Mabel the Rescue Dog

3 min read (Articles narrated by Mabel)

Sadly, I’ve heard humans give plenty of excuses when they buy a puppy from a pet store. In reality, there should never be any excuses, but the one that drives Molly crazy is when people say, “if pet store puppies are from puppy mills, then buying them is like rescuing them.” But this is an outrageous conclusion that needs to be stopped. So, here is why rescuing a puppy mill dog and buying a pet store puppy are NOT the same thing at all.

Rescuing a Puppy Mill Dog vs. Buying From a Pet Store

Rescuing a puppy mill dog means that the dog was saved from a puppy mill and brought to a shelter or rescue. Those dogs are often the breeding dogs from puppy mills, but sometimes puppies can be saved too. Any fees you pay to adopt that dog will go toward a rescue organization, not to a breeder, puppy mill, or pet store. Rescuing a puppy mill dog is all about saving that dog.

But when you buy a puppy from a pet store, all that money goes to the profit of a business. Instead of using that money to save more dogs, they use it to breed more puppies and put more dogs in danger. So, if you buy a puppy from a pet store, you’re supporting their cruel business. You’re encouraging them to breed more dogs in inhumane conditions. Sure, you might be giving your new puppy a good life, but you’re doing it by risking the lives of hundreds of other dogs.

How to Put an End to Puppy Mills

The easiest way to help end puppy mills is to never support them. Puppy mills only exist because people keep buying the puppies they produce. They most commonly sell those puppies online or at pet stores, claiming they’re from “reputable breeders.” But it’s important to never fall for these tricks. If a breeder refuses to show you where the puppies were bred and meet the puppy’s parents, then those are huge red flags.

Many humans will defend pet stores by saying, “but what will happen to the puppies that no one buys? We need to buy them to rescue them.” But if no one buys the puppies and the pet store doesn’t want to sell them, rescues and shelters will usually find a way to take them in. Puppies are very easy to adopt, so it’s usually easier for rescues to take them in than adult dogs. So, instead of buying those puppies from a pet store, it’s better to adopt them from a rescue because then you’re supporting a good cause instead of a terrible one. Plus, if no one is buying pet store puppies, there’s no need for them to continue producing them.

There will always be people who will make excuses for supporting puppy mills, but sadly, most people buy from pet stores because they just don’t know the truth. Buying a pet store puppy is nowhere close to rescuing a dog, and it only hurts dogs instead of helping them. So please, NEVER support puppy mills and spread the word to others. Don’t even buy products from pet stores that sell puppies. The more people that stop supporting these businesses, the sooner they can go away for good.

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