Few people can resist looking in pet shop windows to see all the cute puppies inside.
But a closer look into pet shops and how they operate reveals a system in which the high prices paid for the puppies pales in comparison to the cost paid by the animals themselves. These operations usually consist of small wood and wire mesh cages kept outdoors, where female dogs are bred continuously with no rest between heat cycles. The mothers and their litters often suffer from malnutrition, exposure, and lack of adequate veterinary care. Basic feeding practices are ignored at puppy mills, resulting in genetic defects that may not be apparent at the time of purchase and are difficult and expensive to treat. The puppies are taken from their mothers at four to wix weeks and are sold to brokers who pack them in crates for transport and resale to pet shops.