Hello, my name is Caleb Davis and I am 11 years old. Today I am
going to tell you about puppy mills.
What are puppy mills?
Puppy mills are places where dogs are bred, to be sold in pet stores
mostly. Some of the dogs die from mating too often. Many puppy mill
owners only give the dogs a tiny bowl of food a week and only if the
dogs are lucky do they get that much. The cages they are in are
stacked on top of each other and when the dogs go potty their waste
falls to the bottom cages and they usually are not cleaned often, if
at all. The cages are usually in a barn or some place that is really
cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. The dogs don't get
petted or shown love.
Joseā was a dog from such a place, before being
rescued. He had cuts all the way thru the pads on the bottom of his
feet from walking on the chicken wire cages. There is another dog
.... her name was Angel. She was the cutest dog ever she really was
an angel. The same things that were wrong with Joseā were wrong with
her. Right after Angel was rescued she was rescued out of the puppy
mill she was put on some grass. She gave herself a heart attack from
being so excited about how good it felt on her feet .it was soft,
and smelled so sweet. All she had ever walked on was a chicken wire
cage. She had never even SEEN grass before.
How do I know about puppy mills?
Let me tell you about my dog that came from a puppy mill in Texas.
She was so scared. She is still very scared of strangers and
even me sometimes. I can be too loud and move too quickly around her
when I forget she is not a normal dog. She does not trust fast
movements; we think she must have been hit in the past. And loud
noises scare her; we think that is because in puppy mills they will
shoot the dogs they don't want anymore.
When we got her she did not even have a name. We wanted her to live
happily ever after with us so we gave her a fairly tale princess
name, Snow White. (she just goes by Snow most of the time) and YES,
she has white hair. Snow has learned many things in the 3 years we
have had her. She loves my mom, she loves to play in the grass, she
can do the 'cheese dance' for her favorite snack (yep, cheese of any
kind) and she gives kisses and even plays with toys and the other
dogs, something she did not know how to do before.
My mom, and I, have helped save many puppy mill dogs, over 75 in
just 3 years. They all came to our house for at least a potty stop,
some spent the night and one time we had 13 here for 3 weeks until
they could get to FL to a rescue there.
You can help by spaying and neutering your dog(s),
cats too.
Don' breed your dogs, or cats.
Volunteer at a shelter. I live in Chattanooga. The number for the
Chattanooga Humane Educational Society is (423) 622-8913.
Never buy a dog from a pet store, better yet, don't buy anything
from a pet store that sells dogs and tell everyone you know about
puppy mills and how important it is to spay or neuter your dog, or
cat.
There is a lot about puppy mills on the Internet. If you are a kid,
get your parents to help you because some of the pictures are pretty
sad and gross.
Hope to see you later when I can tell you more about
spaying and neutering your pets, puppy mills, rescuing dogs and
cats, and adopting your next best friend.
Until then, be kind to man's best friend.
Your friend, Caleb.
