Now, it's time for a reality check.
Plenty of people have tried every method listed in "how to stop a puppymill".
Very few have succeeded.
To fill the economical void created by the few that were successfully shut down, others stepped up production, new puppymills opened, and out-of-state puppymillers shipped more puppies to meet the local demand.
IT IS WITHIN THE REACH of average citizens like us to stop puppymills. We could literally close every puppymill in existence within a year if every member of society would simply understand one concept: supply and demand. If nobody buys what you have to sell, do you keep selling it? Of course not. Thus, the only way to truly shut down puppymills AND ENSURE OTHERS WON'T OPEN is to STOP BUYING THEIR PRODUCTS!
HOW TO START: We need to educate the public so that no one buys a puppy from a pet store that regularly sells puppies. I'm not talking about the pet stores that offer space for humane societies or rescues to show a puppy or two, I'm talking about the pet stores that regularly have a whole litter of puppies for sale...or more. When stores can't sell their stock, they mark it down. When they still can't sell it, they go out of business. The suppliers of these puppy stores are then stuck with extra product, and it's considered "expired" if it's beyond four months old (i.e. "not cute" anymore). To step up sales, they've either got to open their own stores (not something the average puppy farmer knows how to do) or start selling directly to the public from their farms. Most farms are located in rural areas, far away from the bulk of buyers looking for a puppy. Less people will make the journey to the puppymill itself than would have made the journey to the local pet store, because it's not convenient. This further hurts the "supply/demand" equation. Puppymillers may respond by setting up weekend booths at places like flea markets and rummage-o-ramas, but this will require staff and that dips into the profits. How will we stop them from selling here? The same way we stopped them from selling at pet stores: EDUCATE THE PUBLIC about supply and demand. If nobody buys a puppy from them at these venues, they'll stop selling there. If they can't find an appropriate way/place to sell their product, puppymillers will start to downsize their operations on their own, because they won't be able to afford to feed dogs that aren't making money for the miller. Downsizing would be our first benchmark of success.
AT THE SAME TIME this downsizing is happening, we need to keep in mind that the general public is STILL looking to buy puppies. We will need to partner tightly with reputable breeders to both educate the public and help the public find a reputable breeder for the breed of dog they're interested in purchasing. If we miss this step, we'll see a huge proliferation of backyard breeders hurrying to "make money" by breeding their pet Muffy to Spike, the dog next door, with a plan to split the profits. We also need to guard against outside states setting up shop in Wisconsin. The Hunte Corporation and Pennsylvania puppymills do not supply as many puppy stores in WI as they once did, because the general public put pressure on malls to stop selling puppies. Either we meet the local demand for puppies by getting them from reputable breeders, or the demand will be met by outside puppymills looking for outlets to sell their wares. Which do you prefer?
THE STARFISH STORY does not apply here. Buy purchasing one puppy from the puppymill, you are not making a difference for that one...you are making a NEGATIVE difference for 67,000 other puppymill puppies. That's the estimated amount one unspayed female and her litters can produce in six years. It's very hard to close your eyes and pretend not to see that bitch covered with fleas and open sores from lying on metal cagewire her entire life, but if you save her, she'll just be replaced by another and another and another. . . or she can be replaced by NO others. You hold it in your capacity to make her be the last one of her kind subjected to this misery...it all starts with educating the public.
What can you do to help?
