Puppy Mill Awareness Day – September 21, 2024

History of Puppy Mill Awareness Day

Those who love dogs, can’t even imagine a pup and its parents living in a small, dark, and dirty cage. They can’t move or play, they just have to perform the role of giving birth. This is the reality of puppy mills. In large mills, thousands of cages of dogs are stacked upon each other. None of these dogs are happy or healthy. But have you ever wondered how such a ruthless trend of breeding dogs started?

The popularity of puppy mills took off after World War II when thousands of families were suffering due to crop failure, and some other thousands had enough money to start a life with a family, a house, a backyard, and a dog. Yes, purebred dogs were a status symbol and a commodity that was a must-have for people residing in the suburbs. And as the law of economics states, where there is demand, there will be supply. When the farmers who had faced losses while growing crops became aware of this demand, they decided to start a new business – puppy mills. In fact, the USDA even promoted puppy mills by advertising that it was a lucrative business. And when the government was supportive, it wasn’t a surprise that more farmers started to get into the puppy business. By the mid-1960s, a home was incomplete without a dog.

Today, the USDA estimates that there are between 2,000-3,000 federally licensed commercial breeding facilities in the U.S. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), on the other hand, estimates around 176,088 dogs are kept for breeding at USDA licensed facilities, and approximately 2.15 million puppies are sold each year. Many of these puppies are sold via the Internet.