These animals are then deemed useless. Puppies are taken away from their mothers as early as 6 weeks and shipped to pet stores sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles away. Only about half survive the trip and many of the survivors suffer from a variety of illnesses. Wholesale dog breeding and the shipment of animals is poorly regulated because of lack of resources and there are more than 4,800 puppy mills nationwide. Sometimes facilities are only inspected once a year and even then offenders may be given endless opportunities to correct the offense.
Legal action is rare.
Even then it may take years to prosecute. It is hard to resist the adorable puppies sitting in the pet store window because you may feel like you are saving that puppy. However, your purchase just guarantees that another puppy will be there to replace his spot. As long as consumers continue to purchase these dogs from pet stores, puppy mills will continue to produce animals. There are other options if you have your heart set on a purebred animal.