Heartbreaking to see puppies from puppy mill. How dare are those greedies thinking of making $$? They create bad karmic ties that they will have to face judge in spiritual world someday. It is best way to stop them NOW!

Ppl against the "puppy mill" legislation are letting their prejudices blind them to the truth - there is NO wording in it that says "thou shalt not breed animals." The wording specifically concerns humane and ethical treatment of the livestock to prevent suffering. Any animal locked in a cage all its life, not even able to stand up and turn around, having to live in its feces and urine and the feces and urine that drop on it from the cages above, suffers. It is a shame that laws have to be made to specify how a creature should be treated, but if you have ever seen the poor beasties that are taken from these places, you will understand that if breeders will not take care of their animals voluntarily using their common sense, they must be forced to do the right thing. But notice I said "breeders." Again, this proposed legislation is not anti-breeders but anti-cruelty. The pet and farm animal overpopulation and neglect issues are separate ones from this initiative. The term "puppy mill" is like the term "obscenity" - you might not be able to define it, but you know it when you see it. Come to think of it, a puppy mill IS an obscenity.

This is inhumane. No one in their right mind would continue to put up with this. I expect you to take action a.s.a.p.! Thank you!

I hate to admit this but Corey Mac is not too far off the mark. I work for a national commodity association and our farmers not only plant row crops but many raise animal stock as well. I personally think a laying hen should be able to do what a it does - scratch and peck in the dirt and flap their wings rather than be relegated to space smaller than a sheet of paper. A sow should be able to lay down during her pregnancy rather than standing in a small stall where she can only move a few inches either way. And don't get me started on the short life of a calf for the sake of veal! The HSUS is trying to pass legislation on how these farm animals should be raised. Unfortunately, HSUS's suggestions have not been met warmly from the producer as they are not cost effective to their operations among other concerns. The plight of these farm animals and our beloved domestic pets won't be solved that easily.

these poor innocent animals just want a home. please help them come from a safe one.

I used to breed on a small scale many years ago. I raised about 3 litters of Yorkshire Terriers a year. . This is why I stopped. I had a clause in my contract that stated, "if you cant keep your puppy" please call us so we can help you find it a new home". People did all the time. People thought I should take the dog back for any reason they could dream up.. They would buy them one day, call back the next saying the puppy kept them up all night, the puppy uses the bathroom on the floor, I live in an apartment the landlord says I cant keep it because its too noisy. Things like, I didnt know how expensive it was going to be to have all its shots done or I didnt realize how much time it was going to take and I work a lot. You name it, Ive heard it.. People would call me 5 years later saying "I am moving and I cant take the dog with me" or " I just had a baby and the dog is jealous of it". Ive had people to bring them back stating to me "well a good breeder will take a dog back for ANY reason", the dog sometimes would be as much as 10 years old. Im saying this because, people have this way of reasoning that I just dont understand. At what point does the responsible fall on you the purchaser? I mean really, Just how long do you think that the person you bought the dogs from should be responsible for your "mistake"? Never buy a dog you cant afford or when you havent thought it through completely. Pets live a long time. Think of it the same way you think of having a child. It is expensive to raise a puppy, feed it, take it to the vet and care for it for 10-20 years. I love my dogs. When I raised them, I didnt want people that were not fully aware of the how long, and the how expensive to buy them. I even gave them two pages of insight. It didnt matter. It seemed the harder I tried, the worse it got. I just quit. It got to the point everytime someone got a dog they had puppies, they wanted me to place them for them. I ended up with so many dogs and most of them were not even dogs bought from me. People seem to think that a breeder should take their dog and everybody elses are they are not a "responisble breeder". Thats not true. The problem is, there are too many people that buy dogs that dont think before they buyt.

I volunteer at a shelter in Atlanta. We get a few pure breeds, but mostly mutts. Mostly dropoffs. It is true. People just dont seem to care if their yard dogs run up and down the road and get bred. We take in upwards of several thousand dogs and cats a year. Seems like in the Springs time and summer it doubles. Im like some of the others, people come in telling these stories of how they picked up these puppies off the side of the road. Most of the time I dont believe its true. I think that most of the time these people just let their dogs roam or get bred and they didnt want the puppies. I dont know why people won't have their dogs fixed, but they dont. It's the sad ugly truth.

Some friendly advice. When you are trying to decide whether or not to spay or neuter your dog, think about it like this. Say to yourself " If this dog has babies, I will have 4,5 or more mouths to feed as well as thousands of dollars worth of vet bills for vaccinations, dog food etc". Even more importantly, say to yourself "it is MY responsibility to see that these puppies are placed in goods homes for the rest of their lives or take care of them myself". In the end, What is going to be cheaper, maybe $100 bucks to have the dog "fixed" or thousands of dollars in vet bills and other cost in the course of these dogs lives. The decision should be obivious.. PS, I agree, dont buy a dog you don't intend to keep.. Those are the dogs you are seeing being killed in your local humane society and kill shelters.

Maybe we'd get more action if the name of the EXACT PERSON at the USDA responsible for handing out fines, penalties & actually shutting down these dog mills. It's always "an entity" that "we" can't seem to move. I GUARANTEE this: publicize heavily the person's name at the USDA who reads these reports & then files them away neatly, as government employees do, & you will definately SEE actions happening!

You are right about the spay and neuter thing. I live out in a rural area. I bet half of my neighbors have dogs running up and down the road. I see dogs thrown out in my area all the time. I work at our local shelter. People bring in new litters of all sorts of mixed breed puppies all the time.. They dog got out, got bred. Or they say someone threw the dog out with babies which is untrue most of the time. The truth is they just didnt have the dogs spayed, they ended up with a bunch of dogs they didnt want. Instead of doing the right thing, they just bring them in and dump them out on us.. Thats the easy route. I know where our dogs come from.. People will bring dogs and drop them off at night while we are closed, leave them in front of the building. People just dont spay and neuter. That is true. Ive worked in several shelters its true in all of them. I dont think we have ever gotten a dog from a breeder to my knowledge. Its sad but true.. People need to just not buy dogs period. Think about them like having a child. Thats they way I think of mine. I wouldnt let anyone harm my dog and God knows, I wouldnt take it to a pound where I know the reality is, a LOT of the times it will end up euthanised I just dont see how people do it. Im not saying that a puppy mill is ok, but the reality is its not going to stop until people start spaying and neutering. Be responsible.

this is inhumane

I hate to say it, but I doubt that we are going to slow down these large scale puppy mills any time soon. They operate under the same guidelines as your other animal farmers. I really hate to agree but its the ugly truth. If you start setting guidelines for one type of animal farming that doesnt apply to say the multi-billion dollar beef or pork industry, it is really going to give the puppy millers grounds to bring cases of "prejudice" into court. Their argument will be " dogs are animals just like any other, how could it be legal to enforce a separate code of ethics upon dog breeders that you dont enforce on other animal farmers? (for lack of a better way to phrase it). The sad reality of it is dogs, cats, cows, chickens, horses are all animals. I know we think our dogs are our children, I know I do, but there are a lot of people in this world who dont. Im not sure in a country like ours what this would do for animal laws but one things for sure, If you make one group of animal "farmers" live up to a certain standard (and we should) you will have to make them all do it for it to be legal or else there will be heck to pay in courts as high as the "supreme court". I hate to admit what one of the previous commentors said to be true, but I dont believe the United States goverment will ever take on the multi-trillion dollars worth of meat suppliers in this country. Its going to be a long, long road ahead. People are going to eat meat. The beef industry knows we want out meat. They know that the USG isnt going to be too hard on them "whatever they do" because in the end, people will get more angry if they lost their steak than they care how it gets slaughtered.. Thats the sad ugly truth.. I know people say they dont like whats going on, but really we cant do much about it unless the government does their job and makes sure these people raise these animals humanely and with some dignity. Im not sure how you can kill a cow, chicken or hog and it BE humane, but there you go.. Thats for the the USGov to decide and enfore I suppose.

just state it is only puppy dogs for now unless this goes beyond that to other animals but start here with the dogs

If you are waiting for AKC to take a stand against anything, even a puppy mill, you can forget that.. All of these new dogs and their fancy registrations with their fake "pedigrees" are keeping AKC and CKC in business.. Notable fact. Did you know that MOST of these "pedigree" dogs are spurr offs from Victoria times named named most after wealthy breeders of the period and are infact MIXED BREED MUTTS. Did you know that there were only around 100 "pure breeds" know world wide up until that period? Who is fooling who? There are now near a thousand recognized "pure breeds". Get the point? In most cases your "pure breed pedigree pooch" is nothing more than a glorified mutt with a show dog name!. Investigate that fraud when you call my Cockapoo a mutt.. What do you think a BICHON FRISE IS? haha

I agree. I worked in a shelter in Texas for years. We had thousands of dogs brought in on a yearly basis.. As bad as I hate to say it, they didn't come from breeders. People would bring in litters of cats and puppies nearly every day I worked there claiming people threw them out. I dont know it it was true or they just didnt bother to spay their own female. Most of the time that seemed to be the truth of it. I agree large scale puppy mills are a terrible thing. But I also know the reality of it from my own years of shelter experience. You are right, People just want spay and neuter and its so easy to blame someone else but the fact is we took in thousands of unwanted dogs every year and most of them were drop offs brought in buy people who didnt want them anymore or people who had a litter of puppies and didnt know what to do with them so they took the easy way out and dumped them off on our shelters steps..

stop the puppy mills in this day and age it is outrages. we don't need them anyway we have too many with out homes put to sleep. stop the madness

DoYouKnow that nearly all dogs and cats that end up in shelter come from irresponsible pet owners.. Contrary to what you have heard and what you may believe. People need to realize that WE the pet owner who DO NOT BOTHER TO HAVE OUR PETS SPAYED AND NEUTERED are the real culprits here.. Check with your local shelter.. There is not ONE shelter in this country that will tell you that their dogs came from a breeder or from a "puppy mill".. At what point are we going to face reality and realize the truth and stop trying to blame other people for our irresponible actions? I have gone heard this story about breeders where they blame for pet over population has been blamed so long Im sick of hearing about it.. Wake up.. CALL YOUR LOCAL SHELTER.. Ask them where these dogs are coming from.. Have you pet spayed and neutered.. More importantly. DONT BUY A DOG OR OTHER PET you cant afford. Most dogs and cats will live up to 15++ yrs. That is a LONG time. People buy pets without thinking about how long, the expense, then when it gets tough, the first thing they do is take it to the pound or give it to someone else.. I dont see how people buy an animal and then just dump it or give it away.. If you dont know what it takes to raise one.. DONT BUY ONE and then blame the breeder because they dont want to take it back.. YOU bought it. YOU are responsible for it.

If we don't stop this it will just continue to grow and more and more helpless animals are forced to live unbearable conditions. This creates an overload of animals at the shelters and in rescue situations.

There is no need for puppy mills when there are an abundance of companion animals waiting in the shelter.

Not only the poor puppies, I lost $500.00 trying to get a puppy from Arkansas. Does anyone remember Jodie Craft???????????

All this suffering and neglect just to make a buck. PLEASE do the right thing, right now.

We bought a poodle from MO and was sure it was from a puppy mill as the owners failed to communicate after the sale was ended. He has issues. We reported them to the Mo BBB and they did nothing. Complaints should be taken care of through BBB to let others know of Puppy Mill Owners.

I wish the waters would stop being muddied by LEGAL, what about this animal or what about that one. The here and now is PUPPY MILLS...we'll deal with the other later... in my county(not state) almost 10,0000 dogs and cats were euthanized last year.. thats 1 county in my entire state of what they kept records of!!! Its out of control.

Yes, the USDA should be taking a much stronger stand against puppy mills. I also believe that the AKC should be helping with this. The AKC could take a huge stand against puppy mills by putting some man-power into checking on breeders and owners who register dogs with them. And let's not forget kitten mills. The CFA and other cat registeries should be doing the same.

This is an ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!!!! In this day and age to allow animals to be treated in such a HORRIFIC way, remember who was in Congress, Senate or whatever office so they do not get voted in again.

This is the year 2010 not 1010.. where is our humanity? It is our responsibility to vote out of office those representatives and senators that do not represent our interests. This is a sad state of affairs for helpless animals!

Please pay attention to the important things we care about!

PLEASE CARE FOR ALL ANIMALS. PLEASE DON'T ABUSE ANIMALS..

PLEASE STOP THIS OUTRAGEOUS, INHUMANE PRACTICE !!!!!

Puppy mills need to stop!

wow

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This should be a law nation wide. You would think we as a society would be above this by now.

So, How well you think this "bill" is going to go over with the BILLION DOLLAR beef,poultry,equine industries? Just asking. This will LEGALly set precedents for ALL animal care in the State of Missouri. I TOALLY agree with the humane treatment aspect of animals, but there is going to be lawsuits out of this world in the near future from the "dog breeding/PUPPY MILL" industry when you set a precedent for animals care for one species of animal. WHen people realize that most poultry,beef,swine MILLERS raise their "food" in MUCH worse conditons than these dogs are raised in in most cases, there is going to be heck to pay by someone. ...IM JUST SAYING.. Its opening up a WHOLE new line of defense,lawsuits and precedents on both the State and FEDERAL level. SOMEONE is going to have to write a whole new set of laws for dogs, that is NOT applicable for raising other species. Its gonna be hard to enforce with the the power of the beef other millers against them..

the "legal picture"? You said it yourself it's the supreme court and the federal government we are talking about. Anyway it's the formal language of the act-it's technically *adding* NEW standards to canine care to an existing "Animal Care Facilities Act". Requirements for breeders are outlined: Sufficient food and clean water, Necessary veterinary care, Sufficient housing, including protection from the elements and eliminating wire-floored cages, Sufficient space for dogs to turn and stretch, lie down, and fully extend their limbs, Regular exercise, and Adequate rest between breeding cycles. You would think breeders would already understand this, but people use and abuse for the love of money.

nothing

How can the ASPCA push MISSOUR voters into a "PUPPY MILL INTIATIVE "BILL" WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ''REFUSES'''' TO DEFINE WHAT A PUPPY MILL IS??? If you call a PUPPY BREEDER a "PUPPY MILL" then wouldnt a HORSE BREEDER BE A HORSE MILL, OR A HOG MILL OR A COW MILL...ON AND ON?? GET THE "LEGAL PICTURE"???