Please watch Oprah on Friday, April 4th. Lisa Ling will be doing an expose on Oprah's show about puppy mills. Better yet, go to the link below and speak out for the helpless, voiceless, suffering dogs languishing in puppy mills:

http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/44908

You will need to register to post, but it only takes a minute. Many of us have been fighting to shut down puppy mills for years, but unfortunately, we are losing the battle. More and more are showing up every day in this country. Maybe now the tide will turn with Oprah using her voice and influence to help the cause.

Thanks.

Thank you for letting me know.  I will definitely tape it.  I adopted a dog from my local shelter that came with "papers."  Shaggy's from Iowa, sold at a pet store in Syracuse, NY and later given up to the shelter.  I have no doubt that he came from a puppy mill, poor little guy.

I watched the Oprah show too.... I can just hope & pray people will STOP BUYING PUPPPIES IN PET STORES. Everytime someone feels bad for the puppy in the pet store and buys it, the pet store just replaces it with another puppy mill dog!!!!! Its called supply in demand.....stop buying the puppy mill pups, and the mills will go out of business

I saw that show also and like everyone, was sickened.  One of the problems is the general publics lack of knowledge.  While most are aware of the bad conditions afforded dogs in puppy mills, they are not aware that 99% of puppies sold in pet stores are from puppy mills (statistic from the Humane Society).  My sister who would NEVER knowingly buy from a puppy mill, believed her pet store when they assured her that their animals came from breeders that they knew & inspected.  18 months later her beautiful, gentle, loving dog is diagnosed with congenital liver failure probably the result of in-breeding.  My poor neice furbaby was given 18 months to live a little over 2 years ago.  Every day she is still alive is a testament to my sister's love & care.  We all know she is on borrowed time and are grateful for each day that we have with this sweet and loving dog.  This is another horrible side to puppy mills - chrning out dogs with no regard to their future health and well-being.    It is my hope that Oprah's special will go a long way towards educating the public.  And, it is just not puppy mills - it's kitty mills, rabbit mills, snake , lizard, and hamster mills.  In addition to trying to educate people into NOT buying from pet stores or the internet, we need to lobby for new laws.  I was unaware that the current laws against animal cruety DID NOT apply to animals in "mills' as they are considered livestock not pets.  Why is it okay to be cruel to livestock?  I understand that they are not pets & the raising of them is a business, but just because an animal is destined for the dinner table, does not mean that it is okay for it to be treated cruely while it is alive.  This is unacceptable and MUST be changed.    The fact that the inhumane manner in which these animals are kept is LEGAL is beyond belief.  I get so angry about this.  Okay, okay I'll stop ranting now & get off my soap box. 

Newfs, that's wonderful news.  I was going by what the director of the Humane Society and the owner of the rescue group said on Oprah's special.   But they both specifically said that breeder animals were not protected by animal cruety laws.  Perhaps that is different from USDA requirements?

http://stoppuppymills.org/

http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/