these animal rights campaigns by sending their money and by posting comments on articles like this one.

Hey -- this is the U.S., and we have a constitution that guarantees free speech. Unfortunately, our rights to responsibly breed and own pets and other animals isn't in the Constitution because our founding fathers had no experience of government attempting to limit those rights. If we want affordable dogs, eggs, medical research animals, and circuses we will have to educate ourselves and defend them, one by one.

I am not sure if Gina's information is up to date. Pennsylvania passed VERY tough dog /breeder laws a couple of years ago and the number of commercial breeders has dropped from 360 to fifty(?) I think I read recently. Many of the horrific photos of filthy puppy mills are old stock phots and most do not represent current commercial breeders. I have read that we need inthe US an enornous number of new pets every year to replace our older pets as we loose them.; A number much larger than can be met but hobby breeders show breeders or oops breeders. Commercial breeders fill that void. If you want to price pet dogs and cats out of the ordinary persons reach, continue to outlaw and shut downthe commercial breeders who are filling the void in the pet market.
In Hawaii there has been a proposal to outlaw the sale or gift of ANY intact unspayed un neutered dog or cat. How long do you think Hawaii will last before they are crying to import puppies and kittens from other places where people had more common sense.. The Amish aren't evil because they breed dogs. Teh pets we love don't miraculously appear out of thin air. Every pet shelter or commercial or hobby is a result of pet breeding. Cloning is just an abstract idea still. We need breeders if we want pets. Its that simple.

seems that the Amish give rescues their dogs they no longer want.. what a good idea. they are dealing directly with rescues.. super. a win win all around.. just think rescues would be "out of business" if they had nothing to rescue.. they all say that is what they want.. but I question that..they use dogs to raise money.. many rescues have millions in the bank.and many "top shelf" employees making a very nice living . see North Shore Animal League or Main Line Rescue in your area..what does Bill Smith do for a living? anyway .. they bring in thousands of dogs and DOLLARS every year from all over the country .. and some from out of the country.. do they want to stop? of course they don't.. it is a BUSINESS. They use the Amish dogs to make money.. just like the Amish do

North Shore and Main Line are an exception to most rescues! Your average animal rescue is made up of normal everyday people that have to work regular jobs to help support their rescue. The funds needed to help these animals that have been locked up in cages for years is barely replenishes itself when the animal is adopted. Puppy Mills don't just voluntarily give up these dogs, it takes a lot of begging on part of the rescue. When these mills give up a dog that is no longer needed instead of just killing it, it opens their mill up for possible exposure so they don't just hand them over that easily. Also these dogs aren't just ready to be adopted out the minute they are handed over to a rescue. They haven't ever been groomed, cages are not cleaned and most of these dogs have infections have have never been treated. The rescues end up grooming years of feces & urine from their coats, have to pay for spay/neuter, have to pay for current shots, pay for any vet bills associated with health issues, pay for these animals to be transported and deal with socializing these animals so they know how to interact with people. I have a Yorkie that was rescued from a mill in Missouri, she is 2yrs old and has had 4 litters, before she was rescued she lived her whole life in a cage in their shed, she had feces matted to her skin and it took several bathes just to be able to get enough of the feces off her to be able to shave the mats out of her.

The continued use of the term "puppy mill," as tragically successful as it is, is like gaining political capital by using racial slurs. This was a tactic that succeeded when passing the first laws against marijuana use.

"The Amish were the worst offenders"? Did anyone watch Oprah's show about Amish puppy mills and apply critical thinking? Just the idea that any of them, let alone many of them, shoved a pipe down a dog's throat to "debark" them is ridiculous. Why did anyone accept that story?

The use of the term "puppy mill" reflects badly on the speaker and it cannot be made good.

Let's just say, Gina, that you haven't proven the truth of any of your broad accusations against a race, an ethnicity, a religion, or what seems to have become another oppressed minority, people who can produce quality pets.

actually it does.. it is very much like the "n' word.. you called me "part of the problem".. what problem? am I to be called a 'puppy mill"? who exactly is a "puppy mill" what constitutes a "puppy mill"? Is it your idea of how dogs should be cared for? How many dogs does it take to make a "puppy mill"? is it numbers.. or just a bias against certain religions and how they view things.? The way people post here about 'puppy mills" and those who raise dogs.and follow their religious convictions... yes.. much worse than the "n' word.

here is a lovely quote about the Amish from another forum:
They are nothing but animal abusers,
The Amish are evil and mean selfish non God
loving idiots.
they will get their punishment for this
in the end, abusing all the thousands of dogs
day in and day out.

now tell me .. that is not as bad as the "n" word or perhaps you agree with that poster

now now Gina.. calm down.. no one can get the "best of you"

“If you can't answer a man's arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.”

Elbert Hubbard

That is so true, Jan. Gina Spadafori (I believe that is her last name) here can't prove a thing that she contends and she uses the term "breeder" like a racial slur. She should be embarrassed. Her entire method is embarrassing to her and to her followers.

sure, there are no problems with puppy mills anymore:
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/33002-4-SF.pdf

Recently, two members of ReLove Animals Inc. visited Charm City Puppies. The following includes the facts from that visit.

On February 5 at 11:29 a.m., Tony Cossentino stated in response to The Sun's article ..."As the owner of this store, I would encourage customers who are curious to come in to the store and visit directly. We will gladly set the record straight on any questions you may have about us and our puppies. We might just change your mind about what you think of puppy stores. I will not respond further on this forum because it is too easy for certain individuals to bully us online with unfounded things that they would never say to our faces. None of the opposition has even visited the store to see for themselves, not even the leader. Please search 'Charm City Puppies' on Facebook for more information. Thanks, we love you Charm City!"

We visited the store on Thursday, February 9th. The store is lovely and clean, with a nice variety of products. The puppies were cute and seemed relatively happy in their cribs.

Part 1

Upon arrival at the store, we first spoke with Jackie Cossentino, one of the owners, who later called her husband Tony to the store for further discussion. We discussed the public's concern about the puppies coming from puppy mills and asked for their list of breeders. Tony refused to give us the information but said he would give it to anyone else. If that is information you are interested in, please visit the store. They did say that they get their puppies from a broker, The Hunte Corporation located in Goodman, Missouri.

We tried to discuss a humane business model that many pet stores in the country are transitioning to, one which only adopts out puppies or dogs that are in shelters or rescues, but the owners of Charm City Puppies were not interested. We would welcome the opportunity at any time in the future to once again sit down and discuss this business model with them.

We are pursuing our plans to have educational demonstrations in order to educate the public on puppy mills, what they are, and that almost all pet store puppies come from puppy mills (according to several national animal welfare organizations).

We are excited to report that we have been in contact with other pet stores who are willing to sit down and learn about a humane business model. One of them is very interested in transitioning to not selling puppies and instead only offering rescues for adoption. We will keep you updated on the progress we are making.

Part 2

For more updates on our upcoming educational demonstrations, links regarding pet stores, puppy mills, and animal welfare, and other ongoing developments please join our Facebook page 'ReLove Animals Inc.'

Part 3